The Muslim Cultural Students Association’s Islam Awareness Week concluded Thursday night with an address by the man who represented Salim Hamdan, one of Osama bin Laden’s chauffeurs in a Supreme Court case in 2006.
Georgetown Law Professor Neal Katyal’s speech, titled “Guantanamo Bay on Trial: Toppling the President’s Terror Tribunals” detailed his winning argument against the Bush administration’s denial of human rights as provided by the Geneva Convention to the detainees of Guantanamo Bay detention facility.
“[Hamdan v. Rumsfeld] showcased what America is. Even if the President makes a mistake, the system corrects itself,” Katyal said. “A man accused of conspiring with Osama bin Laden went against the most powerful man in the world. In other countries, he would have been shot. I, his lawyer, would have been shot.”
Nearly 80 people braved the below zero weather to attend the event at Ryan Auditorium.
“Popular support didn’t help somebody who drove around bin Laden,” said McCormick senior Mohanned El-Natour, who attended the event. “But over time and through the bureaucracy of the legal system, justice prevailed.”
The speech was preceded by a candlelight vigil honoring those affected by the recent events in Gaza at Alice Millar Chapel, where the National Office Manager of American Muslims for Palestine, Awad Hamdan, spoke.
“There is probably not a single glass window left in Gaza,” said Hamdan to the 30 people at the vigil. “We demand of the media to report this crisis accurately.”
Earlier in the week, McSA brought about discussion of the conflict in Gaza, feminism and the connections Islam has with other religions.
Wednesday evening, McSA arranged a panel of four speakers for “Gaza Under Siege: Context, Conflict and Call for Action.”
“This [year's Islam Awareness Week] had more of a political tone, but that’s obviously because of the political climate,” said a Weinberg junior and McSA member who led the prayers at the vigil. “Make an effort to educate yourself. Once you realize the truth, there’s no way any feeling human being would stand by such a statement [justifying Israel].”
On Tuesday, Chicago actress, activist, poet and fashion designer Jamila Tasleem Firdausee spoke in Allison Hall on her conversion to Islam and how it affected her identity as an African-American woman.
“What I love about Islam, it’s about the discipline. Christianity left too many questions open,” Firdausee said.
Firdausee addressed the stereotype of the oppressed Muslim woman in her talk.
“I saw the stereotypes too at first, but I learned to see the difference. The women I met were very educated and traveled internationally a lot,” said Firdausee. “I find Islam very empowering to women. In the Qur’an, it says ‘Paradise lies at the feet of your mother.’”
On Monday, Professor Ruediger Seesemann, who teaches the popular Introduction into Islam course at Northwestern, spoke on the “Divine Ties that Bind: Abraham, Moses and Jesus.”
“It was a great effort put forth by the Muslim Cultural Students Association,” said Weinberg freshman Sara Kashani. “Through all their events this year, we agree it was effective in educating the Northwestern community and bringing McSA together.”