On a rainy Friday afternoon at Deer Valley High School, after most students had left for the weekend, 15 students attentively listened to Nazir Samadi talk about how to tell if a woman had attempted to seduce a man.As president of the school's Muslim Student Association, the 16-year-old Afghanistan native held court, chanting and reading aloud from the Quran and translating the Arabic passages into English. According to the holy book, if the man's shirt was ripped from behind, it was the woman who tried to seduce him as the man tried to escape. If it was in the front, then it was the man who did the seduction.
The surah, or chapter, came from Yusuf, known as Joseph in the Bible, and focused on his time as a slave in Egypt. When Nazir told the class how handsome Yusuf is, the girls giggled. As he explained, the king of Egypt's wife tries to seduce Yusuf, but he denies her. When the other women hear of this, they gossip, Nazir translated. "No offense," Nazir said after he finished translating. "I'm just saying."
Now in its second full year, the Muslim Student Association has attracted as many as 110 students to its weekly club meetings. While much of the focus is on Islam and the Quran, Nazir and others who speak and read Arabic started teaching the language about a month ago.
Predominately Muslim, the club attracts students whose families come from around the world: Palestinians born in Kuwait and Texas, Pakistanis, Afghans, Cambodians and two brothers whose parents are Palestinian and Panamanian.
There are a number of club members who are not Muslim who attend the club and do so out of their own curiosity, said senior Aiysha Rahman, 17, who is one of the club's founders. But there are still passing comments around the campus.
"Usually, it's fine, but occasionally, you hear someone say something stupid like, 'When are you going to bomb me?'" said freshman Ismail Aljishi, 14, who attended the meeting with his brother Bader, 16. "It's typically annoying, but I don't knock him out. He's just ignorant. He doesn't want to kill me."
Nazir later said that being a Muslim-American is an honor, even with racist comments, because he gets to live in a free country.
"We have water whenever we want," he said.
Students such as Aiysha and Nazir excitedly agree that they'd like to see Arabic taught in school because it will benefit them in the future with business and travel in the Middle East.
Moreover, reading the Quran in Arabic is considered a good deed. "Plus it sounds cool," Nazir said.
Finding teachers can be difficult, however. The club's adviser, for instance, doesn't know Arabic.
After finishing the chapter but before starting a debate over the origin of the universe, the students discussed ideas for the school's upcoming Multi-Cultural Week, and plans for a picnic.
"What if someone gives the call for prayer on the mic?" Nazir said. "That would be sick."
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