Teaching the True Message of Islam

By Broadside Correspondent Muhammad Ghazi

The George Mason University Muslim Student Association has had many events and projects throughout Mason history. Taking time recently to speak with some of the MSA’s current officers this semester added insight to many of the goals that the group has.

Members of Mason’s MSA try to take an active role both on and off campus and seem to do this through dedication to the organization and the university. Dedication plays a large role for these students as they strive to change their communities using Islamic teachings as a springboard for positive action.

According to Farooq Yousuf and Khalid Kamalmaz, MSA’s president and public relations officer, respectively, and Sufia Alnoor, MSA secretary, the organization “seeks to aid in fostering true brotherhood and sisterhood among Muslims on campus and to present the pure teachings of Islam to non-Muslim students.”

Lately, much of the MSA’s focus seems to have been on the local non-Muslim population. The MSA at Mason claims they are fully aware that they are in the position of being able to proactively cultivate a representation of the Muslim lifestyle in contrast to much of what they believe to be the negatively perceived face of Islam projected by the media today.

In fact, in the last several months alone, the MSA has been engaged in conducting events that show Mason students and the northern Virginia community at large about the truth about Islam.

“The MSA understands that there are negative stereotypes of Muslims out there and we respond by holding events that show and teach the true message of Islam,” Kamalmaz said. “We also have MSA information kiosks from time to time at which we pass out information about Islam for those who wish to know more about it and to help eliminate the stereotypes in place.”

Such events have most recently included Islam Awareness Week at the end of February. The week long festivities featured nightly programs consisting of films, lectures and speakers, as well as a panel discussion titled, ”Unveiled: The Lives of Muslim Women,” where all guests were invited to an open discussion of Muslim stereotypes. However, MSA doesn’t always keep activities on campus.

Through a partnership with the D.C. Council, “a local coalition of MSA’s” from across the Maryland and D.C. Metro area, Mason’s own MSA has participated this semester in Project Downtown and Project Smiles.

The event organized volunteer Muslims en masse to prepare and distribute sandwiches to D.C.’s homeless, while also listening to their stories and giving encouragement. Project Smiles, organized and executed a few weeks later, consisted of students visiting the elderly door to door at a D.C. nursing home.

Other recent initiatives have included cleanups at local community centers, as well as mosques. Another Project Smiles event has been organized for April 19 where the Mason’s MSA, alongside D.C. Council Muslims, will volunteer in the Community for Creative Nonviolence. At CCNV, a D.C. homeless shelter, the public is invited by the D.C. Council to help clean, paint, organize the pantry and talk to the residents from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Each year the organization oversees daily Iftaars during the month of Ramadan, where fasting Muslims can come break their fasts at sunset each evening with a free meal. There are also frequent MSA sponsored social events, such as Brothers’ Night Outs or Sisters’ Breakfasts.

The MSA also provides weekly Islamic studies classes which are open to all, as part of its effort to increase brotherhood and sisterhood throughout campus.