Quote:
Originally Posted by farah
wait wait wait. HOLD UP *screeching tires noise*
what do you each of you consider the purpose of MSA to be?
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Thank you for digging out the root issue here.
The purpose? To provide a healthy atmosphere (within Islamic bounds) for Muslim students on college campuses to interact with each other and increase their understanding of the deen.
NOT the purpose:
- imposing islam on members (compulsion)
- converting people
- furthering non-indigenous cultural practices
- being an authority on Islam
My issue has been with trying to remind people that it is the MUSLIM student association and that it should serve Muslims in a positive way. There should be healthy dialogue between those crazy liberals, super conservatives, and everyone who thinks they're somewhere in between. It's not fair to have an MSA that caters only to a small section of Muslims; I feel that's selfish. I understand that many people want to strongly guard their beliefs and practices; that's great, we should all love al-Islam and strive to adhere to it, but it should *never* be at the expense of any other Muslim. And unfortunately, though we often don't face the realities we create, we do that- we alienate each other.
I remember coming into my MSA as a freshman and one of the first events I remember attending a board meeting for was a semester-beginning picnic, where we were discussing some arab girls who arrived in sleeveless tops and less than full length skirts. IN A BOARD MEETING? Brothers and sisters alike were expressing how wrong it was, that these girls could be so disrespectful, and that we needed to somehow mend this problem. God, I don't think I ever saw those girls (who are masha Allah incredibly sweet people) come to an MSA event again. Do people have no shame? Is it at all acceptable to discuss what other people wear in a meeting, if ever at all? Don't we have more important issues to address? World hunger, civil wars? Dear God.
And my experience has only been of 4 years on one campus. Can you imagine what we've inadvertently done to thousands upon thousands of our brothers and sisters across the nation? In masajid, anywhere there's Muslims? Do we realize how fragile our community is? Apparently there's no haya in judging. No shame. We're blinded by our own self-righteousness.
It's a love/hate relationship I have with the Muslim community; I want to see our situation improve but I can't stand it. It's important to me, though. I plan on being fiercely Muslim in this society for the rest of my life; I think America and Muslims were made for each other. America has the incredible ability to strip the culture away from just about anything- including Muslims. And Muslims, I feel, have such incredible tools and modes of thinking available to them through Islam. The synergy could be fantastic.