Imam's Speech Misconstrued

While we appreciated The Crimson's recent coverage of Islam Awareness Week (Nov. 7-11, 1994), we were disturbed by The Crimson article ("Author: West Wars against Islam," news story, Nov. 9) on the speech of Imam Imran Hosein. Rather than focusing on the content of the speaker's presentation, the article only rehashed false but popular stereotypes of Muslims. Such a portrayal was a keen disappointment, especially in week observed by Muslim organizations nationwide with the hope of increasing the community's understanding of Islam.

Imran Hosein spoke on "Islamic Family Values: the Sacred Place of Marriage in Islam." But the headline and lead of the article focused instead on comments the speaker made at the tail end of the presentation in response to a question fielded from the audience these comments had little to do with his discussion of gender, family, and spirituality. By highlighting his political views and not the bulk of his presentation. The Crimson misrepresented the speaker's overall message.

The article also stated that Hosein said, "Men must have authority, and women must submit." What was left out of the quotation and article was his qualification of the statement; he went on to say that while some of the roles of men and women in the household are different, this does not make either sex superior or inferior to the other. In fact, he explicitly denied the superiority of man. Presenting the analogy of a factory, the Imam said that a man is like the "security guard" of his family, while a woman acts as "manager." In different circumstances, a different partner takes the lead. The Crimson's article also omitted one of Imam Hosein's cardinal points: that the foremost quality needed in marriage is platonic love, and after that, mutual kindness.

Furthermore, the article said that Imam Hosein "denied the validity of other religions" and quoted him as saying: Truth is Allah and Allah is one. Therefore, truth is one." This statement needs clarification. "Allah" is the Arabic term for the one God, no different from the God worshipped by Jews. While Islam certainly affirms that truth is uniform since there is only one God, it does not deny the validity of monotheistic faiths like Judaism and Christianity. The Qur'an, the holy book of Islam, shows that Islam is a continuation of the Abarahamic faith as revealed over time to Prophets including David, Moses, Jesus and finally Mohammad (peace be upon all them).

Students who attended Imran Hosein's lecture were shocked by The Crimson's characterization of the speech. It seems that the reporter sought to highlight the most potentially provocative or controversial aspects of the lecture. In doing this, however, and in stripping the speaker's points of the context in which they were made, the article distorted the speaker's message and content. Consistent with this inattention to journalistic standards found in The Crimson's coverage was the misspelling of the name of the holy book, the Qur'an.

The purpose of Islam Awareness Week was in part to correct the misconceptions of Islamic intolerance, violence and sexism. We appreciate the three-day Crimson coverage of Islam Awareness Week, especially the very balanced article covering Islam Awareness Week's multi-ethnic dinner and speech of Sulayman Nyang ("Scholar Addresses Islamic Values During Dunster House Gathering," Nov. 10). We hope that in the future all articles fairly represent Muslim views and values rather than spotlight the negative and reinforce misconceptions. --Shirin Sinner '98 Islam Awareness Week Publicity Coordinator   Mohammad Asmal '95 Vice President, Harvard Islamic Society