Hazel Gomez, a junior at Loyola University of Chicago, was raised in a Catholic family. Three years ago, she converted to the Muslim faith. At first, she said, her family was shocked and did not accept her decision, but eventually they supportive her.
“(Becoming a Muslim) is a test, and you have to try to pass it,” she said.
Gomez and three other Chicago-area students who converted to Islam shared their experiences Monday with an audience of about 75 people in Allison Hall. The event, sponsored by the Muslim-cultural Students Association, marked the beginning of Northwestern’s Islam Awareness Week.
The group began the event by reading from the Quran, which Muslims traditionally do before a gathering. They spent more than an hour talking about their personal experiences and opinions, then took questions from the audience.
All the panelists reflected on how their new faith has changed their lives. Gomez said she chose the religion because it “made more sense in so many aspects” of her daily life.
“By praying five times a day, we remember God in everything that we do,” Gomez said. “I find purpose for everything I do now.”
Aaron Siebert-Llera, a Northwestern doctoral student in sociology, said Islam promotes the type of lifestyle he’d always favored.
“It’s grounded me,” he said. “I didn’t drink or go to clubs, but, before, I had no reason for my lifestyle choices. Now I have a home to place my morals.”
Approximately three hundred undergraduate students at NU practice Islam, said Malika Bilal, co-president of McSA and a Medill senior. She said Islam Awareness Week is geared toward dispelling myths about the Muslim faith.
“It is important to tell people who we are and stop the misunderstandings (about Muslims),” she said. “We are not foreign, strange or weird, and we have a lot in common with Jews and Christians.”
Throughout the night, the panelists emphasized that many converts to Islam refer to themselves as reverts. A common Muslim belief states that everyone is born a Muslim, although some may stray from those beliefs because of their parents’ religion, they said.
Siebert-Llera said he spent several years investigating Islam and other religions before deciding Islam was the best fit for him. The media portrays the religion negatively, but the bad press has actually helped Islam, he said.
“It helped me want to find out more,” he said.
Weinberg freshman Saima Akhter, a McSA member who was raised as a Muslim, said she attended the discussion because she wanted to get a perspective on her religion from someone who did not grow up with her beliefs. Akhter said at times she took her faith for granted, but the panelists helped her remember how important it is all the time.
“Islam, it’s not a certain day, but it’s every day, every moment of your life,” she said.
Islam Awareness Week events continue until Friday and are listed online at http://groups.northwestern.edu/mcsa/iaw. From 7 to 9 p.m. tonight in Allison, speakers will discuss the similarities between Christianity, Judaism and Islam. On Thursday, McSA’s keynote speaker will be James Yee, one of the first Muslim chaplains in the U.S. Army Corps. Yee was assigned to Guantanamo Bay in 2003.
In addition to the nightly events, McSA members will be handing out hot chocolate at the Rock and running Islam Jeopardy games.
Reach Andrea Castillo at [email protected].
