The Muslim Student Association shared their take on who Jesus was at their “Jesus in Islam” event Thursday evening in the SUB Ballrooms.
As students walked through the door, they were welcomed by the MSA with a notebook, pen and a free MSA t-shirt. Before the lecture start- ed, everyone was given a short quiz to test his or her knowledge of the Quran and the Bible.
Before guest speaker Khalil Mahmoud started his lecture, he said that the purpose of this event was to in- form, not conform.
“ [This is] to increase knowledge and challenge our own thoughts, sharing what we think to further understand each other,” Mahmoud said.
According to the Quran, Jesus was an “important link in the chain of prophets,” or a true prophet of God, but he did not represent the Son of God as mentioned in the Bible.
Though Jesus’ works were mentioned throughout, his cruci xion in the Quran does not match the one in the Bible. In fact, it does not even mention that it was Jesus who was cruci ed.
“Some Muslims believe He died and some believe that God ascend- ed him into heaven,” Mahmoud said during the Q&A portion.
As MSA Vice-President Rashid Almostaneer looked around at the students, he knew that this event was to inform others about the Islamic faith, ULM alumnus Cody Connally thought this was a great way to clarify that no one should condemn a religion based on some- one’s character.
Connally performed in a skit that evening that featured an example of the xenophobia Muslims may face. In the skit, Connally reassured a woman that everyone does not think that way.
“They portray on TV…that they’re all terrorists. Take any religion or race. It takes a couple of extremists to ruin it for a lot of people,” Connally said.
e event wound down with door prizes and a plethora of food wrapped around the back ballroom. ere was a spread of fried rice, four different types of chicken, seafood dishes and even Dominos pizza.
