Suhayb Anwar is a Muslim living in Oklahoma. He is a normal student at the University of Oklahoma. He has classes, midterms and bad professors, just like we all do. But he is also a practicing Muslim. This is a foreign religion to most people in Oklahoma and there are many misconceptions and judgments made because of what we have seen in the media and defined as our stereotypes.
Suhayb Anwar was born and raised in Norman, Oklahoma. He grew up eating the same food that most Americans eat but also the traditional foods of his parents home country, Pakistan. "The food that we eat is different than the American food that we eat over here, like rice and tandoori chicken, it's really good. It's different, like the spices are different as well, " said Anwar.
Anwar is a senior microbiology and pre-med major at OU. He is also the treasurer of the Muslim Student Association or MSA. Anwar refers to the MSA as a way for students to get information about Islam. He talks about how many people have misconceptions about his religion or just do not understand. For this reason, the MSA sets up a Dawah table in the Oklahoma Memorial Union every Wednesday. The Dawah table is designed for anyone to come and ask questions of the association.
The MSA also helps to organize events on campus raising awareness about Muslims and their beliefs. One of their most recent campus events was called The Think Fast Challenge: Abstain to Sustain. This was a challenge for people to participate in a day of fasting and then come to a dinner help in celebration of the end of Ramadan. They asked that the money that people normally would have spent on food that day be donated to charity. Their charity of choice for 2010 was the Oklahoma Food Bank.
There are also many people who will judge Muslims or people of Arab descent, just by their looks. Anwar comments that his sisters get looked at strangely when they wear their scarves. He also laughs as he tells about when his family travels. He says that they always seem to be targeted by random searches and are always pulled aside when they go through customs to be asked extra questions by the officials.
Anwar seems to have no hard feeling about these instances, but does say, "don't accept what the media tells you, everything, like they could be lying, you don't know that." If they have questions or do not understand Islam, then they should go out and find the answers. In today’s day and age it is so easy to find answers on the Internet. Or hopefully people will just begin visiting the table in the Dawah table in the OMU and ask questions.
Anwar finished the interview by saying that he loves his country and his state. Suhayb Anwar is a Muslim American, he is an Oklahoman; he does not just live here.
Text by: Page Grossman
Photo by: Ame Aziere
