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The Call

This January, Duke University had planned to begin broadcasting the Adhan, a traditional Muslim call to prayer, from the top of their chapel on Fridays in an effort to help create a more welcoming environment for Muslim students and foster community unity. The effort backfired when students, alumni and others lashed out at the university for this decision. In response to student backlash, the university changed its plans. Instead, the Universitybroadcastedthe call to prayer from the quadrangle in front of the chapel rather than the chapel tower itself.

Duke buckling down under pressure represents a major failure on the part of Duke in two capacities. Firstly, it represents a failure of the Duke community to come together to support people of all creeds. Secondly, and more shamefully in my opinion, it represents a failure on the part of the University, which should aim to create a community tolerable to all rather than easily give in to such bigoted calls. This decision by Duke lets its Muslim community, and to some degree the whole American Muslim community, believe they are unwelcome, and that those who are meant to protect them from this kind of bigotry will not do so.

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As I don’t like to make assumptions about my readers, I’d like to take a moment to explain why broadcasting the Adhan is in no way supporting “raping, butchering and beheading Christians, Jews, and anyone who doesn’t submit to their Sharia Islamic law,” as Franklin Graham, son of evangelist Billy Graham, mentioned in Facebook post. Close to a quarter of the world’s population is Muslim. With such a large population, there are bound to be a fair number of bad eggs. Whatever the number is, it represents only the tiniest of fractions of the global Muslim population. The vast majority of Muslims are simply everyday people trying to make a living while maintaining a peaceful coexistence with those around them. The fact that there exists some who would do wrong in the name of Islam does not mean that Islam is a poison. To declare that all of Islam is bad because of the deplorable acts of a few would be no different than to declare that all of Christianity is bad because of the acts of the members of the homophobic, funeral-picketing Westboro Baptist Church. In fact, the Church’s most pervasive time, the Dark Ages, was also Christianity’s most belligerent, and countless atrocities have been made in the name of the cross as well as in the name of most other religions. The issue isn’t these religions, but rather those bad people who wield and corrupt them.

Duke did wrong, and I believe that we should take it upon ourselves to step in where Duke failed. It is my belief that Princeton should begin sounding the Muslim call to prayer once a week on Fridays from the top of our own chapel. The prayer wouldn’t be too loud, only audible in the immediate vicinity so as to not disturb student life. This proposition has two purposes. The first is to help the Muslim community on campus feel that their religious beliefs are being respected, supported and welcomed. The second is so that this University, by virtue of its international standing, may not only raise awareness of injustice, but also act as a beacon of tolerance for others across the country and the world.

In the past decade, ISIS, Al-Qaeda, Boko Haram and other radical Muslim groups have taught a philosophy of hate. They tell the world that their religion is the only way, labeling all others as abhorrent. They preach that religions and creeds they do not support must be stamped from this earth. If we allow ourselves to succumb to religious intolerance, then we are no better than they are. This university is looked upon and respected by many. If we wish to live in a world of tolerance, let us lead by example. If we wish to live in a world free from those who would do evil in order to rid their lands of those they do not worship with, then let us demonstrate to all that this land, our land, will never be such a land; that our land will forever serve as a beacon of hope and light and tolerance. Let us take up the call, to prayer and to unity by giving a voice to those who have been silenced elsewhere.

Colter Smith is a sophomore fromBronxville, NY. He can be reached at crsmith@princeton.edu.

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