MSA celebrates Islamic Awareness

    In April, for the first time ever at AHS, Islam Awareness Month occurred. Sponsored by the Muslim Student Association (MSA), the Islam Awareness Month consisted of a series of events that took place throughout the month and were held at area schools.

    The objective of Islam Awareness Month was to inform the students and faculty about Islam and to “remove misconceptions about Islam in the west,” said senior public relations officer of the MSA, Nudrat Siddiqui.

    Additionally, due to the great diversity of cultures and religions present at AHS, “it is important that we take every opportunity we can to educate each other and, parallel to that, to take every opportunity to know one another,” said Siddiqui.

    The events took place from April 11 through April 25 in Clausen Hall and not only were informative, but entertaining as well. The first event on April 11 entitled, “Faithful Beats,” was an event made up of comedy, def poetry and Nasheeds, Islamic songs that traditionally have minimal instrumentals.

    The second event, held on April 16, “20,000 Dialogues” was an inter-faith discussion complete with a question and answer session. The “Fundamentals of Islam” event was held on April 21 and featured Brother Khalil Moore discussing the basics of Islam. On April 22 there were poetry and Qur’an Recitations, in addition to hip-hop and traditional performances at the “Night of Enlightenment” event.

    During the next event, “Culture v. Faith,” held on April 23, films were shown and Brother Adil Minhas aided the students, answering questions they had and facilitating discussions.

    On April 24, the event “Conversion Stories” was held, for this particular event Brother Khalil Moore told the story of his conversion and the differences between life as a Christian and life as a Muslim.

    Additionally, on April 25, there was a “Branches of Faith” event comprised of a dinner and a discussion about the roots of Islam Faith, which was sponsored by Sisterhood in Action.

    Reflecting on the introduction of Islam Awareness Month at AHS, many think it went quite well but that there is still room for improvement in the future.  “It hasn’t completely raised the awareness that I think it should, but it has started to slowly raise awareness about our religion,” said junior Karima El-Katib.

    Although Islamic Awareness month has concluded, the yearly activities of the MSA have not. On May 9 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. in the Cafeteria, the MSA is conducting “From the Cradle to the Grave,” an annual event which “commemorates, reminisces, and showcases the work that the MSA has done for the current school year,” said senior president of the MSA, Navila Rashid. The event will consist of a catered dinner, special guest speakers, and performances by MSA members. “From the Cradle to the Grave” aims to “unite the AHS community into understanding the Muslim population of the school without the intention of preaching,” said Rashid.