Muslim Students Association community service strengthens interfaith bonds

Amir Vera
Staff Writer

Every Friday afternoon, a group of students can be seen handing out tuna sandwiches and lemonade to the underprivileged in Monroe Park. Community service is a large part of many student organizations, including fraternities and sororities, but this group isn’t Greek.

These students are a part of the Muslim Students Association (MSA) of VCU and they feed those in need as part of an MSA initiative known as Project Downtown.

The program was created not just as a way to feed the hungry, but also to fulfill the students’ religious duty. One of the five pillars of Islam, a set of tenets that all Muslims live by, is Zakat. Zakat, or almsgiving, says one must be charitable to those in need and distribute their wealth equally. MSA participates in Project Downtown in order to fulfill their requirements for Zakat.

“Project Downtown is important to MSA because it is aligned with Islamic beliefs of giving to the poor and giving to the community,” said junior engineering major Raheel Ahmed, a member of the MSA. “MSA wants to get involved with the community as much as possible.”

MSA doesn’t work alone. The Baptist Collegiate Ministry (BCM), a Christian student organization, helps to provide the MSA with the resources they need to make those tuna sandwiches, including a place to make them.

According to Nathan Elmore, Virginia Baptist collegiate minister and director of The Center at VCU, the BCM provides a kitchen for the MSA to make their sandwiches and drinks for Project Downtown at The Center, a space at 819 S. Cathedral Place owned by the BCM.

A large group of Muslim students comes together to practice Friday prayers, known as Jummah, every week in the Interfaith Room in the Student Commons. Immediately after the prayers, MSA members go straight to The Center to get to work for Project Downtown.

“Every Friday, there is always a big turnout (to Jummah) because the closest mosque to campus is 20 minutes away,” Ahmed said, noting that there are sometimes hundreds of students who turn up for the prayers.

Elmore said the partnership between the MSA and BCM is one built through years of cooperation, and has spawned more than community service efforts — it’s opened a dialogue about faith.

“Significantly, this interfaith relationship between the BCM and the MSA stems from a consciously developed mutual relationship over the last three years,” Elmore said. “Among other things, (The Center) has hosted interfaith text studies, film viewings and common meals between Christian and Muslim students.”

According to Ahmed, the two groups have also had discussions on interfaith disputes and work together closely. After the release of the anti-Islamic film called “Innocence of Muslims” and related violent protests in the Middle East, the two organizations held a common meal to discuss interfaith relations.

According to senior political science major and MSA member Hamza Mahmud, this meeting of religions is important because the world is multicultural and ethnic environment.

“Other organizations may have more knowledge (about) certain facets that we could learn from. We strive to build unity and brotherhood within the MSA as well as within the VCU community,” Mahmud said. “Our relationship with the Baptist Collegiate Ministry allows us to foster brotherhood between two faith-based organizations on the VCU campus.”

Ahmed agrees that this religious unity helps to build tolerance in the VCU community.

“It promotes understanding of one’s beliefs,” Ahmed said. “It gives us a chance to focus on what we have in common versus what makes us different.”