On Friday, students showed the OU community that doing something as simple as sharing flowers can spread wisdom and respect.
Despite the cold weather, Muslim students gave over 2,000 flowers and bookmarks to students on campus for the Muhammad: A Prophet of Mercy campaign.
The students handed out rose from 10:20 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on the South Oval and in the Oklahoma Memorial Union.
This campaign started last year with 19 states participating, according to the press release.
This year, students from 55 cities in more than 25 states distributed over 40,000 roses across the world in the U.S., New Zealand, Poland, Canada and the Netherlands, according to the press release.
This year, the campaign’s message promoted education and learning from the traditions of the Muhammad under the motto, “Muhammad: A role educator and a man of wisdom.”
Hussain Al Abdrabalnabi, a petroleum engineering senior, said the students participated to reach the OU community and correct bad stereotypes about Muslims.
“We want to spread the language of peace and respect, the language everybody can understand,” Al Adrabalnabi said.
The group members said many of the students were kind when they received the flowers.
Petroleum engineering senior Eyad Al Ali said the group wanted to bridge the gap between Muslim and OU communities through the campaign.
“We want to share the language of peace with the community we are living in,” Al Ali said. “We want to thank the community that we are living in because all of us are international students.”
Al Adrabalnabi said the campaign’s volunteers took photos and conducted interviews for a video for the event. The video will include content from other students giving flowers all over the world and will posted on YouTube.