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Madinat al-Muslimeen Islamic Message Board
| Shaw Univ: Fighting for a mosque!! |
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| ahmer |
| 07/24/02 at 15:25:10 |
| [center] [img]http://www.msa-national.org/pressreleases/shaw_masjid.gif[/img] [/center] MSA NATIONAL ACTION ALERT As salaam 'alaikum, The Shaw University President recently announced his decision to close the Shaw U. mosque because of space constraints, converting it to office space or a gym. The mosque was built in 1983 and is used for Friday prayers, daily prayers, and MSA meetings. Shaw university is located in Raleigh, North Carolina. At a time when more universities are providing Muslim students with prayer space, we are upset by this step backward. PLEASE ACT NOW! * E-MAIL Shaw U. President Talbert Shaw a couple lines urging him to reverse his decision to close the Shaw U. mosque. Toshaw@shawu.edu * Call President Shaw at (919)546-8300. * Remember our brothers and sisters at Shaw U. in your du'a From President Shaw's website: "Accordingly, Shaw represents a multi-cultural academic community, thus a microcosm of the real world." http://www.shawuniversity.edu/president/president.htm Wassalaamu Alaikum, Shaheen Kazi Religious Accommodations Task Force MSA of the US & Canada Fighting for a mosque By YONAT SHIMRON, Staff Writer The mosque at Shaw University could soon become an office space or a weight room for the football team, under a plan unveiled by the president of Shaw University to a group of students, professors and community activists. Muslims who worship at the mosque reacted with dismay to the announcement and said they planned to fight the move. At Friday services, Ihsan Bagby, a professor of international relations at the school and the mosque's prayer leader, or imam, told some 50 Muslims assembled that the university no longer welcomes them on campus. "My feeling is that this is not just a logistical question of space," said Bagby. "It's a deeper problem of certain Christians that do not want to see the presence of another religion." University President Talbert Shaw did not return repeated telephone calls and e-mail messages. But several people who attended the meeting with him on Thursday afternoon said the reason given for closing the mosque was lack of space. Although the university is building a new gym, it needs more space in the interim, participants said. Bruce Lightner, a community activist and a participant at the meeting, said there are creative ways to solve space problems, but that closing the mosque would be "tragic." "At a time when we need to be finding ways to better understand each other, the closing of this facility would send the wrong signal to the broader community that the university is not looking at the world view," Lightner said. The mosque at Shaw University was built through a $1 million gift from King Khalid of Saudi Arabia in 1983. The gift was arranged through the work of the late Urabi Mustafa, a Palestinian-born professor who founded the university's International and Islamic Studies Center and served as a senior senator in the Palestine Liberation Organization. Mustafa helped recruit a sizeable Middle Eastern student population to campus, and beginning in 1973 the university began receiving Arab money. In 1981, the Saudi royal family paid for the International Studies Building, which included a mosque on the second floor. Essentially a worship hall, the mosque is a modern-looking room with elaborate wood latticework. The Saudi gift helped lift the school out of its financial woes, said Mustafa's widow, Munawar, a retired professor of history. "Had it not been for what Urabi had done, the school would have collapsed," Mustafa said of her late husband. "He saved it." Although the university no longer has Middle Eastern students, the school has about 100 Muslim students, mostly West Africans and U.S. converts. It also has an active Muslim Student Association. Many of these Muslims worship at the mosque alongside community members who work in downtown Raleigh and prefer to pray there rather than heading across town to the Islamic Center off Ligon Street. "There may be people who have a misunderstanding that we're trying to make people change their religion," said Aliyah Muhammad, a sophomore who attended prayers Friday. "I'm very upset about it. We're not trying to make anyone change their religion." Bagby, who has functioned as the imam for the past four years, suggested that money may be the underlying issue and not space. Now that the mosque is not drawing Saudi money, the university may want the community to contribute to its upkeep. "Brothers and sisters, we've got a big challenge in front of us," he said at Friday prayers. "Our free ride here is over. No matter what happens, things are going to change. The least we're going to do is pay for this space. If you want this space to remain, you will have to make a commitment." The organization that runs the mosque, called the "Jamaa'ah At Taqwa" will hold an emergency meeting and elections on Sunday. Iyad Hindi, a Muslim who worships at the mosque on occasion, said he hoped the larger Muslim community in Raleigh would pitch in to help Shaw keep the mosque. "The Shaw University mosque is unique in its diversity and programs," Hindi said. "It's not just a physical space, it's a symbolic space where we get together. We will do our best to work with Shaw University to resolve the space issue." http://newsobserver.com/front/News/v-print/story/1568678p-1597725c.html |
| 07/24/02 at 15:26:36 |
| ahmer |
Madinat al-Muslimeen Islamic Message Board |