A visiting lecturer from Istanbul, Turkey, proved that terrorism should not be associated with Islam using passages from the Koran on Monday night.
"Scholars and leaders of the Muslim world have for decades continued to denounce terrorism and violence," said Ali Sadun Engin, Ph.D., from the Science Research Foundation. "Islam itself means peace, it is self evident...the scripture speaks for itself on the issue."
Engin said that the root of the word "Islam" is "salaam," which means peace, and the religion's holy book outright denounces the random killings that characterize terrorism.
"All forms of terrorist attacks are roundly condemned in Islam. According to the Koran, it is a great sin to kill an innocent person, and anyone who does so will suffer great torment," Engin said.
Members of the Muslim Student Association (MSA) brought Engin to UB to explain Islamic values to students.
"There is a great need for everyone in the public to recognize that Islam promotes peace and justice for all humanity," said former SA President Viqar Hussain.
The lecture was also designed to clear up misconceptions about Islam, according to Obada Shamaa, one of the event coordinators and former MSA president.
"There are a lot of questions about Islam and about what [Muslims] represent. [There is] especially fear in light of what people see on the news and what they hear," Shamaa said. "Basically, this event was to combat the ignorance people have about Islam and to encourage dialogue and discussion."
Rather than connecting terrorism to any religion, Engin established a relationship between terrorism and dictatorial, fascist and communist governments.
"Different ideologies have resulted in terrorism in the past," Engin said. "Thirty million people were killed during Stalin's bloody reign in the Soviet Union for falling foul of communist ideologies."
For Michael Glenn, a junior linguistics major, the correlation was a new idea.
"I wanted to hear a Muslim point of view on terrorism, and I learned a lot about how all of the terrorism that has happened is due to fascist and communist dictatorships. Suicide bombs and other attacks that are said to be in the name of Islam are contrary to what the religion actually stands for," Glenn said.
The talk inspired Aalya Khan, a sophomore health and human services major, to learn more about the issue.
"I never really thought about what the root of terrorism was, but after hearing this lecture I want to look deeper into the topic," Khan said.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
