تقرير محاضرة عن الإسلام والسعودية تم إلقاؤها في كلية إليغيني لتعليم المجتمع
Lecture about Islam and Saudi at Community College of Allegheny County
27 March 2006
تقدم الأستاذ جاليغوس جوليان أحد المعلمين بكلية إليغيني لتعليم المجتمع بطلب إرسال أشخاص من النادي السعودي في بتسبرج للتحدث مع طلابه في مادتي التجارة العالمية والتسويق الدولي عن السعودية وعن الإسلام بهدف تصحيح العديد من المفاهيم الخاطئة الموجودة لدى طلابه عن هذه المواضيع.
واستجاب النادي السعودي لطلب الأستاذ جوليان وذهب كل من نزيه العثماني (المشرف الثقافي) وأم دانية نزيه العثماني والأخت أمل نمنقاني للحديث مع هؤلاء الطلاب.
وقد كان استقبال الأستاذ جوليان وطلابه لوفد النادي استقبالا جيدا حيث حضر ما مجموعه 40 طالب كلا المحاضرتين كما قام الأستاذ جوليان بتجهيز غداء خفيف للحفاوة بوفد النادي السعودي للكلية.
بدأت المحاضرة بكلمة ترحيبية من الأستاذ جوليان لوفد النادي ثم بدأ المشرف الثقافي نزيه العثماني بالحديث عن الإسلام بشكل عام وشملت محاضرته الحديث عن معنى الإسلام، خريطة العالم الإسلامي، تاريخ الإسلام في أمريكا، نبذه عن المسلمين في مدينة بتسبرج، أركان الإيمان، أركان الإسلام، القرآن، الرسول عليه الصلاة والسلام، معنى الخلاص في الإسلام، التعرض لبعض المفاهيم الخاطئة عن الإسلام والمتعلقة بالجهاد ووضع المرأة في الإسلام بشكل عام. كما ركز الأخ نزيه على الحديث عن الطريقة السلبية التي يبرز فيها الإعلام الأمريكي الإسلام والمسلمين.
تلا ذلك دور الأخت أمل نمنقاني التي ركزت حديثها عن السعودية من حديث الموقع الجغرافي وعدد السكان والتنوع العرقي الموجود في السعودية ثم ذكرت أمثلة من المفاهيم الخاطئة التي ترد على ألسنة كبار الصحفيين والكتاب عن السعودية وقامت بتفنيدها الواحد تلو الآخر كما شملت محاضرة الأخت أمل الحديث عن نماذج نسائية سعودية رائدة في المجال العلمي والبحثي واختتمت محاضرتها ببعض الصور من مناطق مختلفة من السعودية لغرض إبراز التنوع الجغرافي والتطور العمراني في المملكة العربية السعودية.
بعد ذلك جاء دور أسئلة الطلاب التي ركزت على وضع المرأة في السعودية وقضايا متعلقة بالإرهاب والخدمات الطبية التي تقدم في المملكة ومسألة التنوع العرقي الموجود في السعودية وغير ذلك من الأسئلة العامة التي علق عليها المتحدثان بما يناسب كل منها.
وقد قام وقد النادي السعودي بتوزيع كتب ومنشورات تتحدث عن السعودية بشكل عام من حيث الجغرافيا والسكان والتنمية والعادات الإجتماعية وغير ذلك من الأمور المختلفة المتعلقة بالسعودية
ويمكنم الحصول على نسخة من المحاضرتين التي تم تقديمها للطلاب من خلال الروابط أدناه:-
وفيما يلي تعليقات الطلاب الأمريكان الذين حضروا المحاضرتين وفيها إشارة واضحة إلى أهمية استمرار مثل هذه المحاضرات كونها تؤثر بشكل كبير على آراء الحاضرين:-
*Student One:-
I enjoyed the presentation greatly, I feel you described your home countries and
beliefs great and clear, I learned alot from the presentation and have a new
outlook of the country.
*Student two:-
The lecture was excellent, I found the parallels of religions very informative
as in the US don't understand this particularly after the terrorists of 9/11.
All this information needs to be communicated to as man US people as possible to
try to understand each other.
*Student Three:-
This was an excellent presentaion, I also agree that many misconceptions resolve
around the media, I hpe you continue to speak with students. I believe that
there are many misconceptions and stereotypes that are incorrect. I also feel
that many Americansneed to strive to understand other cultures. I have witnessed
much discrimination through ignorance and have found it difficult to see past
and reach beyond boundaries. Your actions are comendable and I hope you continue
to dispell the many beliefs, stereotypes, and cultural missunderstandings while
you are here, but also that you ease the minds of Saudis who would travel here
in the future.
*Student four:-
Thank you!
I enjoyed this lectue becuase we are small minded on different countries. We the
US are selfish and seem not to care. This have opened my mind on Arabs and
Saudi.
*Student five:-
I thought that the presentation was good. The power point projection was
excellent. Alot of good information on the slides. Good graphics & posters
around the room.
*Student Six:-
I think that they should keep on talking to different classes about their
country & customs. I learned alot about how many different customes and alot
about Islam that I did not know. Like the meaning of the specific words (Islam,
Jihad).
*Student Seven:-
I learned a lot from the two speakers. I liked how he explained the definitions of what Muslims beliefs are. I never knew that they prayed five times a day which I thought was amazing. Most people in America pray once a week if not at all. Nazeeh was hard to understand at first because of his heavy accent after a while I started to understand him more. I could not believe Amal, she really didn't have an accent, and for me she was easy to understand. I learned a lot from their words, and I thought that Makkah was a beatifull city, I liked the buildings over there.
*Student Eight:-
I learned how the media has an impact on how we see other countries and others see us. I liked the presentations and I learned a lot of new things.
I learned that they have very good technology, they have the choice to learn English when they get to 4th, 5th grade.
*Student Nine:-
The presentations really changed of what I thought of Saudi. I thought it was mostly desert and small homes. I have no idea that they even have malls. I also didn't know what Muslims believe in and that they pray 5 times a day. Also that they have a population of 26 Million and there is 10,000 Muslims in Pittsburgh alone.
*Student Ten:-
The presentations opened my eyes about the country of Saudi Arabia. I knew a lot about the religion of Islam before the presentation so the stuff I learned about was how the country was diverse in ethnic races being represented. Amal said that she was Russian which surprised me because my family is Russian. There are many types of races present in the country when I thought that they were all Arabs. I also thought that the entire country was full of sand with people roaming with their camels but the pictures of the cities were un-believable. The building structures were even more elaborate than buildings over here in America
*Student Eleven:-
I thought that both presenters were knowledgeable in their topics. The power point presentations were good. It was interesting hearing about the Muslim religion. The media has given their religion a bad rep and I now have a better understanding of it.
I was happy to hear Amal say that women can get a head and not treated as 2nd class citizens. I would have loved to know why the women wore the head scarf but I forgot to ask.
The pictures of Saudi gave a nice picture of that area.
*Student Twelve:-
I didn't realize that Indonesia has the most Muslims that any other country. I thought that Nazeeh's presentation was more interesting and worth while than Amal's presentation.
*Student Thirteen:-
To be honest about this whole presentation, I really can't tell you all of the statistics. The thing that was pretty cool about it was the view that Nazeeh and Amal had on Americans. They thought that Americans just love to shoot and kill each other. Americans view of Saudis were basically the thought of terrorists. After seeing their presentation I did learn more about Saudi's and I am looking at them more as regular people than terrorists.
*Student Fourteen:-
I learned more about women in Saudi Arabia, Amal was very informative about women in the workforce, women driving (or lack off), and every day life. I thought that before the presentation that women were more oppressed that they really are. I think that the presentations were worth it because they were very informative.
*Student Fifteen:-
I didn't know that Saudi Women are as far along as Amal described. I thought that they pretty much lived in the shadows of their husbands/fathers. I was also un-aware of the beliefs of Islam
*Student Sixteen:-
What I learned?
I now have a better understanding of what Muslims believe in. I think Nazeeh did a great job examining it. Amal was very good explaining their lifestyle.
*Student Seventeen:-
The main things I I learned were the differences between our country and theirs. I also learnt about the famouse women in their country. They showed up maps of Saudi Arabia and also the different beliefs that they had. They pray 5 times a day. The laws are very different and Nazeeh told us what he was thinking on the plane trip from Saudi to America, He afraid and didn't know what to expect.
They were very informative, they gave a great speech and were happy to answer any questions that anyone in the class had.
*Student Eighteen:-
What did I learn?
Nazeeh did a great job in presenting the cultural changes between Saudi Arabia and the United States. He showed how people from other countries perceive the united states before and after they arrive here.
He also gave an in-depth discussion about Islam that was very interesting.
Amal gave many facts about Saudi Arabia that were very interesting.
I believe that they should definitely continue to give these presentations because it opened my eyes to that Saudi Arabia culture, both speakers did a terrific job and I learned a lot.
*Student Nineteen:-
I learned a lot from Nazeeh and Amal. I learned that it's changing so it's not a male dominant country. Also they send a lot of their college graduates to American to further their education. Also my out look of the Muslims faith have changes, and how the media puts a bad name on most of the media words in their faith.
*Student Twenty:-
The guest speakers were very informative. They presented facts about he Muslims that I was unaware of. I have a different outlook on Arab women. I thought they were more oppressed than they really are. I didn't really have many stereotypes before. They just re-enforced my beliefs not to stereotype. It was interesting to learn about the stereotypes they have about Americans. I thought it was worth while and enjoyed it.
*Student Twenty one:-
I learned about the religion of Islam, the submission to the will of God. A Muslim is a follower of Islam faith, all Muslims are not Arabs, Arabs make up 15% of Muslims, Muslims believe in Allah (God) and angles, holy books, Quran is the word of God, God's prophets (have to believe in everyone), judgment day, divine measurement of all human affairs. Mother Mary is held in high respect, Jihad to exert effort in daily life, English is mandatory in as young as 4th grade.
Overall, the speakers gave a changed view of what I thought Islam's were.
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