NUS Students Clear Up the Struggle Within

By Nadya Huang

In an bid to correct the slant in which mainstream media has framed the concept of ‘Jihad’, the National University of Singapore’s Muslim society organised the Islamic Awareness Week 2010.

Themed “Embracing Jihad: the Struggle Within”, the event was held in the National University of Singapore on Feb. 22.

One of the organizers, Sofia Jasmani, said, “People will only remember the war and killings from the news, but Jihad simply means ‘a struggle within’. We practice it in our everyday lives like if we have difficulty in our homework or chores. That’s a struggle within too.”

The student organizers started the project to foster better public understanding of Islam. To the students, it is an important event as it is one of few that reaches out to beyond the Muslim community.

“We want to help people to differentiate the teachings of Islam and being Muslim from the picture that has been formed in the media,” said Jasmani.

Leonard Tham, a third year Economics student from the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, said, “I think it is important for people to understand Islam, especially with the recent burning of several churches in Malaysia.”

The week-long event had many different activities to engage the public. Jasmani said, “We wanted to choose different, more engaging programmes other than just talks to attract the audience.”

This included a debate on Monday evening about “Terrorism: Is Islam Against it?” Two students took opposing stands to debate the issue in front of an audience of 60, some of whom are from other universities such as the Nanyang Technological University and the Singapore Management University.

An interactive exhibition was held at the Central Library foyer, with posters explaining Islamic concepts such as ‘jihad’ and ‘halal’.

The response to the event has been positive, according to Jasmani.

She said, “People have been reading our posters and joining in the activities we have organized. They’re asking us questions to clarify their doubts.”

Tan Ju Ling, a fourth year student who was at the exhibit said, “I think the exhibition in the library foyer has been good – very interesting and informational.”

“The week has been a success so far in the sense we managed to reach our target audience, but we know we can only really reach people who are interested to know more,” said Jasmani.