Faraz Siddiqui, a first-year Accounting student, hands out a list of Islamic Awareness Week events.

Brock’s Muslim student group has hit the halls this week to promote awareness and dispel misconceptions about its religion.

The Brock University Muslim Students’ Association is distributing flyers and serving samosas in MacKenzie Chown A for the fourth annual Islamic Awareness Week. Guest speakers have lectured on the history, spirituality and role of women in Islam.

President Jack Lightstone, right, stops to receive a list of Islamic Awareness Week events from second-year Biochemistry student Ali Fayad.

The week ends with a congregational prayer Friday from 1 to 2 p.m. at Pond Inlet. Everyone is welcome.

With 175 members, the association is one of the largest sanctioned by the Brock University Students’ Union. Mamoun Hassan, public relations officer and third-year Business Communications student, describes to The Brock News what they hope to achieve this week.

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Q. What is the purpose of Islamic Awareness Week?

A. Islamic Awareness week was established four years ago when members of the Brock University Muslim Students’ Association recognized that there are many misconceptions about Islam being spread throughout the University.  A committee was then established to hold a day of campus-wide literature distribution that ends with lecture about a topic that is considered most misunderstood about Islam.  This has been expanded into a week of events and well-attended lectures.  This year we added the concept of inviting non-Muslims to our congregational Friday prayer that will be held in the Pond Inlet at 1 p.m.

Q. How knowledgeable are people at Brock of Islam?

A. The level of Islamic awareness has noticeably increased compared to previous years.  It has been noticed that Brock University students are less shy to ask questions or even defend Islamic ideas.  This shows great interest and a widely spread accepting of Islam.

Q. What are some of the most common misconceptions?

A. One of the major issues that are often misrepresented about Islam is the placement of women. Both of our headlining speakers this year are women who have been educated in the west and speak of the roles of Muslim women factually. In her lecture about Women in Islam, Dr. Khan highlights how Islam as a religion has produced many women scholars.

The second issue is the judgment of actions committed by Muslims as representative of Islam. In her lecture, Samah Marei speaks about the History of Islam and how often people make mistakes by judging events that occurred 1,400 years ago using today’s ground rules.  This practice is troubling especially when it is only done to Islam.

Q. What are some of the defining characteristics of Islam? What makes it different from other religions?

A. Islam is the final of the monotheistic religions of the world.  Its first goal is to advise all mankind to worship the one and only God. This can only be done through the following of God’s orders and abstaining from what God has been forbidden. In Islam, it is strongly believed that this can only be done by following the practices of the prophets. Muslims believe in all the prophets that have been sent by God, including Noah, Ibrahim, Moses, Jesus and Mohamed (May God’s blessing and peace be upon them all).

Q. Anything else you’d like to add?

A. An old philosopher once said, “It is better to believe and be decent in hopes of being right than to disbelieve commit evil and find out you are wrong on the day of judgment”.  The Quran states that { Allah commands justice, the doing of good, and liberality to kith and kin, and He forbids all shameful deeds, and injustice and rebellion: He instructs you, that ye may receive admonition.} (16:90).