Arab Springby Grete Helstad Carlson

Students in Northwestern’s first Oman Semester visited Muscat’s Grand Mosque several times for interfaith lectures—including one by John Esposito, consultant to the U.S. State Department, Georgetown University religion professor, and founding director of the Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown’s Walsh School of Foreign Service.

When students in Northwestern’s Oman Semester attended an interfaith lecture by Georgetown University’s John Esposito soon after arriving in Muscat, Ellen Tolsma, as a woman, had to sit in the back of the Grand Mosque.

Surrounded by local Omani women in traditional hajib dress, she smoothed her own colorful head covering, smiled, and introduced herself in halting Arabic to the young woman sitting beside her. The woman’s response was in English. It was also overwhelmingly warm, welcoming and enthusiastic.

When her new friend, Fathiya, invited her on a family outing to Nizwa, Tolsma was a little nervous about an all-day car trip with people she barely knew. But when Fathiya came to pick her up, Tolsma’s apprehension disappeared: “As Fathiya walked toward me, her warm, open nature made me feel calm. Her warmth was not unique but true of all the Omanis I met. They welcomed us all to a new culture and a whole new world.”

Through Fathiya, Tolsma also met Hadeel and LuLu, who invited her for coffee, family dinners and overnights. “I even attended a traditional engagement party,” she says, “which is an honor usually reserved for family. My relationships make me want to return to Oman—to friends who have changed my life forever.”

This past January, Northwestern launched the Oman Semester with six students. They lived in the “Old City” of Muttrah in the capital of Muscat, the cultural and political center of the most peaceful, open and welcoming country in the Middle East. Oman, on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, provided a balmy semester by the sea for the students, who didn’t seem to mind leaving Iowa’s icy roads and snowy campus behind.

BRIAN MORIARTY

In addition to learning Arabic and attending classes at Sultan Qaboos University, students also traveled throughout Oman, including to Wahibi Sands, where they rode camels.

The Oman Semester grew out of collaboration among former Al Amana Centre director the Rev. Michael Bos; Northwestern sociology professor Dr. Scott Monsma; and Dr. Douglas Carlson, associate dean of Northwestern’s Global Education Center. Since 2004, nearly 30 students have studied in Oman for a few weeks as part of Northwestern’s study abroad program.

Carlson has visited Oman several times, including in 2007 to help shape the semester-long program. “People ask, ‘Why Oman?’ but anyone who has been there has experienced the Omanis’ warm welcome for American Christians and their deep respect for the work of RCA missionaries,” Carlson says.

“Northwestern’s mission statement affirms our commitment to engaging students in courageous and faithful learning and living,” he explains. “Studying abroad in the Middle East—especially right now—creates so many opportunities for that engagement.”

Northwestern students lived at the Al Amana Centre in the historic Date Palm House that was once the home of RCA missionaries. A 12-foot wall encloses a lush lawn under date palm trees, long-ago gifts to mission doctors, while pink blossoms cascade over stairways. Warm sea breezes drift over the rooftops as the call to prayer echoes from area mosques: “There is no god but God …”

Just beyond the gate, a remnant of the wall that once surrounded Muttrah creates a towering portal to “the souq,” a marketplace filled with sweet aromas of sandalwood and frankincense. Booths overflow with bright pashminas, saffron and nut-filled dates. Omani families wander the cobblestone path, children playing and babies perched on fathers’ shoulders.

It’s a short walk from Al Amana Centre, through the souq, to the corniche of polished marble walkways along the sea and shady gazebos of golden filigree. Most evenings Tyler McKenney met Ali and Ahmed on the corniche. “We often talked late into the night about life in Oman and America, discovering many similarities,” he says of his new friends. “Ahmed was determined to teach me Arabic, and I taught him English. They are two of the friendliest people I have ever met.”

In addition to studying Arabic for six hours each week, the students also attended an astronomy class at Sultan Qaboos University and engaged Omani culture through independent research projects guided by Ahmed Al-Mukhaini, a professor and attorney who is a leader of Oman’s human rights community and former adviser to two U.S. ambassadors.

In a course on Christian-Muslim relations led by Al Amana Director the Rev. Doug Leonard, students read Theologies of Religions by Paul Knitter. “Studying Knitter’s book while in Oman pushed my faith into places I was not expecting,” says Kameron Toews. “I wrestled with ideas I had not thought about before and came out with a more developed idea of Christianity and how it relates to other faiths. My own faith has become stronger and more mature.”

Weekend trips offered a broader understanding of Oman’s culture and, Nic Leither says, “Travel was the best way for friendships to grow within our group.” Students visited a 3,000-year-old archaeological site, hiked Oman's "Grand Canyon," snorkeled coastal reefs, swam in wadis, rode camels, and saw giant sea turtles lay eggs on a moonlit beach.

Leonard says Northwestern’s first Oman Semester offered profound encounters with Islam and Arab culture through relationships. “By the second week, students were playing soccer, going out for coffee and having dinner with Omani friends.

“By semester’s end, amid tears, embraces and promises to attend future weddings, they realized they had changed. Their souls were enlarged with the joy of following Christ’s countercultural leading—his outrageous calling to befriend ‘the other.’”