Muslims seek understanding
Seminar aims to challenge stereotypes
BY CHRISTY ARBOSCELLO
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
Dalia Elsouhag is puzzled by some strangers' attempts to communicate with
her.
Some use hand gestures akin to sign language, apparently presuming she
doesn't speak English
because she covers her hair as part of her Muslim religious beliefs.
"I was born here, so I can understand them," the Roseville resident said.
"Wearing a scarf has
nothing to do with not being American."
The notion that a woman who follows Islam must not be from this country is
one of the
stereotypes she looks forward to dispelling at a free event called "Women
in Islam: Reality vs.
Misconceptions" from 2 to 5 p.m. Saturday at the Islamic Cultural
Institute in St. Clair Shores.
Elsouhag, who was a doctor while living in Cairo, Egypt, and is now a
stay-at-home mother, will
moderate the program. Its purpose is to bridge the gap between non-Muslims
and the
approximately 280,000 Muslims in metro Detroit by explaining Islamic
beliefs that organizers
say are often misunderstood.
"To discuss Islam and Muslims at this time is very crucial, especially
when there is so many
misperceptions of Islam and Muslims in this post-9/11 era," said Dawud
Walid, executive
director of the Michigan Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic
Relations in Southfield.
Walid will talk about how Muslim women are often viewed as oppressed when
in actuality, their
religion calls for them to have the same freedoms as women of other
faiths.
But, many times, people mistakenly think extremists' actions are a
reflection of the Quran
after hearing of atrocities Muslim women face in war-torn countries, he
said.
"We have a saying in this religion: that people are enemies to what they
don't know," Walid
said. "They'll see that we're regular Americans, just like them. I mean,
we root for the
Pistons during playoff season and shoot off fireworks during Fourth of
July. We're just like
everyone else."
Last week, a Muslim woman, Ginnah Muhammad, appeared in a federal
courthouse in Detroit for a
hearing on a discrimination lawsuit against a Hamtramck judge. Muhammad
filed the suit against
31st District Judge Paul Paruk after she wasn't allowed to testify in a
2006 small-claims
lawsuit unless she removed her veil.
Elsouhag said barriers are broken when people get to know her. The program
Saturday ideally
will serve as a larger-scale version of those one-on-one experiences.
"We have to be the ones to reach out to people because people think we're
unapproachable," she
said.
Contact CHRISTY OYAMA-ARBOSCELLO at 586-826-7263.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080509/NEWS04/805090337/1006/news04
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