From The Columbia University Spectator
By Qiuyun Tan
Spectator Staff Writer | Published March 28, 2013
Professional football player Hamza Abdullah joined Columbia’s Muslim community for a Fast-A-Thon on Tuesday evening to raise awareness for Muslims inMyanmar.
The event, at the Diana Center Event Oval, was hosted by the Muslim Students Association. Attendees pledged to fast in order to collect money for charity, and used a big name to bring attention to a lesser-known humanitarian crisis.
Abdullah, who has played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Denver Broncos, Cleveland Browns, and Arizona Cardinals, discussed how his religion affected his career as a football player. He said he is grateful that Islam gives him “a certain structure of what I need to do and what I should be doing” in life.
In an interview after his talk, Abdullah also said he was concerned Muslims were being too reactive, not proactive, to Islamophobia. He said acts “as simple as a smile to another person” make a difference in others’ opinions of the religion.
“Islam is a religion of peace,” Abdullah said. “We have to show that in the way we walk every single day.”
Abdullah stressed the importance of understanding between religions.
“When we go to feed someone, we don’t ask that person if they’re religious or not,” he said. “The world community, the Muslim community, everyone is like a body. If one part of the body hurts, the entire body hurts. So when we look and see someone that doesn’t have what we have, we’re hurting because they’re hurting.”
That perspective was echoed in speeches by activists on the plight of the Rohingya Muslim people of Myanmar, whom the United Nations consider an oppressed minority.
