Religious beliefs clash during Darwish lecture

The First Amendment of the constitution gives U.S. citizens some of their most treasured rights including the freedom of speech and the freedom of religion.

Tuesday night's lecture by Nonie Darwish demonstrated what can happen when these two freedoms cross paths.

Darwish, author of "Now They Call Me Infidel: Why I Renounced Jihad for America, Israel and the War on Terror," spoke against Islamic law, known as Sharia, during her Lecture-Concert Series presentation.

Darwish, originally from Egypt, was raised as a Muslim for the first 30 years of her life. After coming to America in 1997 to study, she said she found a new freedom and turned against Islam.

When it was announced Darwish would be the third speaker in this year's ASU Lecture-Concert Series, the Executive Board of the Muslim Student Association (MSA) voiced its concerns.

The leaders of the MSA sent a protest letter to ASU administrators and members of the Lecture-Concert Committee on behalf of the more than 300 Muslim students who attend ASU, claiming Darwish's presentation would cause a serious threat to these students.

In the letter, the MSA Executive Board included a quote from a YouTube video clip of a Darwish speech in which she said: "Islam is a poison to a society. It's divisive. It's hateful. Look what Islam is doing on our college campuses. It's full of anti-Semitism. It's going to turn us against one another. It's going to produce chaos in society. Because Islam should be feared, and should be fought, and should be conquered, and defeated, and annihilated and it's going to happen. Ladies and gentlemen, Islam is going to be brought down because Islam is based on lies and it's not based on the truth. I have no doubt whatsoever that Islam is going to be destroyed."

The protest letter listed reasons why it would be dangerous to host Darwish's presentation on campus, including that the fear of Muslims it might create would lead to bullying of Muslim students and to an increase in hate-related crimes against Muslims and personal injuries, and that it would not contribute to higher education.

Despite the MSA's request to cancel Darwish's lecture, Arkansas State University held the presentation in Centennial Hall at 7 p.m.

Muslims who said they came to hear another person's opinion about their religion made up the majority of the audience of more than 150 people.

Moosa Alraisi, a freshman business administration major of Muscat, Oman, said, "I wanted to see different opinions, and break through the stereotypes many people have about Muslims."

Before Darwish began her speech, Lecture-Concert Committee chair Timothy Crist introduced her and explained that ASU respects the rights protected by the First Amendment and read a brief statement from the president of the MSA, Siddique Aboobucker.

Aboobucker, in his statement, reminded the audience the lecture offered the view of one person and offered the chance for individuals to come talk to members of the MSA to get their take on Islam and information about Muslim beliefs.

During the lecture, Darwish told the story of coming to America and of how seeing a sign that read, "This organization does not discriminate against race, religion or gender" was a miracle for her and led her to new-found freedom and to break away from Islamic law and religion.

She emphasized that she was not criticizing individuals or religion, just the Islamic law, and she did not intend to offend anyone.

Darwish talked about Sharia being interpreted from the Quran, and how the Islamic religion is connected to its law.

"If a religion has a legal system that controls every aspect of life, it is no longer a private matter" Darwish said. "By assuming the role of government, it becomes open to criticism."

She recounted stories of people killed by Muslims for being Non-Muslim, especially Christians.

She told a story of a group of Christians in a country ruled by Sharia law being gunned down as they walked out of church on Christmas night.

At this point in the lecture, Aboobucker, the MSLA leader, quietly stood and walked out. Most of the more than 100 Muslims in the audience followed.

About 10 Muslims remained to hear the remainder of the lecture.

Following the lecture, Mohammed Alraisi, a freshman computer information technology major of Oman, said, "I was shocked when the large group of Muslims walked out, but I have a lot of respect for them. They did it quietly without protest, and respectfully left. They were expressing themselves in a civil way."

As the Muslims left, other audience members sitting in the back of the room near the doors shouted at them saying, "You cannot stand to hear the truth can you."

Continuing with her lecture, Darwish explained how in the Egyptian Constitution the Sharia is said to be the supreme law of the land and noted the penalty for altering or not following it was death.

She gave several examples of the rules of the Sharia. She said under Sharia law fleeing from combat is punishable by death, Islamic men are allowed to beat their wives, and Muslim women don't have equal rights.

Darwish said she believes the most dangerous aspect of the law is that a Muslim head of state is allowed to hold office through force or assassination, meaning anyone can seize power by force and become legitimate.

As Darwish spoke, a young, female Muslim sitting at the front of the room got up to go to the restroom, leaving her bag and books.

When she did, a man nearby said loudly in an alarmed tone that the woman had left her bag and stood to go inform police standing at the back of the room. His actions caused panic among those sitting close to where the woman had been seated.