By Zack Anchors

Staff Writer

    During his six weeks as a visiting Fulbright Scholar
at Southern Maine Community College, Dr. Afis Ayinde Oladosu has a
daunting task. Not only is he representing the University of Ibadan and
his home country of Nigeria, but he is also educating audiences
throughout Maine about the entire continent of Africa and the beliefs
of 1.3 billion Muslims throughout the world. Visiting classes and
forums in the last weeks, Oladosu has been asked some tough questions,
many of which come from a lack of knowledge about his religion: What do
Nigerians think of America? Does Islam condone husbands beating their
wives? What do Africans think of the war in Iraq? Why don’t more
moderate Muslims speak out against Islamic fundamentalism? Why has the
Western world progressed beyond the Islamic world in so many ways?

    Oladosu receives such questions with a smile and
concise and energetic answers. During an interview at SMCC’s student
center last week, he said there is one message he is especially intent
on delivering to Americans.

    “They need to know that that Islam is a peaceful
religion,” he said. “It’s a non-violent religion. It’s an egalitarian
religion.”

    Oladosu, a professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies
at the University of Ibadan in western Nigeria, emphasizes that there
is great diversity among Muslims, just as there is great diversity
among Christians. He says that his country is very diverse too, and
that in addition to a large Muslim population there are many
Christians, atheists, and other religions present.

    “In Nigeria you have around 250 ethnic groups,” he
said. “It’s very diverse, just like the US. In that way, the US and
Nigeria are very similar.”

    Oladosu, who will be co-teaching a course called
“Islam in Africa and the African Diaspora in Maine,” has been very
impressed with the hospitality he has received from students and staff
at the college, as well as from local hotels that have offered free
housing for him. But he has also noticed smaller gestures that he says
demonstrate the kindness of people here, like how people tend to hold
the doors open for each other on the SMCC campus.

    “The ordinary American is a very nice guy,” said
Oladosu. “People here have done everything they can to make my stay
pleasant.”

    When talking about how the rest of the world, and
Africans in particular, feel about the US, he says its important to
keep in mind that while many people are critical of the American
government, they commonly have affection for the American people and
American culture.

    “Governance is different than citizenship,” Oladosu said. 

    In today’s increasingly multicultural world, Oladosu
warns against dividing the world into Muslim and non-Muslim regions. He
says that ignores the fact that there are Muslims living all throughout
the world. While in Maine he is meeting with many Muslims and Muslim
SMCC students are taking him to a Mosque in Portland.

    “Those Muslims who find themselves in Maine now,
that space they are now living is now a space of Islam,” he said.

    Asked what he thinks of America’s role in the world, Oladosu is not hesitant to offer his own critique.

    “Whether people like it or not, the US is the
superpower in the world,” he said. “It is the responsibility of the
world to help the US do the right thing. Because, if the US does the
right thing, the whole world will benefit. If the US does not do the
right thing, the whole world will suffer.”

    As for how Muslims in general view America, Oladosu said there are two main perspectives.

    “You have the informed view of the US and the
pedestrian view of the US,” he said. “You also have the traditional
default view which is that of those who don’t know anything of the US
and don’t care anything of the US.”

    Last week, in a lecture titled, “What Americans Need
to Know about the Muslim Faith,” Oladosu explained to an audience at
the Maine at the Maine Historical Society some of the most fundamental
elements of the Islamic religion, and how they tend to be misunderstood.

    After breaking Islam down into four elements—Islam
as a belief system, a system of worship, a legal system, and a means of
revolution—Oladosu elaborated on each.

    He emphasized that although Mohammed is the most
important prophet in Islam, Muslims see him as a continuum in a long
line of prophets stretching back to the Abraham of the Bible.

    “All these prophets are like a chain,” he said. “If
we remove one knot from the chain, the chain is not there.”

    He also talked about how Islamic law, or Sharia,
permeates every aspect of life for Muslims, although it is interpreted
in different ways.

    “You can’t talk about Islam without talking about
law,” he said. “But how do you have Sharia in a multi-cultural society?
Is it possible?”

    An audience member asked Oladosu if he thought an ideal society would be governed by Islamic law.

    “I am convinced that it would be better for society,” he said.

    He went on to describe certain regions of Nigeria
that have adopted Islamic law and have experienced a dramatic shift in
crime.

    “The police record less crime because alcoholism is
not allowed and prostitutes [are] exiled to Lagos [the capital of
Nigeria],” he said.

Touching on another controversial topic, Oladosu uttered the word
“Jihad” in a spooky voice, mocking the word’s often fearful connotation
and eliciting laughs from the audience.

    “Jihad is a word that means, ‘to make an effort,’”
he said. “By listening to me, that’s Jihad. By talking to you, that’s
Jihad.”

He said the struggles that are going on in places like Iraq do not qualify as Jihad.

“The Sunnis and Shiites are like Catholics and Protestants—two sons of
the same father,” he said. “It’s crazy. It has no place in the Koran
and no place in Islam.”

    Oladosu also addressed the role of women in Islam,
and explained that they have a specific and separate role from men.

    “Their bodies are not like male bodies,” he said.

    Under most Muslim’s interpretation of the Koran,
Oladosu said, men are meant to be the head of a household. He also
explained the reasoning behind veils that are commonly used by women to
cover much of their bodies.

    Overall, Oladosu said he likes Maine and thinks
South Portland is beautiful, but he is still getting used to the food
and cold climate. He misses eating the Nigerian staples of cassava and
yam, in particular.

    “I’ve had to change my wardrobe to fit in here,” he said. “My clothes were not thick enough.”

    Oladosu said he hopes to continue his relationship
with SMCC and build stronger connections between Nigeria and the
college.

    “There hasn’t been a Nigerian presence at this
college before,” Oladosu said. “When I get back to Nigeria I will
encourage young Nigerians to come here. Hopefully they can afford it.”