More than 98 percent of the 33,000-plus students at Brigham Young University are members of its sponsoring institution — The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
A very small percentage of the students, including three members of the men’s basketball team, belong to the Islamic faith.
So why did Aly Khalifa, of Alexandria, Egypt; Fousseyni Traore, of Bamako, Mali; and Atiki Ally Atiki, of Mwanza, Tanzani; choose to play at a university dominated by Latter-day Saints?
All three agreed that both religions have much in common and they felt welcomed with open arms, according to a news release on churchofjesuschrist.org.
“[Muslims and Latter-day Saints] practice their religion really well,” Khalifa said. “We don’t drink, we don’t smoke, we don’t have sex before marriage. There’s a lot of similarities between both religions.”
Traore was also drawn to BYU’s higher moral values.
“This helped me a lot in my decision to come to BYU. We share a lot of similarities. Especially marriage-wise, the law of chastity is super-similar,” Traore said. “[Being a Muslim at BYU] is actually super cool. Everyone respects our beliefs.”
The trio of international post players talked about their experience of being Muslim at BYU prior to the No. 6 seed Cougars’ matchup with No. 11 seed Duquesne in the NCAA Tournament on Thursday, March 21.
The three players said they felt supported as they discussed plans to observe the Islamic holy month of Ramadan before playing in the Big 12 Conference tournament.
Read the entire article at churchofjesuschrist.org.
In January 2022, the Church released a new 35-page pamphlet designed to enhance understanding between those of Muslim and Latter-day Saint faiths. The two Apostles underscored the Church’s efforts with Muslims in defense of religious freedom.
