To counteract negative stereotypes and promote an understanding of their religion, the Muslim Students' Association of MSU designated Oct. 11-15 as Islam Awareness Week.
"Our goal is not to preach. We aren't here to debate. We simply want to create and spread awareness about the Islamic faith around the MSU community," said Kashif Saleem, president of the association and an accounting sophomore.
Awareness Week is an event hosted by most branches of the association, which is a nationwide student group. The University of Michigan branch held the event last week.
The association has a booth operating 8:30 a.m.-3 p.m. daily until noon Friday at the International Center to respond to interest in Islam.
Saleem said student interest has been satisfactory and many people have accepted a free English translation of the Quran.
Some of the people who stop by the table have been drawn in by the opportunity to have their name written in Arabic, the official language of Islam, Saleem said.
The association also has scheduled lectures about Islam throughout the week as part of the event.
"Human Development in the Quran and Other Modern Sciences" is at 7:45 p.m. today and will be presented by Ramzi Mohammad, an associate professor in the School of Medicine at Wayne State University.
"Islam 101," the Monday lecture presented by Hassan Khalil, the association's faculty adviser, covered the basics of the religion, such as the five pillars of faith - declaration of faith, prayer, fasting, alms and pilgrimage - and the history of Islam.
The lecture touched on issues that will be addressed later this week, such as the religion's position on peace, which will be discussed at the lecture "Does Islam Promote Tolerance?" on Thursday at 7:45 p.m.
Islam is a peaceful religion, Khalil said, and he outlined Monday how the religion expects Muslims to respect humanity and work together to spread peace and justice.
After the lectures, food is served and there is time for the audience to discuss questions and issues about Islam.
The treatment of women and the violence between Muslims and non-Muslims and the Sunni and Shia sects was addressed following the presentation Monday.
"Many times people tie events that have to do with terrorism to the teachings of Islam and that couldn't be farther away from the truth," Khalil said.
"The goal of my lecture, and Awareness Week altogether, is to give people the chance to learn about Islam from the sources."
Mike Malloch, an administrative assistant in the Asian Studies Center, said he found the Monday presentation informative and planned to attend the other lectures.
"There needs to be more education about Islam as it varies worldwide," he said. "This forum is a good start for that."
