Peace, love and Islam

Christa Razzaq spends most of the Islamic Center of East Lansing’s annual Salaam Peace Festival at the “try on a hijab” booth, where visitors can learn more about the headscarf worn by some Muslim women.

“Most people have never tried on a hijab. It can evoke a full range of emotions, but often they put on the scarf and realize it’s just a scarf,” Razzaq said. “It’s a topic that can be politicized, but this gives people a chance to see what it actually is. People find it interesting, and they ask me to style it for them. It shows a different side to the hijab.”

She said sharing her unique perspective as a convert is helpful for non-Muslims who attend the festival.

“Sometimes I will share my hijab story with people,” she explained. “It is a scarf, but there’s meaning behind it. We, as Muslims, put the meaning to it.”

Originally from Tennessee, Razzaq met and married her husband in Washington, D.C., before relocating to his hometown of East Lansing. She has helped organize the relatively new festival, part of the monthlong Greater Lansing PeaceQuest celebration, for the past three years and said its growth is a testament to the welcoming nature of the area.

“Not every community in the country is as welcoming as East Lansing,” she said.

This year’s third-annual festival will run from 2:30 to 6:30 p.m. Sunday (Sept. 29) at the Islamic Center of East Lansing. It’s an opportunity to learn about the world’s second-largest religion, a faith that comprises 1.9 billion people and is practiced across the globe, from the Maldives to Michigan. Attendance is free, but pre-registration is requested online at
lansingislam.com/festival.

One key feature of the festival is the cultural booths, which give members of the diverse East Lansing Muslim community an opportunity to share the nuances of their unique backgrounds. This year’s event will offer about 40 booths.

“There’s a misconception that all Muslims are the same,” said Imam Sohail Chaudhry of the Islamic Center of East Lansing, explaining that the booths provide the opportunity to share different expressions of arts, crafts and culture. “Sometimes we have more than one booth for each country because even within a country, Muslims are very diverse.”

Razzaq added, “Having traveled abroad and worked as a diplomat, I’ve seen Muslim people all over. Islam is a very unifying religion, and the basic tenets of faith are almost universally practiced. For example, I walked into a mosque in Indonesia and prayed the same way I learned in D.C. But the way Indonesian women dress is very different from women in D.C. and Michigan.”

Each year, the festival raises funds for a cause impacting the Muslim community, especially refugees. This year, vendors will donate a portion of their profits to support “peace for the people of Gaza,” according to Chaudhry.

“All different segments of society are concerned about what’s going on. We want everyone to feel that we’re together in raising funds and helping the poor and needy,” he said.

Chaudhry estimates that between 400 and 500 people gathered at last year’s event to enjoy the cultural booths, bounce houses for children and the many halal food vendors.

“It’s a great opportunity for people to show up and try food from all over the world,” he said.

Sunday’s vendors will offer Mediterranean, Lebanese, Indian, Indonesian, Afghani, Iraqi and Somali cuisine.

Courtesy Islamic Center of East Lansing Imam Sohail Chaudhry gives an Islam 101 presentation during the Islamic Center of East Lansing’s 2022 …

“If we eat together and just meet each other, that in itself is such a positive for the community we live in. That’s where we clarify misconceptions, make friends, and our shared humanity comes through,” Chaudhry said. “We want people in our community, next time they run into each other at Kroger, to say, ‘You’re my neighbor, I know you. I learned about your culture, and we ate good food together.’”

The festival also offers guided mosque tours and “Islam 101” presentations for those seeking a deeper understanding of the faith. But Chaudhry emphasized that the event’s power lies in its informal interactions.

Razzaq agreed. “A smile works a thousand ways to bridge gaps,” she said. “Sometimes people see a mosque and can feel intimidated, but everyone is welcome.”

Chaudhry said that the local community’s interest in Islam tends to fluctuate based on “what’s going on in the world.”

“It’s kind of crazy to think how much that affects us here in East Lansing. When there’s no controversy, which is a good thing for the world, we don’t have as much interest,” he said. “We had been hosting monthly Islam 101 sessions and mosque tours for a long time. Of course, during the 2016 election and with Trump’s Muslim ban, there was a lot of interest in Islam, and we had a lot of requests from the community for information.”

He estimated that during that time, about 40 to 50 people each month would attend the Islam 101 sessions. But by the time the pandemic had subsided, attendance had dropped, and the Islamic Center was looking to do something more with its outreach efforts. That led to the creation of the Salaam Peace Festival in 2022.

“Every year, we dedicate a sermon to peace and justice, and I had been involved in PeaceQuest anyway. When we started looking at what we could do to improve our outreach, we thought, ‘Let’s try something different,’” he said.

For Chaudhry, the festival is guided by the question, “How can we bring community members together from all walks of life and give them a platform to interact and learn about each other’s points of view?” But, he said, “It has a very different feel from the Islam 101 sessions. It’s about unity, promoting education and peace through interactions and having fun together.”