Western Washington University – Islam Awareness Week

 One would think the University’s president,
board of trustees and alumni would do a better job
at vetting who is allowed on campus.  Diversity is
one thing, but allowing a speaker with a documented
history of promoting domestic violence against
women is another. 

May 12 -16 was Islam Awareness Week at Western Washington University (WWU), an annual event sponsored by the WWU Muslim Students Association (MSA).

The University’s independent student newspaper, The Western Front,  featured the event with an article that included:

“The goal of [Islam Awareness Week] is to touch on a lot of misconceptions and misrepresentation of Muslims and Islam,” said Western junior Nafeesa Imtiaz, MSA club president and bicultural anthropology major. “Oftentimes students and community members don’t really have any idea what Islam is.”

A common misunderstanding is why women wear a head scarf known as the hijab, and believe its oppressive to women, Imtiaz said.

“The purpose of it is not to oppress a woman,” Imtiaz said. “Personally, I think wearing the hijab is very liberating.”

The week’s schedule includes several speeches, including Woman In Islam.

Of particular note was the participation of Iman Wasim Fayed,  of the Sammamish, WA Mosque.

Iman Wasim Fayed came to light  in 2011 when he appeared in a Da’wah workshop video that was reported by Kim Edwards .   Two controversial items are part of  Wasim Fayed’s instructional lecture:

Deception is allowed …

… when spreading the word of Islam.  This portion of the video stresses that when engaging in Da’wah:

Don’t say anything that in font of Allah on the day (of judgement) you’re going regret.

If you can’t say the truth because it’s going to incriminate you or put you in a bad spot, better not to say anything. But if you are able to say it, then say it.

Hitting your wife is permitted …

… but be gentle.   Watching this entire portion of the video is recommended so that there can be no claims of his comments being taken out of context.  The key points are  made around the 8 minute mark:

If your woman want to remove her hijab, wants to walk on the streets, wants to do whatever she wants – and she’s actually destroying the family structure, destroying the family structure, disobeying her husband … what do you do? You advise her.

She refuses … after that, you leave them. You don’t approach them, at night in the bed. You stay away from them and you punish them.

First talk to them, then put them in time out.

But if they insisted – then you hit them. Be very gentle. You don’t go and beat them up and bruise them or let the blood come out of them. That is not what Islam teach us.

According to a Facebook post on the WWU MSA page:

Wassim Fayed is a Principal PM Program Manager at Microsoft. He owns the core management protocols for Windows Derver. Wassim Fayed is one of the original founders of the Sammamish Muslim Association (Sammamish Masjid). He currently sits on the board of trustees and is currently acting as the Masjid’s Imam.

With the will and help of Allah Azza Wa Jall, Wassim completed Hifz (memorization) of the Qur’an in 2009.

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

COMMENT/ANALYSIS:  The irony here is the Western Washington University event is billed as clearing up misconceptions and features Iman Wasim Fayed – an individual who justifies deception in promoting Islam as well as domestic violence on women.    Take note of MSA club president Nafeesa Imtiaz’s comments about how a hijab is not oppressive, but “very liberating.”  According to Iman Wasim Fayed, removal of a hijab is justification to hit a woman – but gently – so as not to bruise or draw blood.

The above linked videos were originally on Youtube.com but were reportedly removed because of a claim of copyright infringement.  We suspect that the removal was probably more related to not wanting the public to know what is actually being promoted behind the doors of some mosques across the country.

One would think the University’s president, board of trustees and alumni would do a better job at vetting who is allowed to speak on campus.  Diversity is one thing, but allowing a speaker with a documented history of promoting domestic violence against women is another. 

As we noted in Islam “Awareness” in Wyoming,   the overall mission behind most of these awareness campaigns is to facilitate Da’wah, the proselytizing or preaching of Islam.  It is one of the roles of MSA but reason behind the campaigns is seldom promoted that way.

Most campus MSA groups fall under the guidance of MSA National.  The MSA was created in the 1960s by Muslim Brotherhood members at at the University of Illinois.  As  reported by The Global Muslim Brotherhood Daily Watch, “key figures in the MSA, as well as others linked to the Muslim Brotherhood, went on to form numerous other organizations, many of which have been recently identified by the US government in court documents as part of the U.S Brotherhood.”

On March 7, 2014, CAIR-WA presented “Lobbying 101 training for Muslim Student Association at WWU“