Islam. Do you know what it is, what it is about, or what it means?

“The media makes us look bad, when that’s not the truth,” says sophomore Bellal Hussein. Hussein and other Muslim students at AHS have been trying to raise awareness about what Islam really is during the AHS’ Muslim Student Association’s (MSA) Islamic Awareness Week.

Islamic Awareness week began on Monday, April 19 and will continue through Friday, April 23. Throughout the whole week, AHS’ MSA will be hosting after school meetings to include information all about Islam in Clausen Hall.

In the meetings, they will be discussing various facts about Islam; the Five Pillars of Islam (the five basic guidelines for Muslims to follow), lines and verses from the Qur’an and several controversial issues surrounding the religion of Islam such as terrorism, oppression of women and core message.

As a response to one of those controversial issues, Tuesday’s after school Islam Awareness meeting in Clausen Hall will teach about gender rights according to Islam.

Sophomore Amel Osman said, “Islam teaches that men and women are equal.” Others at the meeting added that, often, culture is mixed with and confused with religion and as a result, many do not understand what Islam is truly about or care enough to take some time to find out.

The Islamic Awareness meetings are open to all people from any religion, so long as they are open-minded and respectful of any others’ beliefs. Those who are attending the meetings seem to all agree that they have benefited and learned from them so far.

“I’ve definitely benefited from the meetings,” said sophomore Amina Ahmed. “The MSA has been touching on a lot of important and controversial issues.”

In agreement with Ahmed, junior Syed Ali said, “Yeah, it’s great. Every day of this week I’ve learned something new.”