2008 Woodie Awards
Muslim Student Association: United by faith
By: Taylor Moore
Issue date: 1/30/07 Section: News
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Although Cal Poly lacks diversity, the presence of different cultural and religious clubs like the Muslim Student Association help alleviate the problem.
MSA has been an active club on campus for over 20 years. Much like Campus Crusade for Christ for the Christian students and Hillel for the Jewish students, MSA plays an important role for Muslim students looking to educate themselves and others about Islam and its view and role in the world.
"Many people do not know about Islam so what we do is educate from a Muslim perspective," said biology major and member of the MSA Board of Directors Naiyerah Kolkailah.
Annual events sponsored by MSA include the Fast-a-Thon and Islam Awareness Week.
The Fast-a-Thon is one of MSA's biggest events, and not only contributes to the education of fellow students but also helps the local and global community. Every year, MSA holds the Fast-a-Thon during the religious period of fasting, Ramadan.
Marya Mikati, an architecture engineering junior, said the club has recently shrunk because several members graduated last year. Currently, the MSA has 10 to 15 active members in Cal Poly's chapter, which is one of thousands across North America.
"One of our goals is to recruit new members and we mostly do it through word of mouth," Mikati said.
The club tries to celebrate Muslim holidays, like Ramadan, together. Ramadan occurs during the ninth month of the Islamic calendar and is a time when Muslims around the world refrain from food and drink, including water, from dawn to sunset. One of the most important factors for this religious period is to understand how life is for those who are less fortunate. This year, Ramadan will start in August.
At Cal Poly during the Fast-a-Thon, students can join MSA and the rest of the Muslim community for a day of fasting. Prior to the event, members find people in the local community and on campus to donate to their fast. After the event, all of the donations go to a local or global cause deemed important to MSA.
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