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Brief
Friday,
January 21, 2000
Today
was the debut of the MSA information booth. By the grace of Allah
(God) it went wonderful. Though many thought their fingers were about
to fall off due to the severe cold, we all struggled through and had a
wonderful time.
Also,
on this glorious day, we had our first study circle of the semester at
the Mosque of Light. We reviewed last semester's chapters in Martin
Ling's "Muhammad," covered by Tarek El-Messidi, and Mostafa Alsharif shared
with us insights on Checheniya.
Tuesday,
January 25, 2000
Today
was the first day of intramural bowling. A total of nine sisters
appeared to join in on the action. Later this day the brothers' also
participated in intramural bowling. Mohsen, Ibrahim, and Imran comprised
the brothers' team. All praise is due to Allah; it was a very entertaining
experience. It seemed brother Mohsen's strategy was to bounce the
bowling ball off the ceiling to better his aim. Brother Ibrahim,
as Mohsen put it, "doesn't care about aiming and knocking down the pins;
rather he wants to split one in half" (paraphrased). When Ibrahim
released the ball with in a blink of an eye it was at the end of the lane.
On the other hand, Imran was blessed with an angel that kept on bouncing
balls out of the gutter and striking the pins. The brothers had so
much fun that the adjacent team bowling five strikes in a row did not lessen
their morale. The best scores for the brothers' was Mohsen -100,
Imran - 111, Ibrahim - 116. (Sorry I did not write more on the sisters'
experience. If anyone wants to write what happened email me at imranqurai@aol.com)
Thursday,
January 27, 2000
All
praise is due to God; the General Body Meeting went wonderfully.
About fifty-five members came to watch the drama on stage as the microphone
was passed over to a dozen different people. It seemed that everyone
was enthusiastic about the MSA. That means that we now have the support
of our members, if God wills. Many new faces appeared to learn about
the MSA. Interestingly enough, the pizza deliverer asked me, "So,
how do I become a member?" To which I gladly responded, "M-S-A-AT-U-T-K-DOT-E-D-U,"
or something similar. You know the meeting has been successful
when the pizza delivery man wants to become a member. Soon after
the meeting came to a close many brothers ran to the HYPER for the first
Brother's Intramural Basketball game.
How can I describe the basketball game...have you ever seen "Laurel and
Hardy" or "Charlie Chaplain?" We accidentally signed up for league
A instead of league B - in other words we signed up for death. League
A is made for more experienced players who practice regularly. As
brother Tarek put it, "It was a comedy show. We were up against big...giants!"
After the game the team went to a local coffee shop and discussed what
exactly happened. They now plan to practice twice a week. Good
luck.
Sunday,
January 30, 2000
Superbowl
Sunday + MSA Superbowl Bash = A very fun synergetic effect. From five until
midnight many gathered in the University Center’s Down Under for a seven
hour Superbowl Party. Unlimited everything! The whole facility was open
to us. Everything went as planned except the pizza and music. The pizza
came an hour late but we survived. As for the music, it's a miracle we
survived it. Forgetting to bring our nasheed CD’s we listened to ear aching
ghazal. Fortunately, Hani saved the day when he brought brother Imad’s Raihan
CD. All in all it was a success and we will do it again next year, God
willing.
Tuesday,
February 1, 2000
Today
was the second day of intramural bowling. The sisters, having practiced
much, improved in their scores. Though they had a smaller turn out nonetheless
they had a blast. Sister Maie Aqqad again became the star of the sisters’
team, bowling a whopping 115. Two hours later, when the brothers met we
were also jinxed with having a low turn out (considering last time we only
had three people show up, this was pretty bad). After a short wait we had
our team together again, all praise is due to God. We were still short
one player. A team must consist of four players and we only had three so
we recruited a Down Under worker named Mark. It seems that Ibrahim still
thinks the objective of bowling is to totally shatter the pins. I am sure
we encountered a few sonic booms during Ibrahim’s turns. Mohsen strapped
on his bowling glove, took a bite of his Snickers; and got to work. I'm
telling you, there's something about that glove. His bowling score shot-up
from last time. Imran did not enjoy the company of angels as he did last
time. No bowling balls bouncing from the gutter. Though there were no angels
there, there was certainly some sort of supernatural force. For the most
part, Imran always bowled a nine and a zero – the pattern never ceased.
Strange. The top scores for the brothers this time were: Mark – 103, Ibrahim
– 101, Imran – 92, and Mohsen – 158.
Also
today, we got more publicity in the Daily Beacon. On the inside front
cover was a picture of the MSA sisters at the General Body meeting.
It's great that the Daily Beacon is so responsive to our activities and
request. I would like to once again thank them for their continued
support.
Thursday,
February 3, 2000
The
second intramural basketball game was today. Again we lost to the
other team terribly. It's the second game we lost so we are out of
the tournament. Though we suffered through two crushing defeats,
we never-the-less had a good time. God willing, we will make sure
we sign up for league B or C.
Friday,
February 4, 2000
All
praise is due to God; today our very own Mostafa Alsharif was voted as
a senator of the Student Government Association (SGA). He will be
officially inaugurated at the next SGA meeting. Because of his dramatic
character and perseverance there was no way for the SGA to deny him the
position. If you meet Mostafa, if you haven't already, give him his
well deserved congratulations.
Wednesday,
February 9, 2000
To
prepare for advertising later on in the day copies needed to be made.
Tarek, not trusting Mostafa will find his way, decided to let Mostafa follow
his car to Downtown Copy Center. "It's simple, you just go straight
on the road adjacent the mosque," (paraphrased) Tarek blurted. Once
they entered downtown it seemed Tarek could not make one correct turn.
Every turn Tarek made led them both into a dead end. Mostafa decided
to try his luck and left Tarek. To make a long story short - Mostafa
found his way in a jiffy and as for Tarek there has been a search party
dispatched (Actually he made it to DTCC a good ten minutes after Mostafa).
Later
on in the day the brothers and sisters got together and advertised on the
Humanity's plaza. There was many chalk ads done and many flier put
up. The highlight of the experience was a large X on the Humanities
plaza made out of fliers. Soon after the the brothers and sisters
painstakingly taped each flier in the design of an 'X', a bird gave his
appreciation by freckling it with feces (All praise is due to God; it was
after the Beacon took pictures of it).
Thursday,
February 10, 2000
Unlike
the bird the other day the Daily Beacon appreciated the oversized 'X.'
On the inside of the Beacon today is our very own Shadab. In the
picture he is carefully aligning the tape with the edges of the fliers
to get a perfect line. If you look hard enough you can see the actual
concentration in Shadab's eyes. To view the picture visit the archive
page by clicking here. Praise be to God;
the 'X' is still on the Humanities Plaza as large as ever.
Also
today we had our information booth out on the University Center's Plaza.
We shared the plaza with the Dance Marathon 2000 sign-up, Valentine booth,
some sorority booth, and a Darwin booth. When a 'Darwinist' came
up to me I gave him the "Evolution in Islam" article. I think he
shared it with his friends because about a half hour later a man from the
Darwin booth came up and asked for the evolution article adding, "I heard
there is some pretty embarrassing stuff in there about us" (paraphrased).
Praise be to God; the information booth display was quite wondrous.
Many stopped by to read the posters and join us in a cup of lemonade. If
you want to see a picture of some of the brothers and sisters who helped with
the information booth click here. The link
will take you to the archive page where you can scroll to see the information
booth picture.
Tuesday,
February 15, 2000
"Malcolm
X after Mecca," by Imam Siraj Wahhaj. . .Allahu Akbar (God is Great)!
Exalted is He who gave us such a wonderful program the today. Truly
success is from God alone. The auditorium seats 530 and we had most
of the seats full. A good 400 people showed up and stayed for the
entirety of the program. Everyone was glued to their seats, as they
could not move because they were drawn by Imam Siraj Wahhaj's charisma.
Imam Siraj cleared up many of the misconceptions people have about Malcolm
X. As a former Nation of Islam minister who also converted to orthodox
Islam he could relate well with Malcolm's story. The whole MSA would
like to thank Imam Siraj from coming and also everyone who helped make
the program possible. To see a wonderful article the Daily Beacon
published click here. The above link will
take you to the archive page where you can scroll down until you see the
article. During the lecture Imam Siraj recommended some
books, which he expects us to read. So just in case you didn't get
a chance to write them down here they are:
Thursday,
February 17, 2000
The guys basketball
team found out that in fact they were not disqualified. Maybe they
should have wished they were. Again they suffered a crushing
defeat. Although there was an apparent increase in skill, they were no
match for their opponents. One MSA brother commented, "Why the
heck are we in League A. The next step for these guys is the
NBA."
Friday,
February 18, 2000
Today, after the Friday
congregational prayer, sister Terry Fox became Muslim. She recited the
testification of faith (shahada) in the mosque today. I am sure
everyone felt the same burst of emotions in their heart as our dear sister
Terry Fox recited, "I bear witness that there
is no god except Allah and I bear witness that Muhammad is the messenger of
Allah." All praise is due to God (Allah) alone. May God
guide more to straight path. If you see sister Terry Fox do not forget
to congratulate her.
Also today brother
Ibrahim and Imran were featured in the Beacon. Smack on the first
page, there picture could not be overlooked. The article was on the
International House. Though Imran was born in Kansas City, Kansas in
the caption it read, "...and Imran from India."
Tuesday, February
29, 2000
Today was the
second General Body meeting of the semester. All praise is due to God;
the success of the first General Body meeting was repeated. Approximately
the same number of members showed up. Maybe it was because we had two
six foot party subs from which everyone ate from or it just maybe Tarek's charismatic
and magnetic character. Never-the-less with less advertising the same
amount of people showed up. This shows that their interest in the MSA
is not a superficial one; rather they want to make our MSA
succeed.
Thursday,
February 24, 2000
Today Allah had
mercy on our MSA basketball team. Finally we won a basketball
game. Though the game was very close, we did not win by score; rather
we won by a rule. The other team was disqualified because they received
three technical fouls.
Thursday, March 1,
2000
Today at the Central
Programming Committee run Student Activities
Fair many organizations gathered to show the students on campus what they are
all about. The number of organizations on the plaza was much less than
last semester. It's sad to see that we are the only ones with a
true active role on campus. Having the best display on the plaza
(sadly to say even better than the CPC's - our host), the most people
visited our booth.
Tuesday,
March 7, 2000
Today at the
University Center the MSA hosted a film night. All praise is due to
God; the awesome unexpected turnout gave all the MSA members an adrenaline
rush. Without much advertising we had a hoard of people show up.
This raises the question, "So where did all these people come
from?" to which the answer is, "Allah (God)." Hijab: An
Expression of My Soul was the first movie. Made by a group at Berkley,
the liberal attitude which Berkley is renowned for is apparent. The
second movie shown was The Hajj: An ABC Nightline Documentary. It
opened the sacred mosque, which before only the Muslim's saw, to the whole audience.
Thursday, March 9th,
2000
A lecture that is defiantly
not the norm took place today. A sharp contrast from the usual lecture
setup, the speaker sat on the floor on a podium while the audience was
encouraged to sit on four very nice oriental rugs. The rugs were
loaned to the MSA from Farragut Rug Gallery. The speaker, Dr. Kenneth
Honerkamp, explained how Muslims reap the harvest of divine love. To
commence the talk Dr. Honerkamp gave a glimps on how Muslims reap the
harvest of divine love by leading a traditional Moroccan Dhikr
[Chant]. The MSA passed out prayer beads so people could keep
count. First the audience said, "La illaha ilullah," two
hundred times followed by saying, "Allah," three hundred
times. A mystical feeling enveloped the room as the chant drowned out
all thought except of God, the Most High.
Tuesday,
March 14, 2000
Today we were
blessed with Shaykh Abdullah's lecture entitled, "Barefoot, Pregnant,
and in the Kitchen? The True Role of Women in Islam." It
was a full house at the McClung Museum auditorium. All praise is due
to God, the Lord of the worlds; for giving us such a wonderful turn
out. Albeit the lecture was rather long (compared to most other
lectures), the majority of the audience stayed for the entire duration of
the talk. The audience was so captivated by the lecture that time was
almost non existent or of no concern. Shaykh Abdullah delved deep into
the subject matter and exposed to the audience what Islam says about women
and marriage. Shaykh Abdullah will be staying in Knoxville for 9 more
days so if you have questions or comments that you would like to address to
him please email the MSA at msa@utk.edu.
Thursday, March 30, 2000
We concluded our Islam Awareness Month activities with the presentation of the feature Film The Lion of the Desert In the University Center Ballroom. The film, starring Anthony Quinn in the lead role, tells the story of Omar Mukhtar, a Libyan patriot who leads his people in a fight against Italian imperialist occupation. The film is based on a true story and exemplifies the struggles Muslims have undergone throughout history and the strength of faith and wisdom during such trialing times. Although the movie was rather long, the relatively modest audience was captivated by this moving story. All Praise is due to Allah, who gave us such great success in this Islam Awareness Month and allowed us to finish it off on such an emotional and spiritual note.
Thursday, April 6, 2000
With the semester beginning to wind down, we hosted our final of three general body meetings. Alhamdulillah, the turnout was consistent with the
outstanding turnouts we have had throughout the semester. Along with recapping the achievements of the semester and discussing future plans, we enjoyed an outdoor barbeque in the beautiful weather. We also heard from Student Government Association Vice-Presidential candidate Becky Cassil and Presidential
candidate Neal Chawla who were both anxiously awaiting the announcements from the elections that ended just as the meeting began. We had press from the Knoxville News Sentinel at our meeting, and a nice article was published about religion on campus
featuring the MSA.
Wednesday, May 10, 2000
Today, the brothers celebrated the end of school with a White Water Rafting trip. About
ten brothers met up for the scenic two-hour drive to North Carolina. When they arrived, a bit late for their appointment, the park was understaffed and one boat of brothers was left unguided. However, that did make for an even more adventurous journey, as the unguided crew of Zayd, Tarek, Mostafa,
and Sharosh fell out of their raft twice as they attempted to bring down the other raft. All the brothers had a great time and were able to let go of the stress from finals that had pervaded them for the past week. InshaAllah, this is definitely an activity worth repeating in the future, and the sisters will hopefully plan such an outing for themselves very soon.
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