Tufts' celebration of Islamic Awareness Week began last night with a speech by Imam Sohaib Sultan, the author of the 2004 book "The Koran for Dummies" and the Muslim chaplain for Trinity College and Wesleyan University.
His lecture, which was entitled "Islam & Pluralism," was held in Tisch 304 and was sponsored by Tufts' Muslim Students Association and the Office of the University Chaplaincy.
Throughout his speech, Sultan discussed the necessity of inter- and intra-faith communication. "People will be attracted in their search for God to different paths," he said. "The question is: Does the Koran talk about the fact that people have different paths [to] religion?"
He argued that the Koran does address this issue. Members of different religions "do believe in very similar notions," he said. "But at the same time, we have differences, and these differences can be talked about in a very civil manner."
Sultan said that education is an important means of spurring communication between religions, noting that "the college campus is where this education must happen."
Islamic Awareness Week will continue today with the screening of short films and the presentation of student skits in Mugar 231 at 8 p.m.
According to junior and Muslim Students Association President Shirwac Mohamed, the purpose of the events that will occur throughout the week is to work toward dispelling the variety of misconceptions that exist about Islam and to draw distinctions between religion and politics.
"This can't be done in a week, but we want to try our best to inform people about the religion," he said.
-by Rebekah Sokol
