By Joy Priest

Ten years after 9/11, Osama bin Laden is dead. But the misconception that Islam is just a group of suicide bombers lives on in many Americans.

The regional debut of “Mooz-lum” will screen Tuesday evening in Worsham theater to help address some of the common misconceptions of Islam and Muslims, said Chester Grundy, director of the Martin Luther King Cultural Center, which is sponsoring the event along with the Muslim Student Association and the Arabic and Islamic Studies Program.

“Mooz-lum” chronicles the struggles of Tariq Mahdi, a fictional character in the film that must balance a very traditional, Islamic father who wants him to be “hafiz” — to completely memorize the Qur’an — and assimilation into a new culture and new high school.

“This film brings a face to all this controversy around Islam,” Grundy said. “This all happens in the backdrop of 9/11, which changes everything for the status of Muslims in Tariq’s school.”

Grundy said the independently produced film, which is written and directed by Qasim “Q” Basir, is “a high caliber film.”

“It’s a film that exposes a minority group of people, and opens the minds of people that are completely guarded toward a topic they aren’t really familiar with,” Muslim Student Association President Ratul Ahmed said about the film.

Grundy said this film is relevant today because the tensions generated by 9/11 are more critical than ever before.

“The tensions around the Muslim world and the West go back thousands of years … 9/11 just exacerbated it,” Grundy said. “So much of it is based on ignorance.”

Grundy said when asking Americans what Islam is about, or to tell him the major tenets of Islam, he has gotten some “frighteningly ignorant answers,” like “terrorists” and “suicide bombing.”

Ahmed said watching “Mooz-lum” — a title he describes as a purposeful misspelling to reflect the common person’s inability to accept other cultures he or she is not comfortable with — will encourage people to be open-minded and possess a broader world view.

“The screening of this film definitely falls in line with MSA’s purpose and mission to unite and inform the Muslim and non-Muslim community on UK’s campus,” Ahmed said. “We feel this is a great opportunity and something that’s really worth promoting.”

Ahmed said attending this screening is important for every UK student.

“It promotes virtually every student organization’s mission in terms of serving a well-rounded college experience,” Ahmed said.

Grundy said while the film may not be everyone’s story, it’s a very human story.

“If we’re going to be truly enlightened … truly global citizens, than we need to take advantage of every opportunity available to us here to be exposed to something that may just alter our perception, to see the world and its peoples a little differently,” Grundy said. “This is one of those opportunities and you can only gain from it.”