Islamic leader visits Middle East, asks students to come back

Thirty-nine of the 68 Middle Eastern students who withdrew from classes last semester have re-enrolled for the spring, said university spokeswoman Sharon Kha.

The students, mostly from the United Arab Emirates, withdrew in mid-September due to fears and concerns about the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, said Nasser Alnuaimi, president of the Muslim Students Association.

"Another thing is that their families do not have the same picture of things over there," he said.

Alnuaimi, a civil engineering graduate student, said many students' families overseas do not think it is safe for the students to remain in the United States.

"I dropped my classes because my wife was very afraid," said Jumaa Al-maskari, a mechanical engineering junior. "One of the reasons was anthrax. So I went home, and my family said I did not have to return."

While Al-maskari said he never experienced any hostility from the students at the University of Arizona, he did not plan on returning until Imam Omar Shahin, director of the Islamic Center of Tucson, paid his family a visit in the UAE.

"(Shahin) came to my father and told him that I can go back, that it was safe to go back," Al-maskari said.

Shahin is now visiting with students in the UAE who withdrew and persuading them to return, Alnuaimi said.

"He is trying to convey that things are safe here for them to go to school. It really helps on the level of the parents, not just the level of the students," Alnuaimi said. "He has a lot of weight when he goes over there and talks to them and reassures them, because he is a spiritual leader."

Seventy-three students left UA last semester due to the Sept. 11 attacks, Kha said. Sixteen were U.S. citizens, 15 were called to active military duty and one was requested home by his parents.

Forty-four of those students re-enrolled this semester.

Al-maskari said he is happy that the 39 Middle-Eastern students who re-enrolled took initiative to come back.

"I want to see the students finish their studies," he said. "I don't want to see them run away. Nothing is guaranteed in life; there is no 100 percent guarantee on safety because you don't know what's going to happen. But I want to see them finish what they've started."