Intra-faith Dailogue

Interfaith and Intra-faith Dialogue

In reference to the Karbala Event at Rutgers University, I want to say a few words to the Muslim students.

Monday 7:00 pm Busch Student Center MPR.

Some people confuse these events as an unorthodox soap opera. Some simply get confused by the title. Obviously, when was the last time you attended an event that talked about Karbala or the sacrifice of Imam Husain? What happened and why do some people mourn? Who is Imam Husain (r), Zainul ‘Abidin, Hasan? Some think to talk about Karbala is to become a deviant or support deviant ideologies. Some think it is a waste of time, they say “we have bigger and better things to do”. Some think Karbala never happened and that people made up this story. Some think talking about Karbala will engender schism amongst Muslims…

So many people act without knowledge and so many think without knowledge. College is a great learning experience. It is the time in one's life to go out to read and learn. However, some students have it backwards. They only want to learn what they already know. They fear knowledge because it may challenge some of precepts they have been taught by their 'authority' whether it is religious or cultural. They feel that they will not be able to critically digest "the other" and thus suffer from ID crisis - Intellectual Diarrhea.

One wonders if the proponents of truth are certain about their stance. But why do they fear falsehood so much? If truth is so strong and universal, why would it melt on the first sight of falsehood? How do you make an impression on truth unless they are not really convinced of their own ideology and hide their weakness by running out looking for an EXIT sign.

In conclusion, if you continue to read this, make college a great learning experience. Learn to live and live to learn. People of knowledge are not folks with shallow intellectual capacity who are so scared of the "other" (or convinced of their weakness) that they only learn to walk out.

"Do they not travel through the land, so that their hearts may thus learn wisdom and their ears may thus learn to hear? Truly it is not their eyes that are blind, but their hearts that are in their breasts." (Al-Hajj 22:46)