MSA seeks representation

Muslim Student Association aims to give Muslim students on campus a place to call home

Paulina Sierra / Opinion Editor / The USD Vista

Sophomore Nadine Achkar, vice president of Muslim Student Association (MSA), learned about USD via an alumni as a place that is respectful toward those of all religions, even though it is a predominantly Catholic university.

“He kept talking about how it’s a Catholic university, it’s kind of expensive, but during 9/11 when the attacks happened, (the vice president of student affairs) said, ‘Here’s my personal phone number, know that we don’t tolerate any hate, discrimination, anything,’” Achkar said. “They invited him to lead mass for the following week, and he was talking about it with the biggest smile on his face, and he said (it was the) best experience of his life. He got accepted to Harvard, MIT, Stanford, but no one, when he visited, had as much respect for religions as USD.”

The reality of it, however, was far from ideal. While Achkar sees the university itself as being supportive of her Muslim faith, the student body is often confused by her presence on campus.

“It’s a little different because I wear my faith so openly, but I am also not like most girls who wear the hijab that wear long, baggy clothes,” Achkar said. “That’s not my style. I dress very modern or ‘normal,’ so for me it’s like I see the stares, but it’s not really a bad thing. It’s more out of curiosity, with this being a Catholic school, you don’t think that an openly practicing Muslim would want to come to a Catholic school. I haven’t had any negative experiences, per se. I’ve had people who are very ignorant, and you can’t blame someone for their ignorance, so for me it’s always an opportunity to educate people.”

Even with her personal experience, Achkar finds it is even worse for those who do not look like her.

“The only difference between me and these women is the fact that their complexion and skin color is darker, and they dress a little bit more conservatively than I do,” Achkar said. “And this just brings in race, now race is a huge component. It also has to do with the whole ‘terrorist (perception).’ You’re seen as a terrorist; this is what it looks to be oppressed. This is the look of someone being oppressed when they’re wearing the full loose clothing, darker complexion automatically screams ‘Middle Eastern,’ and that’s the only difference between us. I’ve never had a negative experience, but I’ve had a friend be completely driven out of her job. Switching federal work study positions on campus, tried to take it to someone higher up, (they) disregarded it completely, and she transferred. It was that bad.”

Aware of the issues Muslim students face on campus, Achkar, along with Rameen Javadian and Nadia Al-Faraje, decided to restart MSA, which had been inactive for over four years.

“MSA is essentially (an opportunity) for us to have representation, because we do have a significant Muslim population,” Achkar said. “A lot of them are international students, so for it to be a voice, just like every other underrepresented group on campus needs an organization that has their back to support them and to speak on issues that affect Muslims and other students as well. For a lot of international students and Muslim students, we find comfort within familiarity and commonalities. For a lot of students, especially the international students, they don’t have a lot of commonalities with students here, so this is something where they can make new friends, feel comfortable.”

MSA aims to also bring forward issues on campus and make it easier for Muslim students to comfortably attend USD.

“So, one of them is upkeep of the prayer room,” Achkar said. “For example, they currently have an ofrenda there, which is completely fine, obviously, but also there is little to no room for students to pray. We love that it’s there, and we love that people have found it as an area of peace, but because when we pray we have to stand in a certain direction, and with the ofrenda there is no room. A lot of the time, they don’t keep it clean.”

A lot of the issues Muslim students have, Achkar asserts, are things that affect other students, like the issue of cross-contamination of food.

“For me, especially my sect of Islam, we can’t eat meat unless it’s properly prepared,” Achkar said. “There’s another sect of Islam that is fine with taking food from the SLP, praying over it, and eat(ing) it, but I can’t. So, I’m either pescatarian or vegetarian, so, being that, there’s so much cross-contamination with the placement of the food… I’ve gotten pasta where, because he uses the same gloves, or maybe when they’re not being super careful, something may fall in, and I end up with pasta with chicken in it. I have spoken to a few people, and I’ve said ‘I don’t expect you to find halal meat for me; that’s a hassle, and halal meat is very expensive; I’m not going to ask for specific preparation’… I’m not going to ask for that much, because if I’m ignoring the meat, I’m not the only one. There are pescatarian, vegetarian, (and) vegan students who need accommodations too.”

From Nov. 13 through 16, MSA is putting on Muslim Awareness Week, the organization’s first event since its reinstatement on campus.

“It is Islamophobia Awareness Month, but we want to try, since we haven’t been active for five years, we wanted to (take) little steps regarding our message,” Achkar said. “Bringing awareness, educating people, exposing people to what would be a genuine representation of actual practicing Muslims, as opposed to what people see in the media.”

Rameen Javadian, sophomore and co-president of MSA, echoed the sentiment of the media’s harmful portrayal of Islam.

“Growing up, I’ve felt that a lot,” Javadian said. “I lived in New York for a couple of year and I was definitely called a couple of names and I think the media and students’ parents helped exacerbate that. However, I had issues in California in high school. In news programs, I remember I was 14 or 15 I was watching CNN and they were doing a segment on the extremist terrorist organizations and I remember CNN portrayed Arabic words, a Quranic verse in the background while talking about terrorists and these horrible crimes they had committed and stuff like that is really hurtful… Islam has no correlation to what these terrorists are doing because Islam does not condone murder, Islam does not condone torture, Islam does not condone rape, and it’s so sad because that’s something people don’t understand.”

Javadian also believes this has affected the way that American youth consider Islam, which is evident through social media.

“When you go on social media, you go on even things like memes and they’ll have the phrase ‘God is great,’ (or) allahu akbar, and right next to that a bomb will go off or something horrible like that,” Javadian said. “Which is so hurtful because number one, that is so false and so contradictory to what Islam portrays and it also just shows students on social media- young people who believe what they see- that, ‘oh if they have a turban or a hijab on, they’re a terrorist.’”

MSA plans to use Islam Awareness Week to challenge many of the ideas about Islam on campus that they find to be untrue. Through their event on Thursday, Scarves and Solidarity, MSA aims to destigmatize the hijab, and emphasize it as a choice.

“One thing with the hijabs is where (people believe) it’s forced, it’s oppressive,” Achkar said. “My mom didn’t want me to put it on. She grew up in a village where you’re expected to put it on, and she was like, ‘Wait until you’re 18 and more aware when you put it on,’ and I was this little stubborn girl, still am, and wanted to put it on like, ‘no, I’m turning nine tomorrow, which means the day after, I’m putting my scarf on. I’m officially nine.’ And I put it on and I’ve never regretted my choice. People ask, ‘Isn’t it oppressive?’ No; this is my security blanket. This is what makes me happy, empowered, comfortable. I could not imagine being without it.”

MSA hopes this will be an opportunity for non-Muslim students to learn about Islam, both to spread accurate information about the faith and also to emphasize learning about unfamiliar religions, which Javadian says is an important part of the Muslim faith, and a huge reason why he chose to attend USD.

“I didn’t have any reservations because I’m always open to learning more,” Javadian said. “And actually, one of the things that at least I was brought up upon in Islam principle, was to learn about all religions so I actually want to learn more about Judaism and I want to learn more about Catholicism and I want to learn more about so many religions. So actually that was something I was really excited for, because again, as a Muslim, we are taught to learn and respect other religions and I thought what better way to do that go to a Catholic institution. What better way where I can learn authentic Catholic teachings and I thought gaining that perspective on this campus would be beneficial to me as a Muslim as well because I would be able to understand faith in a new perspective.”

With Islam Awareness Week in full swing as of the publication of this periodical, readers have two events to look forward to: Thursday’s Scarves and Solidarity event on Colachis Plaza at noon, and Friday’s Jum’ah Prayer in UC Room 128 at 12:30 p.m.