Early in 2009, the Council organized an MSA summit to establish a network among Illinois’ Muslim college student activists, to empower their capacity and help coordinate their separate yet similar efforts. Attended by over 115 MSA activists, the summit was an enlivening personification of that old monotonous cliché, the youth are our future leaders. Many of the students could be traced back to several mosque communities. Mohanned El-Natour, a student at Northwestern University studying biomedical engineering and serving as the executive vice president of his MSA, is one such example. Having grown up in the Mosque Foundation community, El-Natour feels obliged to give back. “I really appreciate where I grew up,” he states, “I am forever indebted to my community and my neighbors. In sha'a Allah, this debt can be paid back in increments - in contributions of time, effort, and whatever other resources Allah (swt) blesses us with.” Two others, Sumbul Iqbal and Atiya Haque, students of UIC and Northwestern respectively, are both graduates from CPSA in Lombard. Both sisters took leading roles in organizing the successful summit. Iqbal Shariff of DePaul University, the summit’s program coordinator has voted his home-mosque, IFS, the “most awesome mosque in the world.” And though they are clearly anchored to their home communities, their voices and hearts unite when the program turns its attention to deliberating a collective MSA response to the Gaza Crisis or mobilizing recruitment for IMANs historic biannual festival that brings a spectrum of communities under the common umbrella of serving humanity and toiling for justice. These MSA youth are clearly the American-Muslim community’s future leaders and may very well be the ones who will carry the future management of the mosque communities. In this next generation of leaders there is great promise. These future mosque leaders may usher in tremendous advances within the mosques through their young and innovative perspectives. It is crucial that these young leaders remain connected to the mosque community in order for the broader American-Muslim community to remain a cohesive and united community that grows and matures with each successive generation of American-Muslims who enter into it. |
The Council collected and examined MSA data, the results of which shaped the Council’s next steps in the MSA Chicago Project. Upcoming projects include a shura training for all newly elected MSA executive officers tentatively scheduled for the Fall of 2009, an inter-MSA Ramadan event, MSA Chicago Olympics and more. The Council works to support and strengthen this college-student slice of Chicago’s estimated 400,000 Muslims. Through the Council’s mentorship, support and leadership development, we hope to facilitate a greater MSA connectedness within our network of Chicago mosques and the greater Muslim community. |