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Assalamu Alaikum,
Dear Muslim students:
Welcome
to MSA National's November edition of the E-letter! If you have an MSA success
story or would like to share your MSA news, we would love to hear from you. The
deadline for submissions is the 15th of each month. Please
send all submissions and direct any questions to eletter@msanational.org.
Please
note: MSA National does not endorse and is not responsible for any of the
activities, events and projects listed in the E-letter
other than those organized by MSA National
itself.
Thank-you,
Your E-letter Team
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| From the President's Desktop |
From the President's Desktop
Asma Mirza
November 2007
Salams MSAers! This month's desktop comes from Little Rock, Arkansas where I spoke about Youth Development as part of a day-long event held by ISNA. I really enjoyed working with individuals who are insha'Allah, God willing, starting MYNA and MSA chapters.
As we head back from Thanksgiving break and into finals, I'm reminded that our first semester is nearly over. In a little over six months the 2007-2008 school and MSA year will be over. While we've accomplished so much, there is so much more we have yet to begin.
In that spirit, our officers have spent the last few weeks wrapping up the Peace Not Prejudice campaign and implementing the next project to support Muslim Students.
At the Majlis Ash-Shura meeting of ISNA I summarized the progress of the Peace Not Prejudice campaign to community leaders. The positive feedback was overwhelming; all the participants were impressed by the well-organized efforts of MSA chapters. In addition, the campaign received national media attention through an editorial published in The Washington Post. This and other articles are available on our website under "In the News".
I was welcomed with the same support at a dinner hosted by the Council of Religious Institutions of the Holy Land in Washington, DC. I was star-struck as I met three Shuyuk from Palestine, three of the top Rabbi of Israel, and Cardinals of the Catholic Church. These powerful religious leaders came together to create and implement initiatives to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli issue. I was honored to be among the individuals representing the American Muslim community who discussed what our community is doing to improve interfaith efforts and collaboration.
Also, Sr. Randa Kuziez, Treasurer, represented MSA National at the Interfaith Youth Core, www.ifyc.org, conference in Chicago, IL to learn about resources available to Muslim Students.
In addition to the Peace Not Prejudice campaign and interfaith efforts, we've been working hard to plan zonal conferences and other projects.
Spearheaded by your Zonal Reps, we are proud to announce monthly zonal calls aimed at uniting the zones by providing resources. From fundraising to IAW, these calls aim to provide support and motivation to MSA chapters. The program will kick-off with a nation-wide conference call titled "Maintaining Spirituality: Essential tools for Muslim Workers" by Imam Mohamed Magid. This amazing topic is relevant for all Muslim students and I highly encourage you to attend. More information on the call is included in this e-letter.
I pray we all do well on our final papers and exams!
Wassalams!
Asma Mirza
President
MSA National
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Updates From Your Zonal Reps
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West Zone USA
Alhamdulillah the last few weeks have been busy in the West Zone. Many of our chapters participated in the Peace not Prejudice campaign and by the Grace of Allah, it was a success and was received well in the West Zone.
The West Zone is also looking for a chapter to host the 2008 MSA National West Zone Conference. If your MSA would like to host the conference please email wzrepusa@msanational.org for more details.
You should also look out for a monthly conference call that we will
be having with a scholar. The call will be open to all MSA students
and will include a lecture delivered by a Muslim scholar followed by
a live discussion!
JazakAllah khair for all the hard work! Remember that the MSA
provides you a forum to do a lot of Islamic and social work. So keep
up the good work!
Please feel free to contact me at wzrepusa@msanational.org and keep me in your duas!
Wassalams,
Zeeshan Qasim
wzrepusa@msanational.org
East Zone USA Asalaamu Alaikum Fellow EZers!
InshAllah I hope this reaches you all in the strongest state of imaan and health! With another month passing, MSAs across the zone were able to take part in many positive events. SubhanAllah the 'Peace Not Prejudice Campaign' was a huge success in offsetting many of the negative images groups were trying to uphold against Islam. Campuses nationwide took part in the campaign portraying the true essence of Islam as well as its beauty.
Fast-a-Thon was also a huge event that occurred this past month.
Increasing awareness for different causes around the country and the world, MSAs were not only able to raise money for those causes, but also show their fellow classmates the purpose behind fasting and its benefits.
Alhumdulilah the East Zone Committee has been working hard on
finding state representatives for all the states in our zone. We have been successful in finding the majority of them so please make sure you introduce yourself to your designated state reps! They will be an
excellent source of information for any MSA related questions you may have. If anyone is interested in becoming a state representative for a state that is not shown below, feel free to email ezrepusa@msanational.org to for more information!
Aysha Asalam
Florida
ayshaaslam@gmail.com
Ahmed Ali
South Carolina
muslim@gwm.sc.edu
Bilal Ahmad
Alabama
bgahmad@gmail.com
Sania Laila Mahmood
Connecticut
sanialaila@gmail.com
Omar Siddiqi
New York
omarjavedsiddiqi@gmail.com
Aliyah Khan
New York
aliya559@hotmail.com
Adam Stephenson
Maryland
adam10@umd.edu
Amina Afreen
Pennsylvania
amina.afreen@temple.edu
Nasiba Adjerid
Virginia Tech
nadjerid@vt.edu
Ramy Zamzam
District of Columbia
rzamzam@gmail.com
Also be sure to look out for monthly conference calls coming to an
MSA near you! Each call will be done by a different speaker and will
be geared towards all you MSAers out there!
JazakAllah Khair for all your hard work! May Allah (swt) bless you all for you efforts!
Wassalaam!
Sumrah Haider
ezrepusa@msanational.org
West Zone Canada
Assalamu Alaikum West Zone Canada!
I hope this note finds you all in good health and a high level of iman.
My name is Samir Hassan, your new West Zone Canada Representative for 2007-2008.
Alhumdulillah, I am grateful and feel privileged to have been presented with this exciting opportunity. I look forward to working with the brothers and sisters within West Zone Canada (WZC) and Insha'Allah participating in cross zonal collaborative projects.
I am a student by night attending the University of Winnipeg where my majors are Conflict Resolution and Criminal Justice. During the day I play the role of Projects Manager for the Islamic Social Services Association (ISSA). I hope Insha'Allah that the sisters and brothers within WZC are eager, willing and able to contribute to the successful development of our zone.
With that said there are a number of positions available on our Zonal Committee and I look forward to being bombarded with emails regarding them.
Additionally I'm sure that we all would like to see WZC host a Zonal
Conference this year and I encourage any MSA interested in hosting it to email me ASAP so that I can e-mail you the proposal form.
I would like to conclude by asking all the brothers and sisters within WZC and all other zones a thought provoking question that I constantly ask myself, "Someone has to attain the highest level of success... why not you?" Some may call that *dreamer's* mentality but I much rather prefer the term *ambitious*.
Your brother in Islam *working* on loving you for the cause of Allah (It's harder then it sounds :)
Samir Hassan
West Zone Canada Representative
MSA National
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| Muslim Students Against Prejudice
The Washington Post |
Muslim Students Against Prejudice
The Washington PostSunday, November 11, 2007 As a student at the University of Maryland, I was horrified when I found out that a noose had been hung on my campus ["Racial Incident Leads to Dialogue at U-Md.," Metro, Sept. 14]. Hateful, anti-Semitic graffiti scrawled on bathroom walls at Columbia University, and the discovery of swastikas and racist slurs on dormitory doors at George Washington University [Metro, Nov. 5] remind us of the uncomfortable reality that racial and religious prejudice still exist... Click here to read full story |
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"Maintaining Spirituality: Key Lessons for MSA Workers"
Nationwide Conference Call with Imam Magid |
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Our Zonal Conference Call Series kicks-off this Wednesday with a Nationwide conference call titled "Maintaining Spirituality: Key Lessons for MSA Workers" with Imam Mohamed Magid. This amazing lecture is a must-listen for all MSA members!
Date: November 28th at 10pm EST
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MSA National Offers Condolences
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MSA National offers condolences to the families of Syed Ali Turab, Amadou Cisse, and Meriam Toorawa.
Syed Ali Turab was a student at the Rochester Institute of Technology who passed away on November 9, 2007 in an campus fire. To read the full story visit: http://wcbstv.com/local/rit.rochester.institute.2.564352.
Amadou Cisse was a student at the University of Chicago who was shot and killed on November 19, 2007. To read the full story visit Slain student was three weeks away from receiving his Ph.D.
Meriam Toorawa was 22 and a fourth year student at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
We ask that you keep them and their families in your prayers.
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MSA National does not endorse and is not responsible for any of the
activities, events and projects listed in the E-letter other than those
organized by MSA National itself. The following activities, events and
projects are not organized by MSA National:
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Congratulations to Carleton University Students!
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Atif Shamim and his PhD Colleague Arsalan from Carleton Univeristy won the prestigious ITAC Strategic Microelectronics Council Industrial Collaboration Award for their research project "Dosimeter: Wireless Microchips in LTCC Package for Biomedical and Space Applications". Their work was selected from 10 graduate student finalists Canada-wide that proceeded to the Symposium in this award category, and was tied for first place with a team from Waterloo. The award comes with a $3000 travel grant to pursue further iteraction with companies and attend conferences. Previous winners from Carleton were Ram Achar (1997) and John Rogers (1998). Congratulations Arsalan and Atif for this great distinction!
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Celebrating the Achievements of American Muslim Youth
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A few weeks ago Nadia Razaq, a student at Loyola Medical School was notified by Loyola that she has been named the 2007-2008 recipient of the Dr. Ralph P. Leischner MD, Memorial Scholarship. The award is for $36,600 given only to one student per year for the full tuition of the 4th year studies at the medical school.
The Loyola committee remarked, "In selecting you from among the students of Class 08, Loyola wishes to recognize the professional and personal qualities that you have demonstrated in an exemplary fashion, which gave evidence that you merited this award."
Nadia has been working very closely with CCN for the last six months as part of her Schweitzer Fellowship. At CCN she is setting up translator services to enable CCN to serve communities with different language preferences. She has also helped in developing brochures and other promotional materials in Spanish and Arabic to better serve these communities. Prior to joining CCN as a Schweitzer Fellow, Nadia spent time working in Africa gaining valuable first hand experience, regarding the many health care challenges people face in that continent. Nadia hopes to continue her work for the underserved in the area of healthcare through her future participation in Schweitzer for Life programs.
Nadia is the daughter of Br. Mohammed Razaq, long time community worker and current Board member and Treasurer of Islamic Foundation in Villa Park, IL.
Today we received the second exciting news about the selection of Isra Bhatty as a Rhodes Scholar, an honor given to only 32 in the nation this year, for their outstanding scholarship, leadership and community service. Isra was actively involved with IMAN during her college years at U of C and Princeton. Along with the honor comes a two to three year study at Oxford University, England with all expenses for tuition and living paid.
Isra is the daughter of Br. Javed Bhatty, an interfaith activist and current Board member of the Muslim Community Center in Chicago.
The Chicago Tribune tells her story.
We applaud the amazing achievements of these two young members of our community as we salute them and wish them continued success in the future.
Community Builders Chicago
www.mycommunitybuilders.com
U. of C. student gets Rhodes scholarship By Alexa Aguilar | Tribune staff reporter
November 19, 2007
Isra Bhatty's academic prowess is obvious: she graduated from the University of Chicago, spent time at Princeton and is in law school at Yale.
But Bhatty thinks she was chosen as a Rhodes scholar this weekend because she is just as likely to be working with prisoners, playing football or writing poetry as hitting the books.
"I think Rhodes looks for well-rounded people," she said. "And I have interests from hip-hop to football to being nerdy."
Bhatty, 23, of Glenview was one of three U. of C. students and the only Illinoisan selected this weekend for the prestigious scholarship, which provides two or three years of study, all expenses paid, at Oxford University in England.
With three recipients, the U. of C. tied Stanford University for the highest number of student recipients this year. In all, 32 nationwide were selected from 764 applicants.
"I'm a little overwhelmed by it," Bhatty said.
Bhatty, who graduated from the U. of C. in 2006, is now in her first year of law school at Yale University. She'll travel across the Atlantic to study social interventions, with a focus on programs for people of color, immigrants and substance abusers, she said.
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The Muslim Students Association National, headquartered near Washington
D.C., has been serving Muslim students on colleges and university campuses across the United States
and Canada since 1963. There are over 250 MSA chapters on university and college campuses throughout the
United States and Canada.
Sincerely,
Your MSA National Board of Directors:
Ex-officio: Mohamed Sheibani
President: Asma Mirza
Vice President of the USA: Hajar Abdul-Rahim
Vice President of Canada: Zeina Sleiman
Treasurer: Randa Kuziez
Your MSA National Zonal Representatives:
East Zone Canada Rep: Qudsiyya Zalgaonker
East Zone US Rep: Sumrah Haider
Central Zone US Rep: Nura Sediqe
West Zone Canada Rep: Samir Hassan
West Zone US Rep: Zeeshan Qasim
Your MSA National Task Force Chairs:
Community Service: Yasmin Hussein
COMPASS: Idris El-Bakri
Media and Communication: Zainab Khan
Information Technology: Meraj Ahmed
Programs: Chancey Gannett
Your MSA National Office Staff:
Asma Rehman
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Spotlight on MSA
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MSA
National congratulates the MSA of University of California - Berkeley. Cal MSA put on a very impressive
Peace not Prejudice campaign. They started the week with an
educational documentary about the prisoners in Abu Ghraib. They also
had a poetry night, and a peace rally to end the week which drew
hundreds of students! Congratulations to president Bilal Ahmed and
the rest of the Berkeley MSA!!!
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