Events
Midnight suhoor:
Midnight suhoor is an event that is held every year during Ramadan in the late evening, celebrating the beginning of Ramadan. We invite the student body to come and enjoy food, like samosas and cake, while at the same time learning about Ramadan. It's a big hit every year!
Eid Dinner:
This is our biggest event of the year with over 300 people attending, as it's been a long-standing tradition, which we always sell-out for. The purpose of the Eid Dinner is to celebrate Eid with the university community and to provide a venue for both a Muslim and non-Muslim audience to be able to leave the dinner with new insights and knowledge about various topics related to Islam. Past speakers have included Sherman Jackson, James Yee, Johnathan Brown and many others.
Black history month event:
This event is in honor of Black History Month. The purpose of the event is to show how Islam is intertwined with the rich history and culture of African Americans. We have actually just started having the event last year. For our first event, we had invited African-American spoken word performers, with influences from hip-hop, rock, soul, blues, and alternative music, to perform some of their work. This year we had a screening of the pbs documentary "Prince among Slaves."
Days of service:
Once a quarter the MSA tries to go out and serve the Chicago community. Past days of service have included, cooking dinner for families staying at the Ronald McDonald house, helping to repaint a social service facility and many others.
AAAN tutoring:
Twice a week members of the MSA head out to the south side of Chicago to visit kids that are part of AAAN's(Arab-American Action Network) after school program. We help them with their homework, read and play with them. Tutoring these kids is such a rewarding experience and it means so much the kids. It makes one feels as if they have really made a difference in a child's life.
Fajr at the point:
Fajr at the point is an annual event that occurs every spring quarter. Basically MSA members wake up super early, go to pray fajr by the lake and then enjoy breakfast while watching the beautiful sunrise.
Fasthathon:
Fastathon is an event our MSA started doing three years ago. The Fast-a-thon is a national movement wherein students from the Muslim Student Association obtain sponsorship from local businesses pledging to donate a certain amount for every student that pledges to fast for that day to a chosen food charity. In addition we provide dinner for everyone that pledged to fast and have had speakers like, Rami Nashashibi, speak about the importance of Ramadan.
IAW:
The MSA holds quarterly general body meetings. The first general body meeting allows all incoming freshman, transfer, and graduate students to be welcomed by and get acquainted with the executive board, members, structure of the organization, and campus community. The other meetings serve to inform members about upcoming events and allow them to give any feedback or raise concerns that they believe need to be addressed by the executive board.
Political action event:
We organize this event to give the University community an image of Muslims untainted by the bias of today's media; and also to provide a forum for members of the Community to ask questions and discuss Islam. Past events have included a screening of the film "Paradise Now" and other moving documentaries.
Ramadan iftars:
During Ramadan MSA offers iftars everyday for the entirety of the month. We are able to do this through the generous sponsorship of community members and students. Iftars are wonderful because it allows us all together and break our fast together and pray Maghrib.
Taraweeh:
Alhamdullilah every year during Ramadan, we are able to have Taraweeh on campus every night. We even arrange to have a hafiz come and lead us!
Thursday iftars:
Since we love the feeling that comes from the iftars during Ramadan, we decided to continue having them after Ramadan on Thursdays. Like the iftars during Ramadan we are able to have these iftars through the generosity of others.
Study breaks:
The MSA holds quarterly study breaks for the student body. The study breaks are a way for the MSA to teach the university community about different aspects of Islam. The study breaks all have different themes and past study breaks have included Islam around the world and Hajj, where we made a mock hajj, complete with our own mini kabaa, that people could walk through and learn about hajj.
Annual Farewell bbq:
The farewell bbq is our way of getting everyone together at the end of the year for some good old bbq and say goodbye to our seniors who are about to leave us and enter the real world.
Midnight suhoor:
Midnight suhoor is an event that is held every year during Ramadan in the late evening, celebrating the beginning of Ramadan. We invite the student body to come and enjoy food, like samosas and cake, while at the same time learning about Ramadan. It's a big hit every year!
Eid Dinner:
This is our biggest event of the year with over 300 people attending, as it's been a long-standing tradition, which we always sell-out for. The purpose of the Eid Dinner is to celebrate Eid with the university community and to provide a venue for both a Muslim and non-Muslim audience to be able to leave the dinner with new insights and knowledge about various topics related to Islam. Past speakers have included Sherman Jackson, James Yee, Johnathan Brown and many others.
Black history month event:
This event is in honor of Black History Month. The purpose of the event is to show how Islam is intertwined with the rich history and culture of African Americans. We have actually just started having the event last year. For our first event, we had invited African-American spoken word performers, with influences from hip-hop, rock, soul, blues, and alternative music, to perform some of their work. This year we had a screening of the pbs documentary "Prince among Slaves."
Days of service:
Once a quarter the MSA tries to go out and serve the Chicago community. Past days of service have included, cooking dinner for families staying at the Ronald McDonald house, helping to repaint a social service facility and many others.
AAAN tutoring:
Twice a week members of the MSA head out to the south side of Chicago to visit kids that are part of AAAN's(Arab-American Action Network) after school program. We help them with their homework, read and play with them. Tutoring these kids is such a rewarding experience and it means so much the kids. It makes one feels as if they have really made a difference in a child's life.
Fajr at the point:
Fajr at the point is an annual event that occurs every spring quarter. Basically MSA members wake up super early, go to pray fajr by the lake and then enjoy breakfast while watching the beautiful sunrise.
Fasthathon:
Fastathon is an event our MSA started doing three years ago. The Fast-a-thon is a national movement wherein students from the Muslim Student Association obtain sponsorship from local businesses pledging to donate a certain amount for every student that pledges to fast for that day to a chosen food charity. In addition we provide dinner for everyone that pledged to fast and have had speakers like, Rami Nashashibi, speak about the importance of Ramadan.
IAW:
Islam Awareness Week is held every year in the beginning of spring quarter. Its purpose is to educate the University community about the diversity and universality of Islam. It's our biggest dawa event of the year! We organize a series of events occurring every day for one week and bring prominent speakers. Past events include an informative Muslims in America IAW kickoff study break, a Muslim contributions to American civil rights documentary screening, a women in Islam panel, and an Islam 101.
General body meetings:The MSA holds quarterly general body meetings. The first general body meeting allows all incoming freshman, transfer, and graduate students to be welcomed by and get acquainted with the executive board, members, structure of the organization, and campus community. The other meetings serve to inform members about upcoming events and allow them to give any feedback or raise concerns that they believe need to be addressed by the executive board.
Political action event:
We organize this event to give the University community an image of Muslims untainted by the bias of today's media; and also to provide a forum for members of the Community to ask questions and discuss Islam. Past events have included a screening of the film "Paradise Now" and other moving documentaries.
Ramadan iftars:
During Ramadan MSA offers iftars everyday for the entirety of the month. We are able to do this through the generous sponsorship of community members and students. Iftars are wonderful because it allows us all together and break our fast together and pray Maghrib.
Taraweeh:
Alhamdullilah every year during Ramadan, we are able to have Taraweeh on campus every night. We even arrange to have a hafiz come and lead us!
Thursday iftars:
Since we love the feeling that comes from the iftars during Ramadan, we decided to continue having them after Ramadan on Thursdays. Like the iftars during Ramadan we are able to have these iftars through the generosity of others.
Study breaks:
The MSA holds quarterly study breaks for the student body. The study breaks are a way for the MSA to teach the university community about different aspects of Islam. The study breaks all have different themes and past study breaks have included Islam around the world and Hajj, where we made a mock hajj, complete with our own mini kabaa, that people could walk through and learn about hajj.
Annual Farewell bbq:
The farewell bbq is our way of getting everyone together at the end of the year for some good old bbq and say goodbye to our seniors who are about to leave us and enter the real world.