A former Christian preacher described his conversion from Christianity to Islam and the often-stereotypical portrayal of Muslims in the media Thursday night to about 250 people at Woodward Hall Thursday night.
Shiekh Yousef Estes spoke about the need for truth and understanding in the 21st century, while broadcasting his program "Islam Tomorrow," via the Internet, from UNM's Woodward Hall Thursday night.
Estes, who now lives in Washington, D.C., is originally from Texas, where he had been a Christian preacher. He is now the national Muslim chaplain for American Muslims.
Essa Daloom, of the UNM Muslim Student Association began Thursday night's program by reading three verses from the Quran in Arabic. The verses were then translated by Ahmad Assed, of the Islamic Center of New Mexico.
The verses recounted the story of Mary giving birth to Jesus beneath a date palm tree.
Estes started the lecture by asking the audience to raise their hands if they were Muslim. An estimated two to one majority of the crowd raised their hands. Estes then asked the non-Muslims to raise their hands.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
"Aren't you kind of afraid to be with all these terrorists?" Estes asked.
The audience laughed and Estes went on to tell the story of how he was converted to Islam.
"My opinion was warped by those same kinds of stereotypes," Estes said. "We were told that Muslims were all terrorists, and that was what we were supposed to tell our congregations."
Estes stressed the importance of how certain Arabic words have assimilated into the English Language. He said that the word Islam, as with all Arabic words, is root driven and that there are actually five words inside it.
"The word Islam was actually a verb before it was a noun," Estes said. "The connotations included submission to a higher being, surrender of the personal will, obedience to the commandments, purity in intention and peace between man and his maker."
Estes talked about the dangers of how media frame things to suit a specific agenda, and that often those agendas spread fear and misinformation. He said that the recent sniper story in the Washington, D.C., area was a perfect example of how Muslims are negatively portrayed in the media.
Estes said when the story of the alleged D.C. sniper's arrest first made the news, his name was reported as John Williams. But, it wasn't long before he was being identified as John Mohammed, Estes said.
He said media sources worldwide have their own agendas.
"The same thing is going on in the Middle East that's going on here in America," Estes said. "And that mentality will destroy our country and our world."
Estes' lecture was sponsored by the Islamic Center of New Mexico in conjunction with the UNM Muslim Student Association.
