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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 31, 1989)
The Battalion STATE & LOCAL 3 Friday, March 31,1989 ninon not ingto HU the s I’d )U e 'ight igcr :ee ation What uton nore wse iteve :t. vVOU imlstcff leffortb dudih y ■ violate 'ill low re usinj ving i vho yoi om littopn m to ed Muslim: ‘Verses’ insults Mohammad By Richard Tijerina STAFF WRITER Muslims are most offended by “The Satanic Verses” because of the language used in reference to the prophet Mohammed, not because of its attack on Islam, a representative of the Muslim Students Association said Thursday. Hamed Ghazali, central zone rep resentative for MSA and a professor at Kansas University, spoke at a Muslim Student Association’s cri tique of Salman Rushdie’s novel "The Satanic Verses.” “My feeling as a Muslim is he has to be punished severely for the lan guage he’s using to hurt other peo ple,” Ghazali said. "I don’t blame anyone who says he should be killed. Muslims try accord ing to the law, not feelings. I won’t feel sorry if someone kills him.” II 1 a 1 !' 5 £y° to ! Iah Khomeni has called tor Rushdie’s death. Muslims object most to two chap- ter j ‘"the book, titled “Mahound” and Return to Jahilia,” in which Mohammed is portrayed as oppor tunistic and ready to compromise tor his personal advantage, Ghazali said. Ghazali said Muslims are most up set with the wording of the book —- wording which they think is often sacreligious. I he word ‘offensive’ is not enough, Ghazali said. “As you go further into the book, Muslims be come angry because of the language in the book. I started believing the book is attacking Islam.” I he Islamic faith grants certain freedoms of speech as long as you do not hurt others, and this is where Rushdie’s book becomes offensive, Ghazali said. “We have freedom of speech in Is lam,” he said. “You are allowed to say whatever you want to say. How ever, you are not allowed to hurt others, to use pornography or to hurt your neighbor.” Ghazali read several passages from the novel which he said offend Muslims, including the renaming of their prophet Mohammed, the de scription of the prophet Abraham as a “bastard” and the description of Mohammed as drunk, nude and having sexual relations with a woman. Ghazali said although Muslims can respond to criticism of Islam, they do not like vulgarity toward others or attacks on their faith and revered personalities of Islam. Rushdie knew controversy would arise over his book, Ghazali said. “Salman knew what was going to happen to him,” he said. “He pre dicted it right here in this book. He was completely aware. He was fully conscious of what he was doing.” Ghazali said that in the book, Rushdie writes of the problems of a poet named Baal, who writes against Islam. The Muslims manage to cap ture him and sentence him to death. Ghazali said that in Islam, three crimes are punishable by death: when a Moslem kills someone, when a Moslem is married and commits adultery and when a Moslem changes his religion before reachine maturity. Salman Rushdie would be tried for apostacy — leaving his religious faith, Ghazali said. He said the only question surrounding the charge is when Rushdie officially turned his back on the Islamic faith. Ghazali said there is no problem changing religion once a person has reached maturity. Ghazali stressed that although he would not be sorry if someone killed Rushdie because of his book, he was not advocating anyone to do it. He also said the majority of the Islamic faith is not calling for Rushdie’s death. “I would say we (Muslims) believe Salman should not be killed,” he said. “We would like to have a fair trial for him. “This trial should be done in a Muslim country, but we would be satisfied with having it elsewhere. We respect international law and would not violate it.” Endowment will fund future Aggie Musters By Juliette Rizzo STAFF WRITER .nd the here tk i whosi i privao idagii) iscivioin : nice i phow e. Thei to paK i a wat ilic paj ic’s pocktl i whid ntyout ningin or p asonM ylvanu ort ofa :an s ft las tlit hole y do :pho ingi lisancf ton on ercinji Her. usef >ugh ie< The Aggie Muster Endowment Fund has been established to raise funds to support the contin uing tradition of Aggie Muster. Scott Creecy, 1989 Muster en dowment sub-committee co- chairman, said the program was established in September as a means for funding future Aggie Musters. The Aggie Muster Committee is allotted funds by Student Gov ernment. Creecy said the funds have been sufficient in the past, but in planning this year’s Mus ter, the committee determined that to maintain the high quality of the ceremony, other sources of funding are necessary. Creecy said additional funds are needed to increase local and nationwide public relations ef forts and to provide a memorable reception for family members of those honored during Muster. As a student organization, the committee is exempt from the rental costs of G. Rollie White Coliseum, but set-up costs for the ceremony deplete most of the al lotted funds. Creecy said dona tions for programs, flowers and candles, the most crucial items to the ceremony, are not always guaranteed, causing the need for back-up funds. The endowment, set up by the Texas A&M Development Foun dation. enables donated funds to be invested and to accrue interest, which will be applied to each year’s ceremony. The portion of the interest not used for the ac tual cermony is reinvested and added to the original invested funds, which are never with- See Muster/Page 5 Bryan applies for HUD grant to build shelter for homeless Clocks move up 1 hour Sunday to ‘save’ light It’s that time again. Daylight-saving time h upon us. Although it only happens twice a year, it seems that we just re cently turned them back one hour. But now it’s time to turn them ahead one hour. We’re talk ing about clocks. Tomorrow night before you go to bed, or at 2 a.m. Sunday for those of you still up, turn your c/ocks AHEAD one hour. By turning clocks ahead one hour, the sun will rise and set later in the day, thereby “saving” daylight. One of the major reasons be hind daylight-saving time is to provide more time for afternoon and evening activities during the spring and summer months so you can get out there and enjoy the “extrai” daylight. By Kathy Haveman CORRESPONDENT Bryan homeless women and children could have a shelter in which to live if the U.S. Department of Hous ing and Urban Development awards Twin City Mission a $200,000 grant. Twin City Director Bob Good applied for the grant March 29. He said he has chosen a multi-building site in Bryan, the exact location of which he could not reveal until the deal has been closed. He said he wants to renovate the buildings to create a shelter for women and children only. Twin City now has a shelter in Bryan that accommo dates homeless men and homeless families. An exten sion of Twin City houses battered women. The mission has $90,000 and must raise a minimum of $140,000 in addition to the grant to cover building costs. Resale shops will help raise revenue, but Good said he also will appeal to civic organizations, private in dividuals and corporations for financial support. After HUD announces its decision concerning the grant on July 10, Good will have six months to buy the land and buildings and occupy the site. “If we agree with the owners on a price, we’ll be able to close within 30 days,” he said. If negotiations fall through, Good said he’ll be looking for a different loca tion, possibly a 50-unit motel. The structures on the preferred site are not con nected, which will facilitate the separation of the 150 women and children into individual problem groups. Good said he wants to separate substance abusers, the mentally ill, women with older children and those with young children into different buildings. Those within each section will support one another because they share a common problem, he said. “It’s awfully hard to get sympathy from someone who’s never had your problem,” Good said. Homeless women and children will be able to stay at the shelter a maximum of 24 months. During that time they will be counseled, taught basic skills such as how to balance a checkbook and will be required to save money, Good said. He wants to help the women build a nest egg in order to pay the deposit on an apartment when they leave the shelter, while teaching the women skills that will enable them to get a job, he said. Good said he is optimistic about getting the grant be cause HUD recently removed restrictions that made it difficult for private, non-profit organizations such as Twin City Mission to receive money. “They (HUD) have more money now than ever befo re,” he said. Part of Joe Routt closes Saturday for three weeks A small section of Joe Routt Blvd. on the Texas A&M campus will be closed for approximately three weeks starting Saturday morning, Tom Williams, director of parking, transit and traffic, said Thursday. Williams said both lanes of the street will be closed. The section affected is be tween Coke and Throckmorton Streets. Traffic will be altered in the area of the Military Sciences Building. Williams said traffic normally using Coke or Throck morton streets to enter or exit the Memorial Student Center area from Jersey St. also will be affected. MSC Political Forum BROWN BOG IT WITH POLITICAL FORUM AT INSIGHT! MONDAYS AT 1:00 P.m. ROOM 350 MSC fYES. THERE IS A THIRD FLOOR!! DR. JUDITH BEAR DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE " ROE VS. WADE: THE LEGAL IMPLICATIONS IN 1989" MONDAY, APRIL 3 This program is presented for educational purposes, and does not constitute an endorsement of any speaker Dr 2nd Annual 3-on-^ for UCP Basketball Toui)q«inent / / / Saturday^Apr£l/i st Sponsored by Pi K^ppa^pha Fraternity Proceeds donated Jcr United Cerebral Palsy ./ N X /"\ 1 Each team shall con^t/bPtnretj members, one being team captain. The entry^feeis SlS.OO dollars per team. \ The team divisions are Man's Col^giafe, Men^s Opfeu, Fraternity, and High School. " X Late registraiitm will be held starting at 9:00anlT>nSaturday morning with play beginning at 10:00am on the 4th floor of th^’Refed-pidg. (East Kyle) \ ^ For more information contact Chris at 693-9157 Real Stuff Press PRESENTS SEVEN SEASONS OF 82 aJm SHERRILL 88 aJm This 350-page book is a must for every Aggie fan, telling the complete story of the most successful and controversial era of A&M football. 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