Karsen Breanne
For the past few years, Swansea University Islamic Society has been hosting Islamic Awareness Week- a weeklong event dedicated to sharing the true teachings of Islam to interested students and staff, and is a national initiative hosted by Islamic Societies across the United Kingdom. Throughout the week, there is a marquee set up outside Fulton House, complete with an educational exhibition, literature, culture, Islamic artifacts henna, try on a hijab/thobe, Arabic calligraphy, snacks and more. The exhibition is open to all to come enjoy, hang out, and ask any questions they may have regarding Islam- from the Muslims students themselves here at Swansea University. Islamic Awareness Weeks in the past have even shown to have 7-8 people reverting to Islam in the week alone- due to what they learned from the Muslim students they spoke with in the marquee. As a revert to Islam; that is truly a beautiful thing to imagine, and I can only hope that the least we can do is open some people’s eyes to the true teachings of Islam so that there may be a better understanding of various beliefs and backgrounds within the Swansea University population.
As unfortunate as it may be; in recent times, the views of Islam have developed as predominately negative due to less than accurate portrayals by marginal groups and Western media. Therefore; it is more important than ever for the Muslim community in Swansea to make themselves available to the wider community for discussion and engagement, in order to bridge gaps by a means of understanding. A huge aspect of what makes Swansea such a wonderful University to attend is its consistent celebration of not only diversity, but unity. The student population at Swansea is composed of individuals from 130 different countries, and being an international student myself I can definitely vouch for that. There is such an array of cultures, backgrounds, and ideals- which is something I feel makes Swansea truly special.
In addition to the exhibition; we (the Islamic Society) will be hosting lectures throughout the week done by guest speakers, one in particular in correlation with International Women’s Days on Tuesday the 8th of March. Ameira Bahadur Kut-kut will be giving a talk on women in Islam- a topic that comes with many misconceptions. Therefore, who better to deliver the topic than a woman in Islam? The exhibition will be held the week commencing the 7th March, and will continue until Friday the 11th March in front of Fulton House- daily from 9am-5pm. More detailed information regarding the lectures being held can be found on our Facebook page, and if you have any questions please feel free to get in touch! We look forward to speaking with you, and hope you enjoy Islamic Awareness Week 2016.
