The emphasis was on community and faith as the Muslim Students’ Association at U of T (MSA) celebrated its fortieth anniversary on Friday. The celebration took stock of the group’s progress from a handful of members in 1966 to over 1,500 members today, making it likely the largest student group on campus.
The first jumu’ah, or habitual Friday prayer, was held at Hart House in December of 1965, according to Mubdi Rahman, the academic affairs co-ordinator for the MSA. Those students went on to not only become prominent members of what was then a nascent Muslim community in Toronto, but also prominent Toronto citizens.
“It’s a celebration” of the community, Rahman said at the exhibition at Hart House. “[It’s] going to be there through thick and thin.”
The MSA announced a scholarship program supported by its alumni society at the exhibition. The initiative is part of an attempt to highlight what Rahman termed “a sense of history,” which he felt would help the Muslim community to grow.
Many students present at the exhibition concurred with Rahman’s view of the MSA as a cornerstone of life for Muslim students, especially international students. For those coming from overseas, the MSA is “an opportunity for them to meet other people,” as one student said. It is also, for all students, a way to engage with the university outside of class.
The year has been an eventful one for Muslims on campus, with a seemingly never-ending spate of controversies. But Rahman said that the anniversary was about Muslims at U of T and nothing more. The community, he emphasized, “has always been number one.”
However, the MSA has been engaging with the campus as a whole.
“Half of our mandate is dealing with people who aren’t Muslim,” he said. Islam Awareness Week, a series of lectures and booths aiming to educate about Islam, seeks to “create dialogue as opposed to animosity.”
Looking back, Rahman was proud of “how the MSA was able to deal [with 9/11] in a progressive manner.”
For Tasneem Atcha, a third-year history student, the fortieth anniversary “shows that the community has grown so much.” She confirmed Rahman’s characterization of the MSA as a locus of student life. “I can go there and I know that others are going through the same stuff,” she said.
In the other corner of the room was Faraz Siddiqui, a fourth-year student majoring in life sciences and bioethics. Siddiqui said that the anniversary was “a matter of great pride.” He also spoke of the centrality of the MSA to the lives of many students.
“Basically, it’s my community…I think of myself first and foremost as a Muslim.”
