“Our central mission has always been the support of the Harvard Muslim community. That includes some kinds of advocacy and education,” says Zayed M. Yasin ’02, former president of HIS.

Abdul-Basser and Yasin say that the recent unprecedented interest in Islam on campus has simply led HIS to “intensify” their efforts.

“In the longer term, I don’t see that HIS will fundamentally change, other than that their mission, which is go get information out about Islam, will be more important,” Abdul-Basser says. “Depending on how the media treats this, [the interest] may die out quickly and return to the previous level.”

Hamad says although SAS as an organization has not been altered by last month’s events, the group is focused on combating the stereotype of Arabs as “people with diapers on their heads.”

“We’re definitely going to have things next [semester] to show that we’re normal, we’re not a bunch of terrorists,” she says.

For starters, SAS is planning an Arab awareness week for next term in place of the Iraq and Palestinian awareness weeks they have had in past years.

“Instead of focusing on international issues we thought that focus on domestic affairs would probably be more appropriate just to show the campus who we are,” Hamad says.

Shah Mohammed and Yasin say that if anything good has come out of the Sept. 11 attacks, it is the popular effort to understand Islam.

“Whether or not there’s a war going on, there’s a lot of need for it in society,” Yasin says.

Shah Mohammed says he is also grateful for the support that the Harvard community has shown Muslims following the attack. While he has received three hate letters, he has gotten over 300 letters of support, he says.

The attack has also brought members of HIS closer together, according to Yasin.

“A lot of people had to choose whether they identified themselves as Muslim or not. The majority of people were drawn more into the Muslim community,” he says. “People have been praying more, having more social events, more movie nights.”

Reaching Out

Shah Mohammed says that the community’s interest in Islam following Sept. 11 has encouraged HIS to make themselves and their goals “more visible.”

Publicizing their organization and mission has long been a problem for HIS, says Mohammed, citing an event that HIS hosted last year featuring speeches by 30 prominent Muslims that got little publicity.