As the quarter begins and students settle back into their educational routine, clubs are also meeting to get ready for a busy quarter. The Muslim Student Association had their first meeting of winter quarter on Wednesday, Jan. 6 to plan for the events they have coming up.
The club intends to meet bi-weekly throughout the quarter to organize events and get together as a group. The next meeting will be on Jan. 20 in room C211.
The MSA seeks to provide for the “social, intellectual and religious needs [of] Muslim students at Bellevue College,” according to their mission statement. MSA also “acts as a resource on Islam and welcomes students of all nations, races, color, culture and other backgrounds” to their activities.
MSA President Owla Mohamed shared that the MSA is important to her because it provides to her a “feeling of community.” She continued, “Once a week we get together and really feel the Muslim presence on campus.”
This quarter, they already have some events planned. They are starting out with a bake sale on Jan. 21 or 22 to raise funds for the group. The theme of the sale will be items that the members normally miss out on unless they are homemade, such as crispy rice treats and gelatin desserts.
The food will be Halal, which means it is lawful or permitted according to Islam. While there are many different details that decide whether or not food is Halal, one aspect of the qualifications is not having any pork products or contamination from pork.
Another event is coming up on Feb. 1, the third annual World Hijab Day, which is an event to raise awareness and start conversation about wearing the hijab.
According to the founder of World Hijab Day, Nazma Khan, the goal of this day is to “open up new pathways to understanding, in hopes to counteract some of the controversies surrounding why Muslim women choose to wear the hijab.”
Mohamed explained that “A lot of people do have questions but don’t ask us, because people feel like they’re being offensive.” Anyone on campus will be invited to try wearing the hijab or to ask questions and learn about the practice. MSA members will provide scarves and tutorials.
Coming up on Feb. 10, the group will have a movie night. The titles of the films are not yet released, but MSA members said that they will be “inspiring and related to Muslim culture.”
Last year the MSA partnered with a speaker from the Council on American-Islamic Relations and the event was so successful they are repeating it again this year on Feb. 24. Everyone is invited to attend.