IU Southeast and the World Affairs Council of Kentucky and Southern Indiana presented the topic of what it is like to be a Muslim in today’s American society.

The presentation was hosted by Aman Ali, 25, and Bassam Tariq, 24, who traveled the United States for 30 days and visited different mosques in different states every day.

“I jumped at the chance to bring them to IUS,” Cliff Staten, professor of political science and international studies, said.

Ali and Tariq discussed their trip and the many different values they learned. Ali works as a stand-up comic and Tariq as a filmmaker.

Their journey began on August 11, 2010, in New York City and ended in Dearborn, Mich. They traveled more than 13,000 miles and blogged about their adventure every night.

Their traveling also occurred during the Muslim celebration of Ramadan, the time when Muslims are required to go without food or drink from sunrise to sunset for the entire month.

The idea for “30 Mosques, 30 Days” stemmed from the idea Ali had in 2009 to stay in a different mosque every night in New York City during Ramadan.

The first mosque the pair visited was the Ground Zero mosque.

However, they said they did not want their trip to be a reaction to the controversy surrounding the mosque.

They also talked about their visit to the first mosque ever built in the United States. Located in Ross, N.D., the mosque was one of Ali’s favorite memories from the trip.

Originally, they had no plans to stop in Ross, N.D., but due to some car trouble, the two lost a lot of time and needed to find a mosque to visit.

“We found this almost lost piece of American history,” Ali said.

Ali said he felt there would be a sense of racism and animosity throughout America. However, he said it was a false perception of racism.

“We were whole-heartedly embraced,”Ali said.

The entire trip was documented by Tariq’s camera, which they got into trouble with a few times. Tariq was asked to delete pictures during a few of their stops.

Their blog was supposed to contain pictures of what they had just experienced. Instead, the blog was uploaded with pictures Tariq drew of the day they had experienced.

A few students talked with Ali and Tariq about

their experiences.

“As a Muslim, I thought it was interesting to talk about religion without bringing in politics,” Eman Alaraj, international studies senior, said.

Irena Sokolova, international studies junior, also said he found the presentation to be insightful.

“I think it’s really interesting,” he said. “Islam is not what is perceived by the media.”

Ali and Tariq said they were not there to try to demean anyone’s beliefs. They said they wanted to take this journey so they would have some good stories to tell.

The trip was funded through donations on their website. They raised $6,000 in less than a week and half through the social networking site Twitter.

The idea for the blog came from their followers, as well.

Ali and Tariq plan to do “30 Mosques, 30 Days” again in 2011 and also visit the 20 states they did not go to in 2010, such as Alaska and Hawaii.

“If we just step out of our own comfort zones, there’s a lot we can learn about our community,” Tariq said.

By JOSHUA WILSON

Staff

wilsjosh@ius.edu