How can a college MSA balance the deen and student life?
There's no answer, but there is a great article that explores the issue.
While I do think some of the MSA's mentioned here went too far with the gender relationships (such as co-ed dodgeball) I think most MSA's do a good job of balancing the two worlds and accepting the fact that Muslims are to fall types. The point is that after all they are an MSA and Islam is their main objective.
Read this New York Times article for a good look at the both sides of the conversation.
Let me know what you think of it and what your own experiences have been in your MSA.
Sameera
3 comments:
you thought coed dodgeball was bad? what about coed gambling roadtrip?? hel-lo have some sense people.
I thought that the article raised a good point - definately the goal should not be to alienate Muslims - even if Muslim in name only. However, I think that the mistake that they make is that they compromise their Islamic values to try to make less religious Muslims feel welcome.
In my college days, I saw the swing from the MSA being a place where you wore your longest skirt and loosest blouse even if a non-hijabi to it becoming a hang-out of men and women in a "halal" environment because no 2 people were alone. This change happened after a series of board meetings about how to include more Muslims - since only a small percentage of the campus' Muslims were attending the meetings.
The answer, I think, is not changing the fundamental way that the group should be run - that is, they should stick to informative lectures by good speakers and steer away from "fun" activities that compromise Islamic morals and values. What needs to happen, though, is to teach EVERYONE the ways of our prophet Muhammad, peace and blessing be upon him, about how he dealt with people without anyone ever feeling "bad" and how he would give advice by example. If we really make a point of acting and being like the Prophet, then no one should feel alienated from a religious gathering and the knowledge would be available to those whose hearts seek it, even if their appearance is far from appropriate.
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