A group of ten degree students at IIIT France visited The Fairfax Institute at IIIT to attend a course on History and Sociology of Islam in America in early March. Students accomplished course objectives through a series of field visits and lectures at IIIT and several institutions in the Washington area. These included American institutions such as the U.S. Congress, universities such as George Mason and Georgetown, national Muslim organizations, such as CAIR and ISNA, mosques such as Mustafa Center, Masjid Muhammad, and ADAMS Center, and the traveling exhibit of Collections and Stories of American Muslims.

The diverse group of men and women in their mid-twenties to mid-fifties, most of them on their first visit to the United States, also experienced American culture through visits to museums where, among other things, they viewed the IMAX film on Ibn Battuta. The group attended the opening prayer at the U.S. House of Representatives delivered by the Muslim chaplain at Duke University, and joined the Jumu'a prayers on Capitol Hill. They socialized with IIIT staff and friends and families at dinners hosted by IIIT leaders.

 

“Time seems to have stopped,” said one of the students as she observed the Muslim chaplain deliver the  prayer at the House. She and her group intently observed people's representatives taking the oath of allegiance before they left to continue their field visit.

 

“Despite what we hear about problems around the world, I am impressed by the respect Muslims get in America,” observed another student. At each place, the group attended presentations and lectures from a number of scholars and activists who addressed different aspect of  Muslim presence in America. At IIIT itself, the group attended lectures by IIIT leadership on the history and role of IIIT, as well as on Islamic finance and education.

This was the second year that students from the academic program at IIIT France came to the United States for this course. The group arrived on February 28 and departed on March 6. They offered their impressions of the visit at the graduation ceremony on Friday, March 5 when they received their certificates for having completed the program successfully.