Islamophobia a result of Muslim intolerance

Maybe one of the reasons that Islamophobia is on the rise is the continued persecution by many predominantly Muslim countries that have existing death penalty laws of those who convert from Islam to Christianity, or any other religion. An example of this is the recent case involving Abdul Rahman of Afghanistan.

Does columnist Yusra Tekbali think that the senior Afghanistan Muslim clerics, such as Faiez Mohammed, who said, “”Abdul Rahman must be killed. Islam demands it,”” are correct in their interpretation of the Quran?

This case also begs the question: Where are Islam’s respect and tolerance for one’s personal faith if it is outside that of Islam? And I am not talking about America; I am talking about those Muslim countries of the world, of which there are many, that have similarly harsh laws for conversion to other faiths. If Islam is such a peaceful and tolerant religion, why do these laws even exist? What am I missing here?

Finally, please understand that I am not suggesting in the least that practicing Muslims are not nice people. On the contrary, all the Muslims that I know are really wonderful people and I have the highest regard for them.

Non-Muslims need to know about more than Mohammad

Yusra Tekbali’s call for more education about Islam (Friday’s “”Muslim informative efforts need support””) should be well-received. But non-Muslims need to know about more than the life of Mohammad. We need to know why a man was almost executed in Afghanistan for converting to Christianity, why young homosexual boys in Iran were hung in a public square, why a woman in Pakistan was gang-raped for her brother’s crimes. We need to know why Islam is abused in these ways, and what our American Muslim neighbors think about these tragedies.

Protect yourself, protect everyone else

In response to the editorial yesterday, “”No excuse for condom ignorance,”” there are numerous good points made. College students today neglect safe sex in many ways. However, to blame the misuse of condoms on people not paying attention in sex education would be wrong. People take sex education classes as early as fifth grade and are involved in a sexual atmosphere 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, thanks to the media. College students understand the use of a condom and how to properly use one. The problem is that students do not use the condoms because they are a hassle, especially when most of the sex in college is from a random hookup. Students without a sexual partner who are randomly “”hooking up”” do not come prepared for the sexual encounters. This is why there are so many people with STDs today. It is really not a lack of education that is the problem, but rather a lack of time. People need to make sure they take the time to protect themselves because protecting yourself is protecting everyone else.

Grad students should vote in representation election

An important question is being put before graduate students this week, of whether they should continue with Associated Students of the University of Arizona representation (which to date hasn’t satisfied their needs) or whether the Graduate and Professional Student Council should be the sole representative of graduate student concerns.

While student politics are often viewed as a pointless and vain distraction, this time it matters; remission and health insurance are more likely to improve with a yes vote for GPSC representation.

Visit www.uagradvoice.org to learn more about the issue, and vote this week at http://gpsc.arizona.edu.