‘Islamophobia is irrational,’ antithetical to American values, BYU Islam conferencegoers told

By Tad Walch

(DESERET) Brigham Young University’s student center has had a dedicated Muslim prayer room for more than 15 years, but a second one opened Monday and Tuesday in the Gordon B. Hinckley Alumni and Visitors Center while it hosted a major conference on Islam.

The temporary prayer room was part of the first impression made by BYU and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on many of the internationally renowned participants, including Dalia Fahmy, the chair of International Relations and Diplomacy at Long Island University.

“Of all of the academic conferences I’ve been to, being here in the LDS community you feel the urgency of wanting to overcome a lot of the challenges our country’s facing,” she said. “So, it’s not your typical academic conference in that we’re simply presenting ideas. I believe that we’re having a deeper conversation about possibly getting to solutions that overcome a lot of the differences.”