msa history document

THE HISTORY OF THE

MUSLIM STUDENTS’ ASSOCIATION ATTHE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO

COMPILED DURING THE ACADEMIC YEAR OF 2013 - 2014

ADDRESS21 SUSSEX AVE, SUITE 505TORONTO, ON [email protected]

2 | HISTORY OF THE MSA | 2014

MUSLIM STUDENTS’ ASSOCIATION ATTHE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO

COMPILED DURING THE ACADEMIC YEAR OF 2013 - 2014

HISTORY OF THE MSA | 2014 | 3

IN THE NAME OF ALLAH, THE MOST GRACIOUS, THE MOST MERCIFUL


CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................7

THE 1960s: The Foundation............................................................................8THE 1970s: The Consolidation & Expansion........................................11

THE 1980s: The Outward Turn..................................................................14

THE 1990s: The Confrontation with Islamophobia........................16

THE 2000s: The Spatial Institutionalization.......................................19

RETROSPECT AND PROSPECT..............................................................22


Convocation HallUniversity of Toronto

1974

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The official recognition letter for the Muslim Students’ Association 1965


From relatively humble beginnings, the Muslim Students’ Association at the Univer-sity of Toronto – St. George Campus (henceforth MSA) has come to occupy a central place in the social, cultural and religious life of Muslims on campus. With an elabo-

rate leadership structure, a designated office and a membership of well over 1,500 faculty, students and staff, MSA is arguably the largest and most organized club at the university. Furthermore, it can also be said that the organization no longer attends to only Muslims on campus. With the establishment of the annual Islam Awareness Week and the organiza-tion’s award-winning publication, The Muslim Voice, avenues were created through which the non-Muslim student community could engage with the religion of Islam, the students who practice it, and the student-organization that represents it. After taking stock of these achievements, among many others, MSA emerges as an archetype of what a representative organization should be: at once, both responsive to the particular needs of the community it represents and welcoming to others not immediately within its fold.

Yet, despite its remarkable growth and consolidation, no such history of the MSA has been collated and communicated to the public. The purpose of this document then is to convey such a history, from the organization’s inception in 1965 up to the present moment. While the narrative is arranged chronologically, it is also structured around four particular themes. These themes are interwoven in the chronological narrative that is presented. First, the report will trace the evolving internal structure of the MSA, from its commencement as a largely informal collective of Muslim students to the organizationally sophisticated body that it now is. Second, it will historically delineate the relationship between the organiza-tion and the student community, both Muslim and non-Muslim, on the UofT campus. Third, it will uncover the evolving relations between the organization and the wider To-ronto community. And fourth, the report will track the developing relationship between MSA and the international community – a theme which speaks to the way MSA leaders and members envisioned the organization’s role on the international stage.

To write this history, two principal sources were consulted. First, over 40 interviews were conducted with various MSA alumni, from past presidents and influential leaders to rank-and-file members. These conversations were enabled by the generosity of many alumni, who proved to be an invaluable resource in compiling this history. Moreover, they also revealed that the MSA has left an undeniable mark on all those who came to inhabit its world, for however short a period, and that, despite the absence of any written account, the history of this organization is surely not forgotten. The second source of historical in-formation were the archives. The archives for an assortment of publications, from local campus newspapers such as The Varsity to national newspapers such as The Globe and the Mail, were consulted. While these sources nourished this written history with its particular details, they also show that the MSA, in making an appearance in the archival record, was and is an organization of importance, not only for the Muslim student body, but also for the university campus as a whole, the city of Toronto and indeed the entirety of Canada itself. While such a claim may not be apparent at the outset, the reader will surely be convinced of it towards the conclusion of this document.

introduction

THE 1960s: THE FOUNDATION

Prior to the formal establishment of the MSA, Muslims on campus were already col-lectively making a dent in the social, cultural and spiritual life on campus. In 1965, Muslim students, many of whom were international graduate students from the Mid-

dle East, made a request to the Warden of Hart House to make use of the institution’s facili-ties for the Friday Jumu’ah prayer. Recognizing both the growing body of Muslim students populating the campus and the lack of any organization or space for them to come together, the Warden generously granted this request and the first Jumu’ah was held that very same year. The Friday Jumu’ah at Hart House, which continues to this day under the tutelage of the MSA, is in fact a tradition that precedes the very founding of the organization. And while Jumu’ah prayers are now held on two locations on campus – the Multi-faith Centre and Hart House – and indeed in many locations across Toronto; at the time, Hart House was one of the few, arguably the only, institutional space in the city where this prayer was held. For this reason, the Hart House Jumu’ah prayer attracted Muslims from both the university and the broader Toronto community, becoming a focal point of Islamic life in the city. By simply using Hart House as a venue for the Jumu’ah prayer, the Muslim graduate students who would go on to establish the MSA had already paved the way for the cultivation of a stronger Muslim community on campus and in the city. In other words, these students had begun to generate a sense of “a Muslim community” where previously there was none.

The attendance at these Hart House Jumu’ah prayers made it markedly clear that there was a significant, and budding, Muslim community on campus. Many of these Muslims had come to UofT from the Middle East for the sole purpose of graduate education, while others were recent immigrants who had come to Canada after immigration restrictions had been relaxed for non-European nationalities. Those who came from the Middle-East came on the wave of the oil boom the region was experiencing at the time, which was generating a wealthy class of individuals who had aspirations for, and could afford, a Western educa-tion. It was these international graduate students from the Middle East who, cognisant of the rising numbers of Muslims attending Jumu’ah and a need for them to be organized and represented, established the MSA in 1965.

An excerpt from the originalconstitution1965



There were two additional developments, apart from the rapid growth of the Muslim population on campus, which facilitated the formation of the MSA during this period. First, the Canadian Bill of Rights was enacted on August 10th, 1960 by Prime Minister John Dief-enbaker. A historic development, this bill protected, among other things, the freedom of religion and religious association in Canada, thereby generating an legal environment in which a religious organization such as the MSA was constitutionally protected. The second development was the formation, just few years earlier in 1963, of the Muslim Students’ As-sociation of the USA and Canada (henceforth MSA National). Set up as transcontinental or-ganization with the intent of representing and connecting the blooming Muslim community in Canada and the United States, MSA National provided significant resources and support to set-up UofT’s MSA. The face of MSA National in particular university communities were their local chapters, the first of which was established at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign by Dr. Ahmad Sakr, who went on to become the first director and representative of the Muslim World League to the United Nations. The MSA at UofT was initially set up to be affiliated to the MSA National as its second local chapter.

The group of Muslim graduate students who founded the MSA at the university con-sisted of many who would go on to assume distinguished posts in various governments, businesses, charities and non-governmental organizations. A particularly noteworthy indi-vidual amongst this founding group is Dr. Hussain Al-Shahristani, who completed both his MSc and PhD in Chemical Engineering from UofT. He is exemplary for two reasons. First, he went on to play a significant and commendable role in Iraqi politics. Under Saddam Hus-sein’s dictatorship, Al-Shahristani, who was the Chief Scientific Advisor to the Iraqi Atomic Commission, was imprisoned in the notorious Abu Ghraib prison for refusing to be part of a military program to produce Weapons of Mass Destruction. After serving close to 11 years in prison, he was freed after the overthrow of Saddam’s regime, became the country’s energy minister under the new government and, with the 2014 Iraqi elections fast approaching, has 1 In the Islamic Tradition, the khutbah is a public sermon, typically delivered by an Imam or Islamic leader, which addresses aspects of Islamic faith and practice. The Friday Jumu’ah prayers are usually preceded by such khutbahs.

Jummah PrayerHart House, 2014


been tipped by many analysts as the coun-try’s next prime minister. In a certain sense, one can say that Al-Shahristani, as someone with an unwavering moral integrity and an obstinate commitment to serve, is emblem-atic of the type of individuals MSA has his-torically strived to cultivate.

Second, Al-Shahristani adheres to the Shi’a sect of Islam, a fact which dispels a common, and clearly distorted, perception of the MSA as a sectarian and strictly Sunni organization. From its very inception up to the present moment, Shi’as have played a transformative role in the organization, holding many of its leadership positions and frequently delivering the khutbahs1 at

2 Iftar is the meal a Muslim has at sunset to break the fast during the month of Ramadan.

The Centre for International Experience (formerly the International Students’ Centre) 2014

PHOTO BY// HELENA NAJM

the Hart House Jumu’ah prayers. To be sure, there have been periods in the organization’s history when ideological differences have generated tensions amongst the membership; but these periods are merely a blemish in a long history of co-operation, camaraderie and accommodation of ideological difference.

With notable individuals such as Al-Shahristani as leaders, the MSA during this found-ing period was largely committed to developing a sense of “Muslim community” in To-ronto and serving its spiritual needs. Both of these objectives were accomplished through four particular activities. First, as mentioned earlier, the MSA organized regular Jumu’ah prayers at Hart House, which were accompanied by khutbahs delivered by Imams affiliated to both the Shi’a and Sunni sects of the religion. Second, sessions in tafsir, the exegesis of the Quran, were held at the International Student Centre, which in 1966 had moved to its current location at 33 St. George Street. The Centre, originally known as the Friendly Rela-tions with Foreign Students Association, was formed in 1949 as a site to accustom interna-tional students to the university and Toronto community and to introduce them to other students with similar backgrounds. As their population on campus increased, Muslim stu-dents came to play a more formative role in the Centre and, once the MSA was established, making use of the Centre’s space for the tafsir sessions was anything but controversial. The third activity during this founding period was the Iftar2 gatherings during the month of Ramadan, an MSA tradition which continues to this day. Finally, as MSA chapters were springing up across Canada, there was also a push, orchestrated especially by leaders of the MSA chapter at UofT, to have a regional MSA conference, in which various Canadian chapters could come together to discuss, debate and co-ordinate their vision and activities.

By engaging in these four initiatives, the MSA, in its founding iteration, was critical to the generation of a vibrant, interconnected, and spiritually-served Muslim community on campus and indeed in the entire city itself. With very few alternatives to choose from, com-munity members not affiliated with the university would nevertheless flock to the various programs, from the Jumu’ah prayers to the tafsir sessions, held by the MSA, an attendance which the organization very much welcomed. The founding period of the MSA then can be summarized as one in which the organization sought to bring together a growing Muslim population on campus and in the city, and to cultivate a sense of “a Muslim community”.

2 Iftar is the meal a Muslim has at sunset to break the fast during the month of Ramadan. HISTORY OF THE MSA | 2014 | 11

THE 1970S: THE CONSOLIDATION & EXPANSION

Throughout the decade of the 1970s, the MSA continued its role as both servant to and leader of the Muslim community in Toronto, performing this position with a measure of gratitude and humility. The custodian role that the MSA played for the

Toronto Muslim community during this period can be appreciated through the case of the Jami mosque, currently located at 56 Boustead Ave. near High Park. In 1969, the building at 56 Boustead Ave., which up until then had housed the Presbyterian Church, was pur-chased by the Canadian Muslim Society with more than 50 % of the cost on mortgage and converted into the Jami mosque. Unfortunately, the mosque was soon besieged by ideologi-cal conflict, corruption, and lack of accountability amongst the administrators – with the consequent effect that fewer and fewer people came to visit the location. Donations subse-quently waned, the mortgage couldn’t be paid, and the building was eventually put up for sale.

It was at this point that the MSA decided to take matters into its own hands and search for the potential funding that could pay the mortgage and keep this prized Islamic insti-tution within the hands of the Toronto Muslim community. A dedicated group of young Muslims from MSA National and the various MSA chapters, including Ahmad Sakr, Sira-juddin Ahmed (then vice president of MSA National), Abdul Hai Patel (the MSA Canadian representative) and Ata-ul-Haq (co-ordinator of the MSA Montreal chapter), appealed to the late King Faisal of Saudi Arabia for support. Owing to the immeasurable generosity of the late King, a stream of funding was secured – but on the condition that a registered organization be its recipient (MSAs’ at the time were unregistered with the government). Members of the UofT chapter, specifically Abdul Hai Patel and Sirajuddin Ahmed, took on this task and formed the MSA Islamic Services of Canada (later renamed to the Canadian Islamic Trust Foundation) to be beneficiary of the King’s donation. On June 1973, the Jami mosque – known to many as the “Ommul-Masjid”, or the mother all mosques, because of its status as one of the original mosques within Toronto – reopened its doors to the public. As is apparent from the historical record, the MSA chapter at UofT played a decisive role in keeping this institution afloat, thereby preserving what many believed (and indeed contin-ue to believe) to be the nucleus of Islamic spirituality and Muslim communion in Toronto.

The MSA’s activities during the 1970s were, however, by no means confined to the campus and the city. From its very inception, MSA members were leading the call for a Canada-wide conference to be held to connect the various MSA chapters that were spring-ing up across the country’s campuses. In 1971, this plea finally came to fruition as the first Canadian regional conference was held in Montreal, a city which had, only months prior, given birth its first MSA chapter under the leadership of Ata-ul-Haq. A momentous oc-casion, this conference was, by many accounts, one of the first Islamic conferences to be held in Canada, and a precursor to the now flagship Islamic conference in the country, the Reviving the Islamic Spirit (RIS). The conference in Montreal brought together the vari-

December 4, 1964 (Vol84, No.30)

An article written about women’s access to Hart HouseThe Varsity, 1964



ous MSA chapters in the country, few as they were, to co-ordinate their vision; elected Sirajuddin Ahmed from UofT’s MSA as the first regional representative for Canada to MSA National; and held various events and seminars to strength-en the religious knowledge of conference attendees. With the precedent now set, Canada-wide MSA conferences were held in the subsequent years too. The 1972 conference, on the heels of the birth of the MSA chapters at York Univer-sity and Vancouver, was held in Waterloo, and, with the election of Sirajuddin Ahmed to the vice presidency of MSA National, Abdul Hai Patel (also affiliated to UofT’s MSA) was elected during the conference proceedings as his replace-ment. During this period, it is clear that UofT’s MSA was adamantly committed to generating a vibrant Muslim community not merely in Toronto, but indeed across the country. This commitment continued throughout the decade, and is the reflected in the fact that many former graduating MSA members continued their engagement with the broader Muslim community by establishing the Is-lamic Society of North American (ISNA) in 1977.

The 1970s was also a period, to be sure, where the MSA left its historic mark on some of the local issues fomenting on the UofT campus. One issue that occu-pied a central place on the hearts and minds of university members, as reflected in the pages of The Varsity, was women’s access to Hart House. Established in 1919 with the explicit purpose of developing the artistic, cultural and social capi-tal of the university’s male members, Hart House barred women from being full members on the belief that their presence would endanger the pursuit of this mission. In the 1960s, as feminist movements were galvanizing across the conti-nent, various actions – from public seminars to protests and occupations – were taking place on campus in order to secure women’s access to Hart House. MSA was quick to join this chorus of opposition to official Hart House policy, due to its conviction that women’s exclusion violated the Islamic belief in the equality of the sexes and prevented them from participating in the flagship activity of the MSA on campus at the time, the Jumu’ah prayers. Owing, in no small part, to the contributions of the MSA to this struggle, Hart House eventually granted women full access to its space in 1972. Not only does this history demonstrate the robust moral compass that guided MSA’s activities on campus, it also dis-credits the perception that the MSA is a male-centric organization. While few, if any, women were formally part of the MSA during this time, the organization nevertheless demonstrated a commitment to gender equality, a commitment that would garner it the respect from women and men across campus.

In short, it was during this decade that the MSA sought, not only to consoli-date its presence on campus and in Toronto, but also to begin building bridges with other Muslim student communities in Canada.


THE 1980s: THE OUTWARD TURN

While the 1970s was a period when the MSA consolidated its presence on campus, in Toronto, and in the country, the 1980s was when the organization began a long-standing engagement with international issues. There were two issues in

particular that stirred the energies of the MSA during this decade. The first was the Iranian Revolution. In 1979, a broad segment of the Iranian population, many of whom were allied to either the Left-leaning Marxist parties or the Islamic parties, overthrew the US-backed Pahlavi dynasty under Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi. After a bitter struggle for power be-tween competing anti-Shah factions, Iran emerged as an Islamic Republic under the leader-ship of Ayatollah Khomeini. Shortly after, Iraq, with full support of the US administration, invaded Iran, a move which inaugurated the bloody Iran-Iraq war that would consume most of the decade. It was within this context that the MSA made its first intervention on the international stage. In a 1981 op-ed for The Globe and Mail, S. H. Azmi, president of MSA at the time, defended the recently installed Islamic regime against detractors who insisted that Islam (and any state guided by its ideology) was antithetical to the values of democracy, justice and freedom3. Azmi maintained that these values were rather part and parcel of Islam and, as such, would be integral to any Islamic state (such as Khomeini’s Iran). While, in retrospect, one may question the moral integrity of the post-revolution Ira-nian state, Azmi’s endorsement at the time came from a sincere conviction that the regime would remain faithful to the central and universally admired edicts of Islam.

The second international issue that the MSA took a vocal position on during this pe-riod was the Israel/Palestine conflict. In 1984, for instance, the MSA held a series of demon-strations and marches to protest Israel’s illegal occupation of East Jerusalem, among other territories. In the midst of the first Palestinian Intifada, the MSA held another demonstra-tion on May 6th 1989 to denounce Israel’s continued occupation of Palestinian territories. This demonstration was preceded by a series of MSA resolutions calling for the freedom of Palestine and an end to American support and military aid to Israel. In taking a stance on what might appear at first sight to be highly a “controversial” issue, the MSA was merely siding with international law, justice, and freedom. In the cases of both Iran and Israel/Palestine, the MSA articulated a position because it saw itself as an organization not merely representing Muslims, but rather one representing and promoting the values of justice and freedom.

Of course, by no means was MSA activity exclusively concerned with international politics during this decade. Owing in large part to the formation of ISNA by a group of graduating (and highly influential) MSA members, MSA National experienced a lull period during the 1980s. Despite little support from this national body, the MSA at UofT contin-ued to serve the Muslim population on campus (alongside playing a part on the interna-tional stage, as discussed above). In addition, the MSA increasingly began to tailor some of its activities to the non- (or non-practicing) Muslims on campus. Whereas previously, the MSA’s programs had largely been targeted towards the already-devout international Mus-lim students, the decade of the 1980s brought a heightened awareness of the need to attract both non and non-practicing Muslims into the organization. While a non-Muslim popu- 3 S. H. Azmi, “Islam”, The Globe and Mail, September 7th, 1981.

3 S. H. Azmi, “Islam”, The Globe and Mail, September 7th, 1981.

lation had obviously always been present on campus, non-practicing Canadian Muslims, offspring of Muslim parents who had immigrated to Canada, were increasingly becoming a part of the campus student body. Apart from the knowledge their own parents might pass on, these early Canadian-born Muslims had little exposure to the religion. Attentive to these realities, the MSA took it upon themselves to educate these Canadian Muslim stu-dents, alongside non-Muslim students, on the principles of Islam. As part of this shifting emphasis, the MSA invited the celebrated musician-turned-Islamic-scholar Yusuf Islam (previously known as Cat Stevens) to deliver two widely publicized lectures in 1983 and 1984. By organizing these lectures, titled “Why Islam?” and “The Message of the Quran”, the MSA hoped to expand Islamic knowledge beyond the already-devout.

These lectures, alongside other Islamic education initiatives, were immensely success-ful – a success that can be gleaned from the fact that the Hart House could no longer ac-commodate the numbers that were attending its Jumu’ah prayer. As a result, the ISC on St. George Street agreed to provide its space, becoming the second facility on campus where Jumu’ah prayers were held. No doubt as a consequence of these activities, Canadian-born Muslims were now becoming members in the organizations; yet to hold any leadership po-sitions, which were still occupied by the international students, they were nevertheless very active volunteers. In the years to come, however, Canadian Muslims would come to play decisive leadership roles within the organization.

In summary, this decade of the MSA’s history was marked by an “outward turn”, in a double sense. First, the MSA began looking outwards towards the international political arena, articulating important political positions, and engaging in significant forms of global activism. It did this, in part, out of a recognition that the MSA was rising to exemplar status within the Toronto Muslim community and, as such, it should be a guide on questions of morality and justice, not just in the city but across the world. Second, the MSA also began to look outwards on campus, towards the non and non-practicing Muslims, and began Islamic education programs targeted to this group. By doing so, the MSA experienced a swift rise in its memberships, and had to use ISC facilities, in addition to Hart House, for its Jumu’ah prayers.

Announcement of an upcoming paradeThe Globe and Mail, June 29, 1984



THE 1990s: THE CONFRONTATION WITH ISLAMOPHOBIA

While public Islamic education programs began in the 1980s, their essentiality was not felt until the early 1990s, shortly after the “Rushdie Affair”. In 1988, Salman Rushdie published The Satanic Verses, a book widely believed by Mus-

lims across the world to be malignant towards Prophet Muhammad and, subsequently in 1989, Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran issued a fatwa charging Rushdie with blasphemy and calling for his assassination. Following the fatwa, there was an intense, if inflated, coverage in Western press of street protests and violence in Muslim communities in reaction to the book, coverage which left the viewer with a sense that Islam was inherently violent, intoler-ant, and antithetical to the values of the West. As images like these began frequenting the pages of mainstream newspapers, UofT’s campus was struck by a climate of Islamophobia. And, to make matters worse, the Canadian government at the time, rather than speaking out against this escalating anti-Muslim sentiment, showered Rushdie with accolades and honours, celebrating him as someone who “reminds Canada of why we are Canadians”.4

It was in this context that the MSA felt the urgent need to educate the campus popula-tion on Islam, so as to critique prevailing misconceptions about the religion and those who practice it. One of the first interventions of this sort was made by Nouman Ashraf who, as president of the MSA in 1992-93, wrote an op-ed for The Globe and Mail in which he criti-cized Rushdie and the Canadian government’s endorsement of him. Writing on behalf of the MSA, he sought to demonstrate that Islamic principles, contrary to what one typically hears in the media, were consistent with many of the values Canadians hold dear, includ-ing the freedom of expression. What Rushdie had done, however, was abuse this freedom to malign an entire group, thereby violating the protection afforded to religious and ethnic minority groups under the Canadian constitution. Rushdie’s book – not Islam – was the adversary to Canadian values.

The “Rushdie Affair” was merely a precursor to a wave of Islamophobia that would engulf the Western world, a wave that coalesced in the academy with Samuel P. Hunting-ton’s notorious “Clash of Civilizations” thesis, first articulated in a lecture in 1992 and later expanded into a book in 1996. Similar to the media coverage surrounding the “Rushdie Af-fair”, this thesis posited, in a more academic flavour, a fundamental and irreconcilable con-tradiction between the principles of Islamic and Western civilizations. Attentive to the con-tinuing currency of Islamophobic ideas, prevalent now in both the popular and scholarly imaginary, the MSA in the following year (1993-94), under the presidency of Iqbal Ahmed, established two significant initiatives which continue to this day. The first was Islam Aware-ness Week (IAW), an annual week-long series of lectures by leading Islamic scholars and activists; the second was The Muslim Voice (TMV), the MSA’s now flagship student maga-zine. Both of these initiatives emerged in response to a climate of Islamophobia on campus in the 1990s, and both had the same purpose: to be a platform on which to challenge, at both the theoretical and popular level, the “Clash of Civilizations” thesis. In order words, 4 Nouman Ashraf, “Glorifying Rushdie Offends Muslim Minority”, The Globe and Mail, December 30th, 1992.


Article written in response to islamophobiaGlobe and Mail, 1993

these programs intended to reveal that Islam, contrary to the assertions of this thesis, was a peaceful, democratic and ethical way of life – and that Muslims, in practicing their religion in Canada, were in no way colliding with the country’s values. Speakers such as Hamza Yusuf, arguably one of the West’s most influential Islamic scholars and a vociferous critique of Islamic violence, were invited during these first IAWs to fulfill this purpose. Both these programs also continued a legacy begun in the 1980s, a legacy of looking outwards, beyond simply the Muslim population on campus, to educate non-Muslims about Islam.

One common trope present in these Islamophobic discourses was that of the “the op-pressed Muslim women”, segregated from society and imprisoned under the veil.5 Clearly distorted and malignant, this trope nevertheless did stimulate a conversation within the MSA about the role of women in the organization. At the time, there was a lively debate within the MSA regarding the organization’s relation to female Muslim students on cam-pus – some (a minority, to be sure) did not want women to be members of the official organization, preferring instead that a separate organization be set-up for the sisters, while others advocated for greater female participation in the existing MSA. Fortunately, the MSA during the mid-1990s had recently appointed its first part-time chaplain, Dr. Abdul-lah Hakim Quick, who, in his khutbahs at the Hart House Jumu’ah (among other venues), staunchly supported women’s involvement in the organization – and on a firm Islamic ba-sis. With the support of an influential Islamic scholar and speaker as Dr. Hakim Quick, the MSA was able generate a general consensus favouring women’s participation in the organi-

5 For an example of MSA’s response to this Islamophobic trope, see Abdul Rehman Malik, “Muslim Women Wear Hijab by Choice”, The Globe and Mail, July 14th, 1993.


zation, nurturing a climate in which women felt welcomed in the organization. Of course, in doing so, the MSA was merely remaining faithful to the spirit in which the organization was founded – one which was attentive to all Muslims, irrespective of gender or sectarian persuasion. It was this welcoming climate that encouraged Shireen Ahmed to attend the Friday Jumu’ah organized by the MSA. Inspired by the organization’s accomplishments and concurrent humility, Ahmed would not only join the MSA shortly thereafter, but would move up to become its Secretary in 1998-99 and its Vice-President of Sisters (VP Sisters) in 1999-2000. Under her leadership, the MSA would hold a host of events for its female members, including socials, lectures, and even sporting events.

While the MSA was engaged in activism against Islamophobia on campus, it also con-tinued its interventions in international politics. And it did this working alongside other MSAs in Toronto, now connected through an organization called “Toronto’s MSAs United”. Formed in 1995, this organization’s purpose was to fill a certain hole left by MSA National’s inactivity (at least in Canada) by generating avenues through which the MSAs forming across campuses in Toronto, from York University to the Mississauga and Scarborough campuses of UofT, could co-ordinate their programs. This collaboration bore fruit in two highly publicized, if controversial, events that took place in 1995. First, an invitation was extended to Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, formerly known as H. Rap Brown and chairman of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) during its heyday, to deliver a lecture on the relationship between Islam, social justice and the Black civil rights move-ment in the United States. By holding such an event, the MSA sought to confront certain Islamophobic ideas, such as the perceived “backwardness” of the religion, by revealing that, to the contrary, Islamic principles had played a formative role in one of the most widely-respected movements for justice (the civil rights movement). Indeed, in inviting Al-Amin, the MSA was building on relations already established with Muslim civil rights leaders – just two years earlier, in 1993, Heshaam Jaaber, another influential Muslim civil rights leader who was one of the people responsible for Malcolm X’s conversion to orthodox Is-lam., was invited to deliver a lecture on a similar theme.

The second political event organized by Toronto’s MSAs United in 1995 was a talk on the Bosnian crisis by the Mayor of Sarajevo, Dr. Tarik Kupusovic. Held at Convocation Hall and widely attended, this event sought to expose the genocide being committed against Bosnia’s Muslim population. Much like Al-Amin’s lecture, the MSA, in organizing this talk, wanted to firmly position itself – and indeed Islam more generally – on the side of justice and peace. While the event angered certain Serbian students on campus (who were seen tearing down the event’s posters), it was widely applauded by the university community, including the UofT administration, as an event that was both necessary and representative of the ideals of Islam. In holding these events, the MSA continued its practice, begun in the 1980s, of taking ethical positions on the political issues of day and, at the same time, confronted the Islamophobic ideas on campus. In summary, the decade of the 1990s was marred by a wave of Islamophobia, bred in part by the “Rushdie Affair” and given scholarly articulation in Huntington’s “Clash of Civilizations” thesis – a wave that engulfed even the UofT campus. It was this context that spurred the MSA to begin two of its now-flagship initiatives, Islam Awareness Week and The Muslim Voice, both of which strived to confront Islamophobia through education and activism.


Announcement for Islamic Awareness Week2002 Poster Islamic Awareness Week

Bottom right, 2014The Muslim Voice MagazineBottom Left, 2014


THE 2000s: THE SPATIAL INSTITUTIONALIZATION

With the start of the millennium, in the 2000-1 academic year, came two positive developments for the MSA: the now highly-reputed Orphan Sponsorship Pro-gram (OSP) was instituted and the organization received its first office space.

Continuing MSA’s history of activism around global social justice issues, the OSP aimed to not only build awareness around the plight of orphans globally, but to also improve their living conditions through fundraising and direct-sponsorships. Since the program’s incep-tion, members have been able to raise over $70,000 per year for orphans, no small feat for an entirely student-run organization. Indeed, the OSP came to fruition through the dedication of a group of MSA members.

The other campaign during this period that also required dedication was the one for an MSA office space, a campaign which began in the previous academic year (1999-2000) under the presidency of Faisal Raja. For the campaign to be successful, the MSA needed to engage with student-union politics on campus, since the provision of an office space needed the support of the Students’ Administrative Council (SAC), later re-named to the Univer-sity of Toronto Students’ Union (UTSU). In the 2000 student union elections, the MSA began its first significant intervention in student-union politics, questioning candidates and slates on how much they would do for Muslim students and positioning endorsements on the basis of their responses. One issue that became the basis of candidate endorsement was MSA office space. With the support of the MSA and its now widely expanded membership, a SAC executive was elected that was friendly to the organization and to the proposition for an MSA office space. The following year, the MSA was spatially institutionalized on campus with the provision of this office, a provision which reflected the fact that the organization was now one of longest-standing, largest and most influential student groups on campus. While this victory was secured, in part, through an intelligent engagement with student-union politics, this engagement has by no means been consistent in the organization’s his-tory – in some years, the MSA sought to position itself as a “neutral” entity vis-a-vis politics (student or otherwise), while in other years, it was felt to be matter of utmost Islamic im-


portance that a position be taken. The UTSU elections in 2011, for instance, was such a year, where one slate’s principal platform point was to “build a bar” on campus, a program that MSA considered to be diametrically at odds with its own vision – and hence, the MSA decided to endorse the opposing slate.

Shortly after the office-space victory, the MSA became embroiled, yet again, in spate of Islamophobia on campus. 9/11 happened and, with it, a series of accusations in the media that somehow Islam was responsible for this atrocity. With Muslims on campus under threat, accused of being “terrorist-sympathizers” and “women-haters”, the MSA, as a representative of Muslim student interests, took it as their responsibility to educate the campus body about what Islam really was. Cautious not to apologize for an atrocity that in no way reflected the true principles of Islam, the MSA used IAW as opportunity to dispel some common misunderstandings about the religion that had circulated in its wake. Events were organized to reveal the ethic of peace at the centre of the religion and a lecture, titled “Gender Equality: The Islamic Perspective”, was held to critique the charge that Islam was against women’s rights.

While these events were widely lauded and attended, and did much to undermine anti-Muslim rhetoric on campus, two virulent Islamophobic incidents nonetheless took place in 2006. Occurring on the heels of the notorious Danish cartoons controversy, when a Danish newspaper published offensive cartoons depicting Prophet Muhammad, both of these incidents unequivocally demonstrated the need for greater spatial institutionaliza-tion of the MSA on campus. The first incident took place on February 19th 2006, when UofT’s Victoria College newspaper, The Strand, published a cartoon in which Prophet Muhammad was kissing Jesus, and which appeared next to an editorial addressing the debate about whether to publish the Danish cartoons and the cartoon in question. Despite outrage from both the SAC and MSA at the publication of this gravely offensive cartoon, the editors refused to apologise or remove the cartoon from the newspaper’s website, cit-

MSA Office2014


Article in responseto islamophobia1993

MSA Structure2014


6 Nicholas Keung, “Muslim Groups Want Action from U of T; Students Fearful After Two Racial Incidents Police Called In; University Cites Freedom of Speech”, Toronto Star, March 16th, 2006.

ing their right to freedom of expression. The second set of incidences occurred shortly after: on March 7th, a Muslim woman wearing a Hijab was assaulted in the washrooms of Hart House by another women campaigning in favour of the publication of the Danish cartoon; and on March 8th, a group of Muslim women handing out flyers for International Women’s Day were pelted with eggs on campus.

Deeply disturbed and angered by what had happened, the MSA issued a statement soon after stating that “these incidents, taken together, create the perception that the campus envi-ronment is hostile and unwelcome to Muslims. It is the responsibility of the administration to take steps to allay these fears”.6 While the administration had created an Anti-Racism and Cultural Diversity Office in 2005 to address precisely these sorts of issues – in fact ap-pointing Noaman Ashraf, president of the MSA in 1992-93, as its first director – the MSA justifiably believed that more needed to be done. It was within this context that discussions around building a Multi-Faith Centre took centre stage in MSA’s priorities. By way of a collaborative effort between the administration and a dedicated group of faith-based orga-nizations, the Multi-Faith Centre was able to open in the spring of 2007. Established just as the Canadian Federation of Students’ (CFS) released a report concluding that Ontario universities were not doing enough to accommodate Muslims, the Centre aimed to integrate Muslims and Islam (among other religions and religious identities) into the very fabric of the university. The Centre would be a hospitable venue for religious education, lectures, prayer space and counselling, among other initiatives. With the Centre’s creation, the MSA expanded its spatial institutionalization and another bulwark against Islamophobia (or any other anti-religious bigotry) was firmly added on campus.

In response to the Islamophobic hysteria post-9/11, the MSA, during the early part of the decade, was dedicated to re-arranging its external relationship with the campus; a dedication which came to fruition with the establishment of the MSA’s office and the Multi-Faith Centre. In 2009-10, on the other hand, there was significant internal re-structuring of the organization. First, this academic year brought with it the first female president in the MSA’s history, Asma Maryam Ali – a victory which reflected how differently gender rela-tions were now perceived within the organization’s membership. By many accounts, this progressive shift in perception was the accumulated effect of a changing composition of the MSA membership over the years. Founded by a group of international graduate students from the Middle-East, the organization became increasingly led by first and second genera-tion Canadian Muslims. Having grown up in Canada, the latter group were, by and large, more comfortable interacting with the opposite gender, and indeed more friendly to the idea of a female MSA president. For those who were not, Ali, during her presidency, made every effort to make them feel comfortable, an effort which was successful insofar as her term proceeded with little controversy.

The second significant internal re-structuring that began during 2009-10 (and took ef-fect in 2010-11) was a change in the composition of the executive. Previously, the MSA had consisted of an executive with 13 positions, including an Amir (or president), a Vice President Brothers (VP Brothers) and Vice President Sisters (VP Sisters). During Ali’s presi-dency, the constitutional process began to reduce the positions on the executive to 8 (a move which entailed abolishing, among other positions, the VP Brothers and VP Sisters) and to add a board consisting of 16 directorships. Furthermore, a relationship between the direc-torships and the executive would be instituted through various committees – for instance,

Article in responseto islamophobia1993


Article about the Muslim ChaplaincyToronto Star, June 14, 2012


there would be a Communications’ Committee constituted by the VP Communications and 4 directorships (Webmaster, TMV and Graphic Design). At the time, the reason for this considerable internal re-structuring of the organizations was two-fold. First, given the sig-nificantly larger membership base of the organization compared to when it was founded, the MSA felt it needed a more efficient operating structure. A smaller executive, alongside an expanded board, would permit the organization to operate both at a quicker pace and to engage in a wider range of initiatives. Second, with the inclusion of the directorships into the new organizational framework, the MSA now had more formal positions, giving the rank-and-file membership greater opportunities to hold leadership roles in the organization. In order words, this internal re-structuring was guided by a democratic spirit, to make the organization more attentive and responsive to its members’ needs.

As part of the restructuring, the title given to the highest position within the organiza-tion changed from “Amir” to simply “President”. This change was made to signal the fact that the president, despite certain expectations, had neither the prerequisite knowledge nor the experience to be a religious leader for the Muslim campus body; rather, his or her role was one of lead administrator for the community’s representative organization, the MSA. What this change made markedly clear, however, was that, despite the periodic presence of part-time religious leaders on campus, there was no full-time Islamic leader who could counsel and guide Muslim students on a more consistent and permanent basis. For this reason, plans were initiated in 2011-12 to institutionalize a full-time Muslim Chaplaincy on campus and, after generous funding from various sources and the cooperation of the UofT and Multi-Faith Centre administrations, the first Muslim chaplain to hold office in a Canadian univer-sity was hired. Beginning in the 2012-13 academic year, 28 year-old Amjad Tarsin, hired to occupy this Chaplaincy position, would provide both pastoral care and Islamic education services to the university community. Preferring to go by “Amjad” rather than “Imam” (or any other formal designation), the chaplain sought to position himself on an equal footing with the student body, thereby making the chaplaincy a more inviting institution attentive to the particular needs of Muslim students. In summary, this period in the MSA’s history was marked, to put it broadly, by a greater spatial institutionalization of the organization. The MSA office space, the Multi-Faith Centre, and the Muslim Chaplaincy were the three particular institutional spaces that were established – and they all sought, in their different ways, to be a more permanent bul-wark against Islamophobia and religious marginalization on campus. With these institutions firmly mapped onto the landscape of the university, the sort of intolerant and bigoted ideas circulating post 9/11 would find far fewer adherents.

Article about the Muslim ChaplaincyToronto Star, June 14, 2012

RETROSPECT AND PROSPECT

From a group of around 10-15 students holding Jumu’ah prayers at Hart House, the MSA has now reached a membership of over 1,500 students, staff and faculty, and holds Jumu’ah at a number of locations, in addition to publishing an award-winning

magazine, running an office-space, co-ordinating the OSP, collaborating on the university’s first Muslim Chaplaincy, and organizing a series of social and educational events. It once only served the Muslim community on campus; it now attends to the entire campus popula-tion, Muslim and non-Muslim alike, in addition to collaborating with other MSAs through the “GTA MSA Forum” and maintaining its links with the wider Canadian community.

It remains to be said that this breathtaking transformation was by no means accidental, but came about through the dedication, perseverance, attentiveness and critical reflexivity of a range of individuals who led the organization at one point in time or another. Dedication was shown when these individuals sought to cultivate a vibrant and spiritually-served Mus-lim community, and to establish the MSA as an exemplar on questions of justice and ethics, not just in Toronto, but across the world. Perseverance was shown when these individuals, against all odds, graciously confronted the successive tides of Islamophobia with education, activism and institution-building. Attentiveness was shown as these individuals remained sensitive to the historically shifting set of problems afflicting the Muslim community and responded accordingly. Finally, critical reflexivity was shown as these individuals sought to restructure the MSA, both internally and externally, so as to better reflect its relation-ship with its membership and the wider university community. Loyalty to these four virtues transformed the MSA from its humble past to its exalted present, and will no doubt carry the organization into its exceptional future.


PHOTO BY//MICHAEL HERRERA HISTORY OF THE MSA | 2014 | 27

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