For the few Muslim students who attend Pepperdine some said they find it difficult to fit into Pepperdine’s predominantly Christian culture. Without a Muslim student association on campus meeting daily prayer requirements and building a sense of community is virtually impossible for some Muslim students.
Sophomore Sameer Kahn is Muslim and spent seven years living in Saudi Arabia with his family before coming to Pepperdine. Kahn describes his faith as strong and said he finds it difficult to maintain daily prayer requirements.
“Honestly it is tough particularly because there is no mosque anywhere near the school so I am unable to go for Friday prayers (Ju’mmah) Kahn wrote in an e-mail to the Graphic. But I pray about two to three times a day. Some days I would not even get a chance. It is still very difficult.”
Kahn also noted that the lack of a Muslim student association (MSA) on campus makes it difficult to connect with other Muslims and attain a sense of community.
“I feel that perhaps if there were a larger group of Muslims on campus it would make my experience worthwhile Kahn wrote. At times one just wants to be around one’s own people. It is very easy to relate and it is easy to become friends because there is no barrier between one another.”
Kahn also said the absence of a Pepperdine MSA surprised many of his family members.
“This is one of the few schools I think that does not have an MSA which I find strange Kahn wrote. Most schools including Christian schools have [them].”
Freshman Selin Uzal is an international student from Istanbul Turkey. Uzal identifies as a Muslim but describes herself as “spiritual rather than devout.
She said she agrees with Khan in that the lack of an MSA on campus could be alienating for a devout Muslim.
If I were a really devout Muslim I wouldn’t have been comfortable at Pepperdine Uzal said. There aren’t any other religious student groups probably because Pepperdine is not a really big university.”
According to Pepperdine’s enrollment profile statistics for spring 2008 Muslim students comprise 0.8 percent of Seaver College numbering roughly 25 Muslim students out of 3055 total enrolled undergraduate students. Only one Muslim professor currently teaches at all of Pepperdine’s five schools out of 270 total faculty members. The Dean’s office would not release the name of the professor.
While mandatory convocation attendance and enrollment in religion courses appear to some students to be exclusively Christian Uzal and Kahn said they felt convocation programs highlight the similarities between faiths and focus more on life issues rather than religious ones.
“Overall I find [convocation] intellectually stimulating and I find myself relating my own religion to the lectures that are preached Kahn said. I feel Christians and Muslims do in fact share some of the same values.”
Uzal said similarities between Christianity and Islam are often lost in political perceptions of the Middle East which leads some students to have unrealistic perceptions of Islamic culture.
While Uzal said she finds Pepperdine students to be accepting and curious about her culture and religious identity she expressed concern about some students’ tendencies to identify Islam as an exclusively Arab religion.
“Most Americans think that Islam and Arabic culture are the same. It’s like saying Christian culture is America Uzal said. They don’t really care about how many cultures there are in the Muslim world.”
In efforts to expand students’ educational opportunities to study issues surrounding Middle Eastern culture and politics the International Studies Division recently received a donation designated to create a temporary faculty position for a visiting professor of Middle Eastern studies. The position will open the possibility for new undergraduate courses centered on the history of the Middle East and Islamic culture.
Administrators are currently in the hiring process and hope to have the position filled by the Fall 2009 semester according to Seaver Dean Rick Marrs.
Dyron Daughrity assistant professor of religion who specializes in world religion and world Christianity said emphasizing the similarities between Islam and Christianity is essential in order to understand Islam.
“You have to deal with similarities whenever you’re talking about Islam because it assumes so much about Christianity and Judaism Daughrity said. Islam is unintelligible apart from the Judeo-Christian narrative … Islam assumes so much of what we would take for granted in the Old and New Testament.”
Daughrity said that although a small number of students and faculty identify as Muslim Pepperdine’s demographics are a reflection of national religious demographics.
According to the CIA World Factbook Muslims comprise only 0.6 percent of the total population in the United States.
“If we’re going to talk about diversity we have to keep in mind that America prides itself on being a diverse nation – but it’s not diverse religiously speaking Daughrity said. I would say diversity at a state institution should be more or less what the culture around it is. Pepperdine describes itself as a Christian University and everyone knows that going in so I don’t think they would expect 20 percent of each of the major faiths in the world [represented by faculty members].”
While national statistics indicate that Muslims comprise a minority of religious identities according to a research study conducted in 2000 by the University of Southern California Southern California has the third largest concentration of Muslims in the United States and is home to 40 percent of American Muslims. Muslims comprise 1.7 percent of the Los Angeles population.
With 1.8 percent of the student body identifying as Muslim in 2004 UCLA’s student body reflects the diversity of Southern California. UCLA also has three Muslim student groups which serve the roughly 800 Muslim students on campus.
Despite the small number of Muslim students on campus senior Mahru Madjidi said the Pepperdine community as a whole is welcoming of religious diversity and curious about Islamic culture and tradition.
Madjidi was raised Muslim and converted to Christianity with her family at age nine after her father Farzin Madjidi began teaching at Pepperdine’s Graziadio School of Business and Management in 1991.
Madjidi who is of Iranian descent said her religious identity as a Christian and her family’s affiliation with Islam has provided her with a unique understanding of the similarities between the two faiths.
“Muslims believe that there’s a God; Christians believe there’s a God. Muslims believe Mohammed was the prophet; Christians believe Jesus was the prophet Madjidi said. The point is we all believe in God and we believe that there’s a higher power. And that’s really what it’s about.”