Eight members from the Muslim Student Association held a night prayer yesterday to show their support for the AU Muslim chaplain after The Eagle reported Monday that a Muslim charity he heads, the World Assembly of Muslim Youth, is under investigation for connection with terrorist groups.
MSA is circulating a petition to express its concerns with The Eagle's article and editorial, which it felt were unclear in reporting if the alleged ties with terrorism were directed toward Muslim Chaplain Fadel Soliman or his organization. Most students present said the article was factual and balanced; however, they rejected the staff editorial's proposal for Soliman to "consider distancing himself from the AU community as a way to protect the reputation of the AU Muslim Community."
"The basic thing in a night prayer is that we must not believe that whenever hardships in life occur we go first to Allah," said Wael Qassim, treasurer of the MSA, "and so this night prayer is affirming that we seek the fusion of law first and then we do whatever we can do in our ability and our capabilities."
According to Tahir Jamil, vice president of MSA, the main goal is to show the chaplain support and to also show the AU community that the group supports him and his innocence wholeheartedly.
"Those students, I learn from them, from the past two years," Soliman said. "I learn from their enthusiasm working to educate non-Muslims about Islam and Muslims, [that] can be done with more passion. And I really can't explain my feelings towards them about the support for me and my family."
Soliman's wife, Sherine Ibrahim, came to the prayer with her 10-year-old daughter and 7-year-old son.
"I'm not happy with this because it is not true," Ibrahim said. "He has nothing to do with anything and I don't know what [The Eagle is] talking about."
Ibrahim defends her husband and said that she wishes him to be safe and appreciates the prayer from the students.
"I'm going to stand next to my husband ... I mean nothing will happen because there's nothing." Ibrahim said.
Soliman thanked each one of his supporters individually before the prayer and said he is thankful to his wife for her patience.
"I hope people will discover the truth and will know that Muslims can be true friends and brothers and that in Islam there is a solution for a lot of our problems," Soliman said.
He also said that he was thankful for the support of University Chaplain Joe Eldridge and Assistant Vice President of Campus Life Gary Wright, who had been very "cooperative with the Muslim community on campus, especially after Sept. 11, 2001"
"I think [the prayer] underscores what the University chaplain has said that one Muslim student hasn't expressed any dissatisfaction with the Imam," Wright said.
Wright hopes that students would be patient and not rush to judgment.
"In the Muslim community, they decide who will be their spiritual leader. If they lose confidence in that leader, then they no longer will recognize him," Wright said.
Adel Aitghezala, a member of MSA and graduate student, said Soliman is a kind man and describes him as a man who can walk into a room and make everyone feel comfortable.
"I feel [it is] part of my Islamic duty, part of my community duty outside of the context of my Islamic duty, [to show my support]," he said.
Aitghezala, who is from Algeria, is studying comparative studies in the Middle East specializing in Islamic political movements and the Arab-Israeli conflict. He considers Soliman a friend.
"I believe in the concept innocent before proven guilty as well as the system of law in this country," Aitghezala said. "And no judgment, can be made until conclusions come to mind."
In a petition, the MSA said that the editorial in particular, has the "potential to seed anti-Muslim aggression and sentiments." They felt that the editorial proposal in The Eagle "violated Soliman's basic right of fair representation and demand a retraction for comments aimed at defaming his reputation," the petition said.
"Solidarity was being shown today," senior and MSA member Abid Chaudhry said. "The campus is accepting who we are and for The Eagle to have an editorial which openly attempts to present that the chaplain is guilty by insinuating, goes against the idea that tolerance and unity is among campus."
Aitghezala points out that while he does agree that everyone has the right to believe in their own opinions, The Eagle's editorial was slightly presumptuous to even suggest that Imam distance himself from the AU community and on the smaller level from the AU community, he said.
"They at times play on lack of knowledge about Islam, Islamic charity groups, Islamic political movements and the Middle East and as a result of that," Aitghezala said in response to articles in general. "It's very easy to mislead or to mold public opinion on an issues such as this."
According to Jamil, after Sept. 11, the Muslim community not only in America but all over the world had fingers pointed at them and that the Islamic students feel that Rhe Eagle's published editorial and article can give raise to more animosity towards the Muslim community.
"We do feel that The Eagle had not realized the gravity such an article [and that it is] necessary that people understand the situation we are facing the world," Jamil said.
"Our main fear, because of The Eagle article and editorial, is that people will ostracize and have a negative view of our chaplain and Muslims in general"
