Muslim students struggle to unify a group with disparate identities
In the article, a Hopkins student responsible for stocking a reading room with Islamic texts said that she had been told by JHUMA to remove some of the books by Shiite authors because there were too many of them.
The statement shocked the Hopkins campus, particularly JHUMA's leaders, who claimed that they had never promoted inter-Muslim tensions.
"What the Times said was the complete opposite of the way it is here," JHUMA President Omair Javed said. He emphasized that JHUMA gives all Muslims in the association the "prerogative to worship as they see fit," pointing to a prayer room in the lower level of the IFC. The room is small, faces eastward and has a prayer rug for anyone to use.
Javed explained that Muslims who use the room are either going for daily prayers between classes, since Muslims pray five times per day, or to pray in a different manner from the regular services. The services in the chapel are targeted toward a general group of worshippers rather than being sect-specific. "Anyone is welcome to come here and practice their faith," Javed said.
Javed wears Western clothes, and from the way he talks, one gets the sense that he knows how to transcend cultural boundaries. He declined to comment on his ethnic and national background, saying that he preferred to identify himself as Muslim, and that all other distinctions, whether sectarian, cultural or gender-based, are secondary.
Farah Qureshi, last year's president of JHUMA, was heavily involved in the reaction to the Times article.
She said that right after the article was published, JHUMA had a "town hall" type of meeting with the students in the association to hear what people had to say. Qureshi acknowledges that there have been occasional complications due to differences in people's interpretations of faith. Some people in the community have a more conservative view: They push for stricter separation of men and women and try to promote more conservative dress, among other things. In these cases, a compromise of some sort could usually be found. Qureshi was shocked that anyone would think sectarian discrimination existed on campus.
The statement shocked the Hopkins campus, particularly JHUMA's leaders, who claimed that they had never promoted inter-Muslim tensions.
"What the Times said was the complete opposite of the way it is here," JHUMA President Omair Javed said. He emphasized that JHUMA gives all Muslims in the association the "prerogative to worship as they see fit," pointing to a prayer room in the lower level of the IFC. The room is small, faces eastward and has a prayer rug for anyone to use.
Javed explained that Muslims who use the room are either going for daily prayers between classes, since Muslims pray five times per day, or to pray in a different manner from the regular services. The services in the chapel are targeted toward a general group of worshippers rather than being sect-specific. "Anyone is welcome to come here and practice their faith," Javed said.
Javed wears Western clothes, and from the way he talks, one gets the sense that he knows how to transcend cultural boundaries. He declined to comment on his ethnic and national background, saying that he preferred to identify himself as Muslim, and that all other distinctions, whether sectarian, cultural or gender-based, are secondary.
Farah Qureshi, last year's president of JHUMA, was heavily involved in the reaction to the Times article.
She said that right after the article was published, JHUMA had a "town hall" type of meeting with the students in the association to hear what people had to say. Qureshi acknowledges that there have been occasional complications due to differences in people's interpretations of faith. Some people in the community have a more conservative view: They push for stricter separation of men and women and try to promote more conservative dress, among other things. In these cases, a compromise of some sort could usually be found. Qureshi was shocked that anyone would think sectarian discrimination existed on campus.