9/11 was already forming my understanding of Islam and Arabs.” Now that Brothers is studying the Arabic language and Islamic culture, he finds himself working to “unlearn” many of the stereotypes and misconceptions he has held. “In my classes, we host Muslim guest speakers and have intense discussions where I have strongly defended my opinions,” Brothers said. “But often after the discussion I have stepped back and thought, ‘Why do I believe this?’” Bahkou said students come to the classroom harboring a number of misconceptions that he hopes to correct — not the least of which is the belief that Islam is synonymous with radicalism. “I want students to know that not all Muslims are terrorists,” he said.
“My studies have made an otherwise alien world familiar to me.” John Brothers, student Dr. Abjar Bahkou (right) and student Jeremy Feghali
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a degree in Arabic and Middle East Studies will find many professional avenues open to them. “Graduates will find a number of companies that would welcome their cultural and language expertise,” Long said. “The same goes for nongovernmental organizations and government organizations like the Peace Corps. The major is also great preparation for graduate school.” In addition to learning the Arabic language, students in the major often find themselves unlearning things about the peoples and culture of the Middle East. The students were in grade school on Sept. 11, 2001, when terrorists destroyed the World Trade Center in New York City. “I was in third grade,” John Brothers, a junior majoring in Arabic and Middle East Studies, remembered. “I had no idea that
Bahkou’s Christian faith is rooted in the Syriac Orthodox tradition, and he and his Christian colleague, Dr. Saadi, spent much of their childhood and young adulthood in the same monastic order in Damascus. “We should do our best to be fair. God so loved the world, including the Muslim world,” Bahkou said. A native Syrian student, Baylor junior Lana Joudeh, is taking classes in advanced Arabic in order to improve her writing and reading skills. She also wants to see cultural misconceptions examined as part of her studies. “In my opinion, a misconception about Muslims and Arabs is that they are disrespectful toward women –– that is, they treat women as lesser beings,” Joudeh said. “Through the study of the Arabic language and culture, students will realize how much women — mothers especially — are respected and cherished in their world.”