by RAJA ABDULRAHIM
Recent lectures intended for younger audiences focus on marijuana, pornography and homosexuality. Youthful believers praise the leaders’ openness in discussing the teachings of the faith.
The title of the evening event at a mosque in Corona was intended to provoke discussion, even as it raised an eyebrow or two: “The Islamization of Weed?”
The unusual lecture at the Islamic Society of Corona-Norco in February drew about 150 people, most of them younger than 30. The idea, Imam Mustafa Umar said, was to encourage a dialogue and attract people who might be put off by a more traditionally religious theme.
Not that the speaker, Sheikh Yassir Fazaga from Mission Viejo, was there to advocate marijuana use or say it was permissible in Islam. The goal of the lecture, and a small but growing number of similar events addressing issues of depression, promiscuity, alcohol use or homosexuality, is not to change the religion’s views on them, but to recognize they are issues that affect the Muslim community, along with others.
Pretending that Muslims don’t smoke marijuana is naive and counterproductive, Fazaga said.
As Muslims in this country grapple with the fact that social issues they thought didn’t exist within their communities are there and growing, some leaders of the faith are saying these relevant topics should be addressed at the mosque. No longer, they say, can sermons focus only on such topics as the importance of praying five times a day or fasting in the holy month of Ramadan, without seeming out of touch.
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