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A
History of the Islamic Society
of Stanford University
By Sayra Khandekar
"O
ye who believe! When the call is proclaimed to prayer on Friday (the Day of Assembly),
hasten earnestly to the Remembrance of God, and leave off
business (and traffic): that is best for you if ye but knew!
And when the Prayer is finished, then may ye disperse
through the land, and seek of the Bounty of God: and
celebrate the Praises of God often (and without stint): that
ye may prosper."
-- the Holy Qur'an, 62:9-10
The obligation to pray is one that lies heavily in the heart of a Muslim.
It was this obligation that took graduate student Marghoub Quraishi to the
foreign student advisor in 1958. A newcomer to Stanford, he needed to know
if there was a Muslim student group on campus, where they prayed, and how
to get in touch with other Muslim students.
"The advisor told me that Stanford did not allow facilities for religious
purposes," Quraishi recalls. The names of other Muslims on campus were
finally given to him, and plans were made to pray together on Friday. Not having a room for prayer, they could be seen praying on the lawn of the old
International Center. After a couple of weeks, these four or five graduate students approached the advisor once more. It was after they presented
their request to the registrar that the process of creating the Islamic
Society of Stanford University (ISSU) began.
Established groups on campus at the time were required to have a core
leadership of a president, vice-president, and treasurer. As such the first
leaders of the ISSU were chosen from the small group of international
graduate students. After an ongoing process in the next two years, the Society became
officially registered, receiving facilities for prayer and funds for programming. In keeping with Stanford's policies of not sponsoring
religious facilities, the ISSU was encouraged to form as a cultural
organization. The students, having succeeded at their primary goal, did not
push the point.
"We were just happy to have a place to pray," explained Quraishi.
"We
didn't want to upset the apple cart."
"And hold fast, all together,
by the Rope which God (stretches out for you), and be not
divided among yourselves; and remember with gratitude God's
favor on you; for ye were enemies and He joined your hearts in
love, so that by His Grace, ye became brethren..."
-- the
Holy Qur'an, 3:103
After a fire destroyed the International Center in November 1961, the
students were once again without a place to pray. Over the next two
decades, they met and prayed in various locations around the area, the different members' residences, and a room on College Avenue in Palo Alto.
Then called the Stanford Islamic Society (SIS), the group of 12 students
held congregational prayers on Friday, Quranic study on Friday evenings,
and occasional guest lectures on Tuesday evenings. While there were more
Muslims in the area, most of the membership were married graduate students
living at Stanford Village in Menlo Park and were harder to get in touch
with. The number of Muslim students on and off campus grew over the next
few years, and with that the SIS grew more organized. The heightened
conflicts between the Arabs and Israelis in the early 1960's was the
impetus for more students to become active within the organization. The
Muslim community in the United States was growing at the same time. In
1963, international students at the University of Illinois founded the
Muslim Students Association, then the first continental organization of Muslims in North America. Activities and attendance within the SIS increased as the needs of the
students grew and changed. When more Muslim students moved into the area with their families, it was determined to create some form of Islamic
studies for the growing group of children. According to Quraishi's wife Iffat, the effort began with the creation of a Muslim youth camp counseled
by SIS members. In 1969-70 the wives of many of the graduate students began
a summer school for about 25-30 children from Stanford and UC-Berkeley that lasted about three years.
Slowly the SIS increased its visibility on campus, bringing books about
Islam to the libraries and hosting cultural "Muslim Evenings" in Dinkelspiel Auditorium. Their productions included a Muslim wedding and an
enactment of the celebration of Eid, a Muslim holiday. With food booths at
multicultural events and receptions at the International Center, the
Stanford Islamic Society strove to maintain a level of visibility on
campus. Given the nature of student-run organizations, however, the
constant flux of membership must have made this task difficult. The fact
that the society had yet to receive any sort of office or community space
was an added hindrance to their growth.
"O ye who believe! Do your
duty to God, seek the means of approach unto Him, and strive with
might and main in His cause: that ye may prosper."
-- the Holy Qur'an, 5:38
The early 1980's brought yet another new group of student leaders. When
Hussein Al-Hussein arrived at Stanford in 1979, it seemed to him that the
Society, "was on and off all the time." After the two years of work to
establish the Stanford Islamic Society with the University Registrar, it
was found that for some reason, the group had not renewed its yearly
registration. And, having a room off-campus, the Society was, "in complete
isolation from everyone else," Al-Hussein remembers. He and several other
old and new members approached the administration in 1981 for a room in the Old Union Clubhouse, in which other religious organizations had their
offices. The next year they were given Room 19, which at that point they
shared with another organization. By 1983, Room 19 was officially the
Stanford Islamic Society's room to use a library and prayer area.
With an office on-campus, the Society was able to be more active and
visible to Stanford students. In the early 1980's students volunteered with
the International Center to host new Muslim students. Al-Hussein joined the
ASSU Speakers' Bureau in 1983, and Muslim students began to work with RA's
and dorm staff to hold dorm presentations on Islam. The society hosted the
Islamic Society of North America's (ISNA) West Zone Conference in Memorial Auditorium and invited Muslim scholars to give lectures in Kresge and
Dinkelspiel Auditoriums.
In the late 1980's, the members of the SIS were finally able to sponsor a
Muslim professor from Canada to teach a course on Islam. After assuring the
administration that Jamal Badawi was not coming to "preach" Islam but
merely to teach it, the Society and the World Muslim League of Jeddah paid
all the expenses of Badawi and his family and brought him to teach,
"Islamic History: Part One" through the History department.
Marghoub Quraishi, with children of his own, requested that Al-Hussein and
Salah Feteih establish some sort of Sunday school in 1984. The Islamic
Sunday School of Stanford University was then begun with 10 students. With
most all of the SIS members participating in teaching and administration, the school grew to more than ten times that number in two years. For the
next 13 years, the Sunday School was held on campus for three hours every
weekend. The school's move off-campus in 1997 decreased the overlap in
involvement between the two organizations, but the ties with the students
remain.
In 1987, Stanford required that all groups not University-sponsored change
the names of the organizations out of the Stanford possessive. Thus then-president Hussein Al-Hussein named the SIS the Islamic Society of
Stanford University. "I changed it to ISSU to pronounce "issue"
since we
cared more for the issues than the looks," he explained.
"[The new group] has
earnestly taken the spirit... behind the notion of looking beyond ourselves.... We
have seen not only an increase in our membership, but also an increase
in native-born undergraduates...who have been brought up in an
environment where most people are not Muslim and who are therefore more
conversant with the system."
-- Salim Yusufali, senior
By the late 1980s and early 1990s, the second generation Muslims in the
United States were going off to college. The increasing numbers of Muslim undergraduates in the ISSU has had a tremendous influence in terms of
activism, policy and visibility at Stanford and in the surrounding community.
While the ISSU of the 1990s continues in its fundamental mission to serve
the spiritual needs of the community, the focus seems to be shifting
towards activism. Friday congregational prayers are held in Bechtel
International Center, daily prayers are held in Room 19, a regular study
group meets on Friday evenings, and students meet together every night
during Ramadan, the Islamic month of fasting. Beyond their own society,
however, they are also involved in prison outreach, community service, and
activities to raise awareness. In 1997, the Muslims on campus held the
first Islam Awareness Week at Stanford. An activity supported by the Muslim
Student Awareness Network, the week featured speakers, a calligraphy
workshop, displays, and a banquet at the end of the week. The event was so
popular that it was again held in April of 1998. While excellent in making
Muslims more visible on campus, planning and putting together such events
also builds mutual respect and friendship among its members.
Dean of Religious Studies Robert Gregg worked with the ISSU and it was
mostly by his efforts that Ebrahim Moosa from the University of Cape Town was able to teach two Islamic studies courses in the fall of 1997. The need
for a regularly offered Islamic studies course remains an important goal
for the society, providing all Stanford students with the opportunity to learn more about Islam, and also helping them enrich their own religious
education.
"As time goes by, names change,
faces change, ethnic composition of the society changes, activities
evolve, but the society remains as an active training institution. In
it, we (the Muslim students at Stanford) get a grasp/taste of the
heat and pressure associated with collective workings among
Muslims and interfacing with non-Muslims. As we all know the most
precious stone the diamond is the result of a lot of heat and
pressure, and we will keep looking for those precious stones that
graduate every year out of the ISSU."
-- Salah Feteih, 1986-1987 president
In the 40 years since the beginning of the ISSU, the society as an
organization has seen changing groups of leaders, an increased awareness of Islam and greater visibility of Muslims in this country. The issues
that arise from these changes had a great deal of influence in the
direction the society took as it grew. As the first generation American Muslims began to attend college, the perception of Islam in a local
setting began to change. Media misrepresentation of Muslims required a shift in focus towards the issue of fighting that image. It was time for
Muslims to be citizens of their communities. It is the nature of such an
organization that not be identified with any one certain leader. All of
the members are in some form leaders.
"When it comes to activities and ISSU planning, everybody participates in
decision making as well as execution of plans and that is very important
to give an ownership feeling to the society members," said Osama Shana'a,
a graduate student in electrical engineering. The feeling of ownership is
a major factor for a stronger society. The step between having an
organization and considering that organization: its people, activities,and policies all one's own is the difference between having an official
group and having a community. Investing time, energy, and heart into
their work is what allows a group such as the ISSU to reach beyond the campus and serve the local community.
"It is really interesting," observed Marghoub Quraishi, "where
the Stanford
students have gone outside the campus and helped. They've been involved
with the youth camp for 36 years now, and they are really a resource for
their community... The community has benefited from their presence."
It could be argued that the first
two decades of the society were affected in part by politics in the Middle East.
With the majority of a group being international students, events "back
home" would play a larger role for them than for students born and raised
in this country. For American Muslim students, while there was still the effort
to remain in contact with fellow Muslims outside of the United States, the
sentiment was different.
"It was interesting,"
recalled Iffat Quraishi, "we'd be at Friday prayers and they would talk
about, 'when we go back home,' and I would think, 'this is my home.'"
"Of course at the time most of the people who came were on student visas
and had no intention of staying," explained Marghoub Quraishi. "[The
Middle East] was repressive in the sense that anybody who was an activist Muslim
was not safe, woul d end up in jail. When we came over here, there was the
freedom to openly practice, but to be able to be rather activist was something
that was a central collective point... at the same time they knew that if they
went back they would end up in jail."
"And (moreover) He hath put
affection between their hearts: not if thou hadst spent all that is in the
earth, couldst thou have produced that affection, but God hath done it: for He
is Exalted in might, Wise." -- the Holy Qur'an, 8:65
All of these students, coming from
different backgrounds into yet another environment could easily have isolated
themselves from each other. Recognizing the similarity of their situations they
formed a community. The ties to their sisters and brothers remained.
"Graduates of the ISSU have
maintained a fairly good relationship with others even if they have left the
country. [The society] has at least offered a network of friendship and
affiliation.... It has also provided a good opportunity for the university as a
whole to be involved... it has brought the institution closer to universities
all over the world. For example, [former member] Abdullah Nasif became president
of a university in Saudi Arabia... brought closeness and encouraged more
students from those areas to come from a university and professional
level,"said Quraishi.
Community activism is an area in
which the society will build for the future. Having established themselves as a
visible organization at Stanford, the ISSU recognizes its responsibility to
remain vocal on campus, local, and even national and international issues.
"The ISSU is a Muslim
organization functioning within an American university... and thus what
primarily motivates it are those happenings in its immediate, local, and
national community," Salim Yusufali said. "As Muslims we identify with
the principle of justice. Wherever injustice exists, whether it be against
Muslims or against non-Muslims, we stand against it."
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