Hajrah Khan

On October 7th, 2022 I attended the Jummah (Friday) prayer and Khutbah meeting of the Muslim Student Association at Abington.

When I entered the room it was lively and loud with students chit-chatting amongst each other and eating the snacks that were offered by the front door. For this particular Jummah, the MSA meeting started around 12:15 pm and ended at about 1:15 pm. The first thing I did when I entered the classroom was greet everyone with Assalamualaikum and took a seat. Snacks are usually offered at the entrance and games are often prepared for people to play.

Once all the students entered we got into a circle and played Would You Rather? before the khutbah would begin, which ended up being around 12:45 pm. A box was then passed around a box in a circle where everyone was sitting and they would pull a piece of paper out with a statement of two things and you would choose which you would rather do. For example, I pulled out would you rather live on top of a mountain or in a busy city? and I read the statement and said my answer to the other students. We did about 3 rounds of this game. Shortly after the games, the Adhan was called.

The Adhan, which is a call to prayer, is delivered before the khutbah and the prayer is led by a male student who volunteers. After the Adhan has been called a khutbah is given by a student who prepares for it and has a good amount of knowledge about Islam. It has to be a male student that leads the prayer who is usually the same male that delivered the khutbah. In addition to that, the male student that volunteers to give the khutbah more often than not has already done research ahead of time, as it’s similar to the type of lecture that is given. So whoever gives khutbah normally has notes prepared to present to the club. During the khutbah, phones are advised to be off, and students sit down on the prayer mats and listen to the leader giving the khutbah.

Females that are on their menstrual cycle cannot pray, so they can leave or sit on the side quietly once the MSA president announces khutbah. This way everyone can organize themselves as a way to minimize distractions once it starts. In Islam, along with being unable to pray, females that are on their menstrual cycle cannot fast during Ramadan or read Quran. This is because females do face a lot of physical and emotional weakness during their cycle so they are exempt from praying and fasting.

The Jummah prayer is held every Friday throughout the semester. Friday is a religious day for Muslims across the world and they pray the second prayer Dhuhr at a mosque or gather with a group of Muslims to pray together. According to Collins Dictionary, “ Khutbah is a sermon preached by an Imam in a mosque at the time of the Friday noon prayer.” 

But before anything can happen or anyone can pray, students perform wudu, which is a purification ritual Muslims done before praying. After the khutbah is given, the students stand on the prayer mats to prepare for the prayer that is led by the same male student who gave the khutbah. One male student stands in the front alone to lead the prayer, male students stand behind him in the second row, and in the third row are the female students. We all pray in the direction of Mecca and pray side by side.

This Jummah prayer went by smoothly and it was fun catching up with everyone about how the semester was going for them. This club is very diverse and has many different students from various countries and backgrounds that are Muslim. It is a nice club to make friends, network, and relax on Fridays with them.

The next event I attended was the MSA picnic which was on October 10th around 12:15 pm. This event was the duck pond, we played music and I helped set up the snacks and tables with the president. The event was nice and very chill, everyone sat with friends, and had pizza, snacks, and drinks. It was nice sitting down eating with female Muslim students and catching up on everything that has been going on with classes, work, internship, etc., supporting each other as many students help one another by giving tips for what classes to take or assisting one another with assignments.There were some board games and uno that students played while eating. After everyone ate, the event ended around 2:20 pm and was pretty long, which was nice because I got to relax.

 I interviewed the media coordinator who is a good friend of mine Wijdan Nigrou asking her what she enjoyed most about being apart of the MSA and her response was ” I enjoy my position as a media coordinator and being apart of the MSA community because I get to meet new people from various backgrounds and make new friends. It is also a fun place to hang out with friends and pray together with a community that has the same religious background as me. “

There is a room on campus Springhouse Rm 102 is a space where individuals from any religion can perform their prayers in. The MSA has provided Muslim students prayer mats to pray on, Qurans to read in Arabic, English and Spanish, and also provided Muslim females hijabs or abayas to wear while praying. I do enjoy praying in this room because it is peaceful and allows you to take some time off to focus on your spirituality. The MSA is considerate in making sure Muslim students are comfortable in practicing their religion on campus and feel safe in doing so.

The events of the MSA are lively for students and help them relieve stress from classes. Overall I do enjoy the Jummah prayers and the events that MSA offers because as a Muslim it helps me connect with a community as we share the same religious background as me. Having this one aspect in common also helps me meet people from different cultural backgrounds as well. Since Islam is the second largest religion in the world according to Pew Research Center, there is a lot of diversity among Muslims. And this means that it’s practiced in a plethora of countries across the world. Which makes attending MSA meetings that much more exciting as I enjoy meeting new people from different cultures and love learning about their cultures.