MSA and Islamic Center Events

The sights and sounds of events sponsored by the MSA of Ohio University and the Muslim Community in Athens, Ohio can be found in the following list:

Marietta Unitarian Church Visits the Islamic Center
Novemebr 16, 2008

The Unitarian Church of Marietta visited the Islamic Center of Athens (ICA). The group was made up of both adults and children and they numbered about 30. The visit was to inform the group about the basic tenets of Islam and other issues surrounding the image of Islam especially in America. The group was duly welcomed by MSA members and the discussion was led by brother Hashem.

After an introductory presentation by brother Hashem the floor was opened for questions and answers. Midway through the interaction, the visitors had the opportunity to witness the Zuhr prayer after which the discussions continued for a while before coming to an end. However, before the visitors left, there was a brief opportunity for them to engage the MSA members present on one-to-one bases about Islam. There was a good attendance by brothers and a sisters; there were also snacks and drinks provided by brothers and families in honor of the event. See the the thank you card that the group sent to the Islamic Center.

MSA visits the Hocking Valley Community Residential Center in Nelsonville Novemebr 11, 2008

This visit was at the invitation of a teacher of the residential facility. The audience was a group of about 25 adjudicated boys aged between 12 – 18 years. The visit was to introduce them to the basic principles of Islam as part of visits by religious groups lined up by the teacher to expose the young men to other religions that are practiced in this world. The MSA group for this visit was led by the MSA faculty advisor, Dr. Savas Kaya. Other members for the visit were brothers Munkez, Fatih and Shani. Among other things the discussion was opened by Dr. Kaya with a broad overview of Islam and then the group was broken into four teams with each team being managed by each one of the four visitors. After some time of discussions and answering questions, the group was brought back together and shown a video of some Americans narrating their experiences as American Muslims (a video edited by Usame Tunagur). After this there was a further questions and answers session after which the MSA visitors were given a tour of the facility by one of the inmates.

MSA Visits CLWR 511 Class
Novemebr 5, 2008

This was a class about Islam and the professor thought that it would do a lot of good to invite the Muslim community to come to the class as an opportunity for the students to see “live” Muslims. This meeting accomplished two main purposes; it gave the class the opportunity to move beyond the text book, the professor, and the media to actually hear Muslims make their own case. It also gave MSA members the opportunity to dispel misconceptions surrounding the average American understanding of Islam. This visit was really effective because the students had been studying about Islam and Muslims for a while, so they had some background. In the course of the visit, the professor discussed some theories by Islamic philosophers, and gave the Muslim visitors the opportunity to introduce themselves (to show that they are also ordinary beings like any of the students in the class) and to react to some of the issues raised in the class. After this, the class was divided into a number of groups and the visiting Muslims assigned to hold discussions with respective groups. This event was massively attended by both brothers and sisters.

MSA Main Fall Quarter Event: Promoting dialogue
October 24, 2008

This was an ISU sponsored event and also the major MSA event for fall 2008/2009 quarter. The purpose of this event was to create an opportunity for interaction between the Athens Muslim community and the rest of the Athens/Ohio University community. It was an opportunity to break down barrier to allow MSA members to interact with people of other beliefs. To create this opportunity, speakers were lined up to welcome guests, give them a brief background of MSA in Athens, and to urge dialogue between those that attended the program.

MSA Visits EDCE 623H Class
August 26, 2008

This event was a panel discussion on Life and Death in EDCE 623H. The course was titled: Counseling the Terminally Ill. It was a class taught by Dr. Yagambaram Pillay and the students were graduate students training to become counselors. The purpose of our invitation was to give students in this class the Muslim perspective of life and death and the rituals that Muslims perform when a Muslim dies. This was necessary because the professor believed that in the field his students might be faced with opportunities to counsel people from Muslim backgrounds when a loved one died hence the need to expose them to the Muslim perspective of what how to console a bereaved Muslim. This event was attended by brothers Hashem and Shani.

MSA Meets with Ohio University Dining Services

On November 5, 2008, Ohio University dining services invited the MSA to begin talks with Muslim and Jewish student groups on the possibility of introducing Halal and Kosher meals into the dining halls in the spring quarter of the 2008/2009 academic year. The organizers also took this opportunity to show the visiting groups around the storage facilities of the University dining services as well as the places that some foods are prepared, and how they are transported to respective dining halls upon requests. This event was attended by brothers Fatih and Shani.

A follow-up meeting with the Ohio University dining services was held on November 13 to discuss further the prospects of introducing halal meals onto the menu of the University come spring 2008/2009. At this meeting the University’s representatives were given a clear definition of what constituted halal and what was not. At the end of the discussions they requested that the MSA submit a number of menus from various Muslim groups to them for study, and the menus that will be chosen will be tried out by the University cooks and those MSA members familiar with the selected menus will have the opportunity to try out the cooked food and to make recommendation to the cooks. If all goes well with the taste of the food, the menus will be implemented this spring.