DEARBORN — The Thaqalayn Muslim Association at the University of Michigan-Dearborn held an event on the topic of “Evolution and God” on campus this past Tuesday with a turnout of about 80 people.

Thaqalayn Muslim Association vice-president Mustapha Mourtada speaks at the “Evolution and God” event at the University of Michigan-Dearborn event last Tuesday. Photo courtesy of TMA

On top of the people in attendance, The Awaited One Foundation, a group that educates about Islam through various media forms, broadcast the event live on the Internet.
AOF’s director Bilal Dabaja talked about the success of the broadcast.

“It was a very successful event,” he said. “We had 25 people online chatting about the broadcast live and they were from all around the world including the UK, the Middle East, and (North America).”

Dabaja said that the discussions about evolution and the Islamic perspective were intense and passionate since it’s a topic many religious leaders and groups don’t openly discuss that often. The event was headlined by a speech from renowned speaker and debater Professor Hassanain Rajabali.

“People were coming in with certain ideas about evolution and a lot of people already had their minds made up about the issue coming in,” said Dabaja. “But they were also looking for the Islamic perspective on it and the discussions were very thoughtful.”

The TMA on campus said there was no division about whether or not to host the event as most people were on board with the idea.

“There wasn’t much controversy in it, most people agreed we need to tackle these tough issues especially in the modern day understanding of things, these are issues we need to discuss,” said Dabaja.

The broadcast of the event will soon be available to watch at www.awaitedone.org.