07 February 2008

Muslim Student Discusses Teaching Others About Islam

Nevine El Shazzley heads Muslim organization at Seton Hall University

The speaker is Nevine El Shazzley, a student at Seton Hall University in New Jersey and the president of "SALAAM," a Muslim organization on campus.

The video was produced on behalf of the Department of State by Whetstone Productions, a woman-owned media production and consulting firm dedicated to improved understanding about Islam and the Middle East.

(begin transcript)

[Bell ringing.]

Nevine El Shazzley: My name is Nevine El Shazzley.  I am a student at Seton Hall University, currently a junior.

Both my parents were born in Egypt, and I was born in Brooklyn, New York.  Well, the challenging thing about being a Muslim student in a Catholic university is that not a lot of people know about Islam and about the Muslim religion, and about Muslims in general. 

I have a work-study job.  I’m a lab consultant and I work in any of the computer labs that are on campus.

[Teacher:  What does rehabilitation look like?  And what are they like internally as a result of this?  Yes?

El Shazzley: I think this is where we can put the link between ...]

El Shazzley: The feminist theory class actually makes me think about women’s rights and I take from what I know from my religion and try to incorporate it inside the classroom as well.

I am currently the president of a Muslim organization on campus called “SALAAM,” which means peace.

This is our second iftar, and we invite both Muslims and non-Muslims to attend. 

We have a chance to educate people who may have maybe never even heard about Islam and it’s good to see that people are actually interested.

[Speaker: As you are going to college, I think that’s what they teach you.  You know, leadership 101, no obstacle is an obstacle, but every difficulty is an opportunity to rise above it and say I can do this.  Thank you very much for your attention.]

El Shazzley:  The challenging thing about being a student here during Ramadan is that we just have to go about our normal lives, just like we do every day, Ramadan or not.

[Slide:

Produced on Behalf of

The Department of State

by Whetstone Productions

AMERICA.GOV]

(end transcript)

(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)