Edgy first college assignment: Study the Koran

What's more, many of North Carolina's cities – which have attracted Middle Easterners seeking jobs and education – are now dotted with mosques. One local Muslim was arrested during the post-Sept. 11 investigations last fall, and a national newsweekly recently documented that at least one "American Al Qaeda" made his home in the region before departing for the Middle East.

At its heart, however, the assignment is meant to give insight into why the Koran has such a strong hold on its adherents, UNC officials say. They point out that the book also makes clear that the Koran condemns using the term jihad, or struggle, as a justification for politically based battles– one of the main differences of opinion between the Sept. 11 terrorists and many other Muslims.

As author Sells writes: "At the day of reckoning ... meaning and justice are brought together. The Qur'an warns those who reject the day of reckoning and who are entrenched in lives of acquisition and injustice that an accounting awaits them. Yet these warnings are not more dire or grim than the warnings the biblical Jesus gives in the parables about burning and gnashing of teeth. And in Qur'anic recitation, all Qur'anic passages on alienation between

humankind and God are dominated by a tone, not of anger or wrath, but of sadness."

Such messages are important, UNC faculty and administrators say, to counter the hate-filled rhetoric put forth by Osama bin Laden and other Islamic radicals who see themselves at war with the Western world.

"If Americans don't want to learn about them because of the attacks last September, we are missing an opportunity to advance ourselves and learn about who we are, as well," Ernst says. "After all, there are more Muslims in the US than Jews."

UNC Chancellor James Moeser, who approved the committee's book choice, says "this is Chapel Hill being Chapel Hill. People are proud of us for doing this. I had a representative from a Jewish group here tell me, 'Here I am, a Jew teaching about the Koran to Southern Baptists.' The point is, this is the front door to an exciting experience and a sample of what they will be getting at Chapel Hill."

Predictably, perhaps, students who were on campus this summer for an orientation largely criticized the assignment.

Ford Williams doesn't mind being forced to study during his last official summer of childhood. His objection is more personal. A soccer standout at Broughton, he and his team were in Trinidad and Tobago on Sept. 11. While the tourney went on, armed guards kept the team under close watch. The players found it almost impossible to concentrate.

"I don't really care about learning about [Muslims] right now," he says. "I'm not in an enlightened state of mind. If anything, I want to worry about ourselves, and turn to our own religion."

Kevin Silva from Bedford, Mass., agrees: "I feel kind of forced to do something I wouldn't normally do."

But their new friend Jon Van Assen from South River, N.J., takes a more pragmatic view of the assignment: "It's provocative, but that's what gets people thinking," he says.

Mr. Williams adds a final assessment: "It's not like reading 'Tom Sawyer,' that's for sure."

• Alice Jonsson contributed to this story.

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