From the President's Desktop
Asma Mirza
January 2008

Salams MSAers and welcome back to classes! I pray we all made the most of our winter break and are excited to get back to MSA land.

Like many of you, your MSA National officers never left MSA land and spent the break hard at work preparing for the Spring semester.  

From December 27-29th I joined our Canadian zonal reps, Sr. Qudsiya and Br. Sameer, as well as other officers including Br. Mohamed Sheibani, Sr. Omaira Alam, Br. Idris Elbakari and Sr. Zainab Khan at the RIS convention.  Meeting with so many Muslim Students and discussing ways to help improve our MSAs and issues relevant to our community was uplifting.  It was also exciting to see so many former and current MSA students volunteering at the conference.

Among the many conversations, one brother from Concordia MSA, Br. Ghaleb, told me how when he first came to Minnesota, MSA members picked him up from the airport, helped him get settled, and became his home away from home as he celebrated his first Ramadan and Eid away from his family.  My eyes nearly teared up as he described this story and told me how his mother received a translation of the Qur'an in 1975 from MSA National, when the organization established one of if not the first Muslim printing presses in America.  It is that passion and love for MSA that he carries with him today at Concordia.
 
After the RIS convention, I am really looking forward to the zonal conference this spring where we'll all have an opportunity to come together, learn and strengthen our community.

Your officers spent the next few weeks preparing for the Midterm Meeting.  According to student feedback, 34.4% of respondents stated their impression of MSA National improved and the perception of 44.4% stayed the same in the past six months.  Among the most important MSA National project and services, students selected IAW, Fast-A-Thon, the Monthly Eletter, the Peace Not Prejudice Campaign, Project Downtown, and the new website.  As projects they would like to see, respondents selected Dawah / Interfaith, Networking between students, Community Service, Education for Muslim students, and Political Action / Civic Engagement.  Using the feedback as a springboard, the MSA National officers evaluated the previous semester, reviewed upcoming projects and planed for the coming semester.



Thank you to all of you who completed the feedback survey.  We hope to institutionalize our current projects as we explore new ways to serve our fellow Muslim students.

This semester we plan to update our new zonal webpages, hold zonal conferences, continue working with major Muslim organizations on the 2008 US Presidential Elections, continue the "Key Lessons for MSA Workers" series, launch an updated MSA Starter's Guide, and other exciting initiatives.  

I hope to bring you more updates as we being the Spring Semester!

Wassalams!

Asma Mirza
President
MSA National

COMPASS, MSA National's Management Training Task Force, will be presenting at "Living Islam On Campus" an online Sunni Path Class.  COMPASS will present, "Basics of Financial Planning for MSAs" and "Succession Planning for MSAs".  To learn more about the event or to register visit SunniPath.

Asalaamu Alaikum EZers!

InshAllah everyone is doing great and had an enjoyable break! With a new semester starting, there is plenty to look forward to inshAllah! Make sure to visit our new EZ website at http://ezusa.msanational.org/events If your MSA is hosting an event and you would like to post it online, email me at ezrepusa@msanational.org. It's a great way to advertise and network with other schools!

Also don't forget this month's scholar call is with Imam Zaid Shakir entitled "Teddy Bear Incident: Key Lessons for the MSA Worker". The call will be on Wednesday, January 30 at 10 PM EST. RSVP by the 28th by emailing msaconferencecall@msanational.org  to get the call information.

 
Take care,
Wassalaam!

Sumrah Haider
East Zone USA Representative
ezrepusa@msanational.org

I hope this finds all of you in great health. Alhamdulillah, the last few weeks have been busy in the West Zone. We are close to making a final decision on the host for the 2008 West Zone conference.  We hope
to have that information available to you soon so that you may make travel arrangements and clear up your schedules.

This month MSA National will continue its series of Contient-wide Scholar Calls with Imam Zaid Shakir. InshAllah, he will discuss the lessons we need to learn from the "teddy bear" case as we mature as a community here in the west.  For those of you who have not joined the previous calls, we host a monthly call that is accessible to all MSA students across the US and Canada. We have a scholar/community leader address the attendees of the call and then we follow with an interactive conversation between the scholar and the audience. So please make sure you join is this month with Imam Zaid Shakir. Please visit the MSA National web site for more details on the call.

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
West Zone USA Representative
wzrepusa@msanational.org

Asalamu alaykum!

 Insha'Allah this reaches you all in the best of health and Iman! This semester, insha'Allah, a lot of things are coming your way. And, of these things is the much anticipated annual Central Zone conference!

Mark your calendars for March 28^th to March 30^th as we will all be heading over to St. Louis, Missouri for this year's conference, insha'Allah! This is the one opportunity during the year where you can come together and see all your fellow MSAers in one place. Keep checking the CZ website for details and updates. (http://czusa.msanational.org). Contact myself or Amera Ahmad amera522@gmail.com if you have any questions or concerns.  

Alhamdulilah, this month we will be hosting the continent-wide scholar call with Imam Zaid Shakir, which is scheduled to be on January 30^th. The topic of the call is, "Learning from the Teddy Bear Incident." This is a call you don't want to miss, so be sure to check it out!

This year, the Central Zone committee has been working on improving the networking and communication between individual MSA chapters and MSA National. One way we're doing this is by recruiting state reps, whose responsibility is simply to keep that communication flowing. A big thank you, JazakumAllahu Khayran, to our state reps who have joined thus far:

Sr. Kiara Abdullah - Indiana
Sr. Sosan Azmeh - Iowa
Sr. Reem Rahman - Illinois
Sr. Iman Sediqe- Michigan

If you're interested in becoming a state rep, please do send us an email at czrepusa@msanational.org.

Lastly, I just wanted to shout out to any and all of you that have been working so hard this year in your respective MSA's and MSA councils. Truly, you are all great leaders and role models, and may Allah(swt) give you the strength to continue doing good work for His sake. I'd love to hear from you guys, even if you just want to send me an email with your name and what MSA you're in.

Since this month's scholar call is with Imam Zaid Shakir, I'll leave you all with an excerpt from his book, Scattered Pictures, Reflections of an American Muslim:

"Our being Muslim at this critical juncture in history is not without purpose. Our existence here in this country is part of a divine plan, and the deeper our understanding of that plan, the deeper our realization of the tremendous responsibility we shoulder."

JazakumAllah khayran
Sincerely,

Nura Sediqe
Central USA Representative
czrepusa@msanational.org

Assalamu Alaikum!

Alhumdulillah life has certainly presented us with many new and interesting challenges since my last address. I hope insha'Allah that everyone was able to successfully triumph challenges we were recently faced with! 

Alhumdulillah West Zone Canada is taking form once again, slowly but surely the pieces to this puzzle are coming together. While i sat down to write this eletter entry i asked myself how many WZC MASers would get a chance to read this and now I ask for your assistance in answering this simple question. If you are member of an msa that is in BC, AB, SK or MB and are reading this please email your friendly zonal rep at wzrepcan@msanational.org , after all i did say salaam to you so you do kinda of owe me a salaam back :) 

As you can see developing a strong network throughout WZC is still one of my top priorities and alhumdulillah the network is growing. 

There are a few zonal committee positions that have not been filled at this point and i welcome all who may be interested to send over an email. Here are a list of the positions still currently open:

Secretary: records minutes (meetings, conference calls, etc) and sends
them to committee members, zonal rep, and vice president.

Affiliation Coordinator: affiliate MSA chapters with MSA National, update
database, and follow up with Asma Rahman. (Pending)

Project Coordinator:
 A.Internal: responsible for organizing internal projects forcommittee members. (Pending)

B.External: responsible for organizing external projects for the
            zone. (Pending)

Development Coordinator: Initiates and develops state councils; provides
resources for MSAs. (Pending)

Webmaster: Maintains the zonal website; helps the IT manager (Meraj)
(Pending)

Public Relations: advertises for events/projects (ex: zonal conference,
monthly scholarly conf. call), recruiting writers for the Eletter.
(Pending)

Provincial Rep: Act as a liaison between their provincial MSAs and their
Zonal Rep. Also assisting in the establishment of a stronger network
between provincial MSAs. (Pending)

At this point it is still our intention to hold a WZC conference. Your interest and as shown by email replies to this entry will play a role in the developmental stages of this conference so i urge all of you to step up and and help us make it happen. 

Your brother in Islam,

Samir Hassan
West Zone Canada Representative
wzrepcan@msanational.org

Imam Zaid Shakir - Biography

Imam Zaid Shakir is amongst the most respected and influential Islamic scholars in the West. As an American Muslim who came of age during the civil rights struggle, he has brought both sensitivity about race and poverty issues and scholarly discipline to his faith-based work.

Born in Berkeley, California, he accepted Islam in 1977 while serving in the United States Air Force. He obtained a BA with honors in International Relations at American University in Washington D.C. and later earned his MA in Political Science at Rutgers University. After a year of studying Arabic in Cairo, Egypt, he settled in New Haven, Connecticut and continued his community activism, co-founding Masjid al-Islam, the Tri-State Muslim Education Initiative, and the Connecticut Muslim Coordinating Committee.  He then studied for seven years in Syria, and briefly in Morocco, immersing himself in an intense study of Arabic, Islamic law, Quranic studies, and spirituality with some of the top Muslim scholars of our age. In 2001, he graduated from Syria's prestigious Abu Noor University and returned to Connecticut, serving again as the Imam of Masjid al-Islam, and writing and speaking frequently on a host of issues.

In 2003, he moved to Hayward, California to serve as a scholar-in-residence and lecturer at Zaytuna Institute, where he now teaches courses on Arabic, Islamic law, history, and Islamic spirituality.  He is a frequent speaker at local and national Muslim events and has emerged as one of the nation's top Islamic scholars and a voice of conscience for American Muslims and non-Muslims alike.

To learn more about Imam Zaid, his web classes and read his recent papers visit www.newislamicdirections.com

Asalamu Alaikum MSA Members!

Inshallah this reaches you in the best of health and Iman. Last month, MSA National was invited as part of a Muslim Delegation hosted by Malaria No More to attend and observe the Integrated Measles-Malaria Initiative in Mali between December 13-19, 2007.  Other  members of the Muslim Delegation included scholar Dr. Sulayman Nyang, Aisha Al-Adawyia representing ISNA, Ilyassah Shabazz author of Growing up X, and Saffir Rabb with the Ministry of Imam Warith Deen Mohammed. It was an honor travelling with such a distinguished group.

Malaria No More was one of over 22 NGO's on this mission with the Ministry of Health in Mali stop deaths due to Malaria.  Malaria No More hosted the Muslim delegation in Mali for several reasons; Mali is a 95% Muslim Country, and over 40% of the people who die from Malaria throughout the world are Muslim.

The Malian Ministry of health and international partners, including President's Malaria Initiative, United Nations Foundation, Nothing but Nets, American Red Cross, and the Canadian Red Cross, all partnered together for almost a year preparing for this project, which made available free of charge for a measles vaccination, a vitamin A supplement, de-worming pill, polio vaccine, and an insecticide treated bed net for 2.8 million children under five (95% of children in Mali under five).

This trip was a changing experience, especially when understanding that a child that dies every 30 seconds from Malaria in today's world can be avoided merely by a $10 bed net.  "If someone has saved one human life, it is as if he saved all of mankind."

Sincerely,

Randa Kuziez
Treasurer
treasurer@msanational.org
MSA National

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:

S.I.S.T.E.R.S Announces TWO $1000.00 Scholarships for Sisters

Coordinator for Muslim Life, Princeton University

Program: Islamic studies and Quran for teen girls and women.
 
Location: The Aziz Mahmud Hudayi Quran Center for Woman - Istanbul, Turkey
 
Cost: Free! This includes room and board, three meals a day, and trips to major Islamic sites in Istanbul.  AIRFARE AND VISA IS YOUR RESPONSIBLITY.
 
Courses: Fiqh (Hanafi/Shafi) , Seerah, Tafsir, Hadith, Adab, Purification of the Heart, History of Prophets, Quran, Arabic, and Aqueedah. Possible Turkish as well!
 
Program Length: Two months (June 15 until August 15) For anyone whom it is not possible to stay that long, they may leave whenever it is convenient for them. The two month time spand is merely a gap. However, we hope to have everyone arrive by June 15 at the latest.
 
Details: All classes will be taught by the Ustazas that teach full-time for the Center. They of course are all women.The Center is actually a school fully equipted with dorms that house approximately 600 women and teenage girls throughout the year. It also houses 300 women who memorize the Quran. It has a cafeteria, Moqsue, store, clinic, and library. The place also has full-time security 24/7. The students there are from China, Russia, Uzbekistan, Greece, Turkminestan, East Turkestan, Germany, France, Saudia Arabia, Albania, Bosnia, Bulgaria, and of course, Turkey. The Center has been operational for 12 years and women from all over the world come there for two to four years of study, after which those who are successful are certified by the school to teach and give dawah.
 
The participants of the summer program, in addition to studying Islamic full time, will get to tour various Islamic sites, such as the Topkapi Palace of the Ottoman Caliphs, The Blue Mosque (Sultan Ahmad Mosque), the grave of Sahabas, such as Abu Ayyub al-Ansari, who housed the prophet (saaws) upon his migration to Medina, the grave of Yushua (AS) the youth mentioned in the Quran who accompanied prophet Musa (AS) on his journey to meet Khidr, the graves of Ka'ab b. Malik, Jabir ibn. Abdullah, and many more!
Please contact Sis. Laila Franklin @ 770-559-3512 or Sis. Sasha Abdur-Rashid @ 404-421-7522 for more information.

HRH Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal
ISNA Fellowship Program

MSA National formally congratulates the MSA at the University of British Columbia. The UBC MSA has been working hard throughout the year to insure that their MSAers would be provided with any necessary resources during the school year. UBC MSA has already conducted and Islam Awareness Week in the fall semester and is gearing up for another one this month. UBC is doing it all, from weekly halaqas to swimming lessons for sisters, however what truly makes this MSA special is their conscious efforts to build capacity within their own MSA which is reinforced by their policies that insure every voice is heard and by having leaders who are willing to be lead. You're an inspiration to your zone, keep up the great work!