2 members of the Harun Yahya team came all the way from Turkey to give this talk, challenging the theory of evolution and in turn supporting the Quranic account of Creationism. The arguments were formatted in a logical manner backed up by scientific evidence and passages from the Quran. They attempted to disprove that humans have existed through a gradual process of natural selection as evolutionists claim by looking at the many gaps within the theory. Life, they say, is not a product of probability and chance but, evident from the intricate beauty and order we find in nature that there is an Omnipotent power which created everything that exists and that is Allah.

I first came across Harun Yahya's literature when I read one of his books translated to Malay. It talked about how life is a mere world of perception and that we have no real way of knowing what exists beyond our senses. I was fascinated by this, to know that if you are in a room, you are not 'in' the room, but rather the room is projected inside your brain and you are simply experiencing that process. I don't want to dwell on this too much now, but essentially this is what his writings are about, the importance of our spiritual existence as oppose to our existence in the temporary material world. The talk from the Harun Yahya team although were reasonably sound, left me with more questions and I remain empathetic to evolution theory.

Tuesday: Islam and Terrorism

This talk was delivered by Abu Muntasir from the UK. If Monday's talk focused on the scientific, then Tuesday's was essentially political. Terrorism and suicide-bombings can and never will be justified by Islamic teachings. Instead, they are the result of the anger and unrest that exists within certain Islamic groups. The speaker is also a prominent IT specialist and although a UK citizen has been denied entry to the British civil service by the MI-5 because of his active Muslim background in certain countries during the early 80's. He is a combatant and believes only in an event of a just war where there is a clear enemy can proper fighting be carried out.

Muntasir in any case is a staunch opposer of suicide bombings and radical thinking. He tells the audience the answer to the political problems of the Muslim world may be solved through the unpopular yet necessary process of patience and negotiation, and not the route taken by Jihadist extremists who only worsen the problems. Towards the end of his talk, he engages in emotional words on how futile and cowardly terrorist thinking can be especially if they involve innocent Muslim youth, and that they are nothing like the Mujahideen of 1980 Afghanistan to which he knew a lot about. The role of Islam in political struggles has always stirred my interest, and Muntasir presented a good talk on how Muslim terrorists have failed their religion.

Wednesday: Love, Marriage and Women in Islam

Wednesday's talk was by Abdur Raheem Green, a British convert. Despite being caught up in traffic and coming to the university an hour late, his talk was well worth the wait. Tall, with aging hair and sporting a Muslim beard, his warm personality quickly engages the audience. He delivered his impromptu talk with lots of humour and stories yet manages to deliver the points relating to Islam and issues of women and love.

His journey to Islam was an inspiring one and he ties it up to the teachings he has learnt and the peace he found after his conversion. Asked about what part of Islam he found hardest to accept and lifestyles he had to let go, he answered it was letting go of the feeling that he was better than everyone because of his western culture and it took faith to realise the flaws of it all. Islam tells its men to treat love, women and marriage with utmost respect since they are sacred.

Thursday: Why did I become a Muslim?

Umar Abdullar, formerly known as Tobias Tait, gave this talk. Umar is a big black British boxer who likes to give Da'wah and has presented his talks around the UK. As intimidating as he may he look and sound, he is as friendly as can be, at the end of the talk giving everyone one of his Da'wah CD's for free. His troubled childhood growing up as a juvenile with no parents to take care of him made his journey to Islam all the more inspiring. Here was a criminal youth, in and out of jail, a former drug-dealer who almost killed a police officer, yet in the end turned to be the humble person we saw that day in the lecture room.

He reminds everyone never to leave our Salat no matter what. He questions why Muslim youth who's lucky enough to be born into a Muslim family sometimes choose to abandon their worship. He continues that Muslims shouldn't practice blind faith and at one point should make a conscious choice to learn more about Islam as not to let go of their worship and get too caught up with the world.

Friday: "Ask a Muslim"

The final presentation was on Friday, the format being an open discussion about any questions people might have about Islam. The guest that day was Daud R. Matthews, another British convert. Lots of questions were asked by non-Muslims to understand more about the religion. The speaker was an old man who converted from Catholicism and was very knowledgeable about Islam and questions of Syari'ah. One question asked was 'what's inside the cube' referring to the Kabaah. The speaker although having been inside politely mentions that there's not a lot of stuff inside however he didn't get into detail which I'm sure left people's curiosities intact.

Overall the Islam Awareness Week was a success. I found all the talks enjoyable and informative and will be looking to attending them again next year, Inshallah.