Feedback from some of the grade 11 and 12 students. These students were in public education system and all of them were non-Muslims.
“WHAT WERE SOME OF THE ACTIVITY
HIGHLIGHTS FOR YOU DURING THIS FOUR-DAY WORKSHOP?”
Islam 101 - Syed Soharwardy
1.
The third thing that I enjoyed
was the presentation about Muslims. I really saw a lot of their culture was
similar to the beliefs of my religion. And I am sometimes on the receiving end
of the stereotyping that Muslims receive so I understood where he was coming
from.
2.
The Islam Presentation.
I was surprised to see all the stereotypes that we could come up with... Even
at myself. You do not really realize how you think of these people until you
put it on paper.
3. One other thing I liked was where the Arab person (I cannot actually remember his name) came and talked to us about the Muslim culture and the common misconceptions.
4.
Islam 101. Certainly my favourite presentation. He was
just so straightforward and showed me a side of Islam that I sure did not see
on CNN. I never knew all of those things about the Muslim faith, and I am so
glad that I was able to listen to it.
5. Another thing that I found really good was Islam 101. I believe now that if I were ever to leave Atheism and choose a religion, it would be the Muslim faith because I believe (just my belief) that the Muslim faith is one of the best religions. It includes other faiths within it and has a little bit more to boot. I also enjoy how the presenter of the Islam/Muslim stereotypes can just laugh at our summed up stereotypes. He reminded me of myself because I can laugh at my ethnicity and all the stereotypes that go along with it.
6.
2) Islam 101 was incredibly eye
opening for me. Before that night, I knew zilch about Islam or the Muslim
people and it was great to hear that most of the stereotypes I even had before,
were false. Since then I have had a greater respect for the people within my
school that have the courage to wear their hair covers around knowing that most
people see them and automatically think "terrorists". I could not
imagine dealing with that kind of thing on a daily basis.
7. The Islam 101 I learned so much about the extremists in the Muslim culture and I have so much respect for Muslim people and it really did change my life.
8.
The Islam 101 presentation was
absolutely amazing, also. It was incredible to learn so much about a culture
that has kind of been unknown to me, and to have had so many stereotypes
cleared up. I felt as if I could have listened to him talk for hours and hours.
9.
The Islamic speaker was also
very good at opening my eyes to Islamic perspective and their view on things. I
learned that most Muslims are great people and worthy of our utmost respect. I
think Syed was an amazing person and was excellent at explaining concepts.
10. My favourite experience was when the Islamic person came in; he was the only person that actually kept me awake. It was very interesting. Our school will hopefully understand when we have the Muslim guy come in next week. Maybe it will change people’s thoughts on Muslims as it did for us!
11. 2. The Islamic guy... sorry I cannot remember names all too well; he
made me think of what Islamic have to go though on a daily basis.
(Note: For privacy reasons, names of students have been removed)
January 23, 2007
Greetings Mr. Soharwardy,
The program was very successful...thank-you so much for sharing with us. I had many people come up to me expressing how happy they were and how amazed they were of the similarities between Islam and Christianity. You are doing such a great service for people.
Let me know if you will be giving other
talks in
With much gratitude,
Rotary Club of
