The Fresno State Ethics Center hosted its first Anti-Muslim, Anti-Arab Discrimination and Civil Rights panel Thursday evening in the University Business Center to discuss the civil rights and discriminatory stereotypes aimed toward Muslim-Americans and Arab-Americans.
The panel included guest speakers from several Fresno State organizations such as the Palestine Freedom Project and the Muslim Student Association as well as public organizations such as the Masjid Fresno and the California Middle Eastern Foundation.
Panelist Dr. Sheikh Ramadan, a graduate from Al-Azhar University in Egypt with a degree in Islamic Studies, focused his discussion on educating listeners about the the Islamic religion.
“Islam means peaceful submission and surrender to the will of the Almighty God,” Ramadan said. “Which means, as Muslims, we do not worship anyone or anything besides Allah, the Almighty God.”
Ramadan also stressed the importance of respecting one’s parents, especially the mother.
“Commentators have discussed why the Prophet Muhammed, peace be upon him, mentioned the mother three times and the father only one time,” Ramadan said. “This has nothing to do with the position of the mother or the father. Both of them have to be respected. Both of them have to be honored.”
Ramadan said the reason why the prophet mentions the mother three times and the father once is because, “the mother suffered three times: delivering him; nursing him; and taking care of him. The father is also parent to the baby.”
Listeners were offered perspective from Ramadan’s testimony — in addition to the others who took the stage — on the discrimination faced by Muslim-Americans and Arab-Americans as well as understanding how to stop the stigma.
MP3BASE • Mar 2, 2017 at 12:03 am
Great Post
75204 • Oct 10, 2016 at 9:28 am
Now all you have to do is convince them to stop killing everybody, and they won’t have a problem with “islamophobia”. I went college with Muslims in 1964 at CSULA. Everybody liked them. They were kind and didn’t push their religion on anybody, and then they started blowing up buildings and crashing planes into buildings, and beheading people, just because they didn’t like other people. Maybe you should have a friendly chat with them about their hostilities.
gahani alsheezy • Oct 10, 2016 at 4:30 pm
Maybe you shouldn’t judge an entire religion based on a few idiots who terrorize people and justify it using a religion that billions practice peacefully. There is hostile people in every religion, race, etc. so stop generalizing and open your eyes and mind. Also, there are still kind and peaceful Muslims who don’t push Islam on anybody. You just choose to judge to quickly based on what is perceived in the media. I challenge you to go to a mosque near you any mosque in fact, and I guarantee that the Muslims there will treat you with respect, hospitality, and kindness regardless of what your narrow mindset is of them. Ask them anything you want and even criticize their religion and they will not treat you with anything but respect.
75204 • Oct 10, 2016 at 4:38 pm
I used to live in Fresno years ago. My former husband was a Russian major there. I bet you didn’t know that the FBI busted up one of the biggest spy rings in US History there, in the Russian Dept. The John Walker Spy Ring. The KGB operated a safe house near campus. And guess who they were with? The Muslim Brotherhood from Egyot. In fact, I had a standing invitation to visit Cairo. Of course that was when the MB wasn’t blowing up buildings and crashing planes. They were students then. So I know all about the little plot to sabotage the United States, and getting students dress up in hi jabs is just part of the plan. Not fooling anybody. Tell your Imam there’s still enough of us to remember what happened in 1946. But good luck with the hijab thing. Gets awfully hot there in Fresno with all the agriculture. I know this Iranian guy who is trying to get the Feds to give him a farm loan. He’s not a farmer so things didn’t go very well. Have a wonderful day. Try not to cause more trouble. Try to get along with everybody. If people don’t want to be Muslim, get over it.