The Muslim Students Association , or Muslim Student Union , of the U.S. and Canada, also known as MSA National , is a religious organization dedicated to establishing and maintaining Islamic societies on college campuses in Canada and the United States. It serves to provide coordination, community, outreach and support for affiliated MSA chapters in colleges across North America. Established in 1963, the organization now has chapters in colleges across the continent, and is the precursor of the Islamic Society of North America and several other Islamic organizations. The Muslim Students Association has at times been the subject of scrutiny; for example, the New York Police Department (NYPD) targeted MSAs across several US college campuses for monitoring as part of their Muslim surveillance program .
28-447: The Muslim Students Association of the U.S. and Canada is also known as MSA National. It is an umbrella organization for all of affiliated chapters at various campuses across the continent. Local chapters are only loosely connected with the parent institution, and often take different names, such as "Islamic Students Association", or "Muslim Discussion Group". Not all campus Muslim groups are necessarily affiliated with MSA National. There
56-587: A Muslim Brother who was Osama bin Laden 's mentor." According to Scroggins article, "[Azzam] had established the Al Kifah Refugee Center to function as its worldwide recruiting post, propaganda office, and fund-raising center for the mujahideen fighting in Afghanistan. ... It would become the nucleus of the al-Qaeda organization." The University of California Irvine Muslim Student Union
84-581: A campus level, groups lobby universities for recognition of Islamic holidays and prayer times, the availability and size of prayer rooms and for the provision of religiously permitted food on campus. MSAs engaged in various charitable activities. They raise funds through events known as " Fast-A-Thons ", which originated at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville . The MSA launched a "Peace ... not Prejudice" campaign to dispel stereotypes and paint Islam in
112-514: A first-ever strategic planning retreat at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor , bringing 27 undergraduate and graduate students from around the US and Canada together. This retreat would spark the re-emergence of MSA National as an independent, unique organization with a dedicatedly first and second generation focus. Nearly all of the 27 students were born or raised in the US and Canada, and were of
140-580: A positive light. Islam Awareness Week was a project started in the early 1990s by the Muslim Students Association of the United States and Canada. Its aim was to introduce Islam on a unified platform to all university and college campuses. During this week, each MSA offers information through a variety of resources and organizes activities in order to promote an understanding of Islamic principles and ideals. Information on Islam
168-632: Is an affiliated chapter of MSA National, which was suspended for the 2010–11 school year for disrupting a speech given by Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren at a university sponsored event. The students claimed they were exercising their right to protest and free speech. The program is being organized in conjunction with American Muslims for Palestine, a Chicago-based group that is dedicated to training college and high school students to advocate for Palestinian rights, speaking out against Israeli policy and military action that unjustly affects Palestinians. The NYPD illegally monitored Muslim student associations in
196-513: Is no fixed hierarchy between MSA National and local chapters; as such, the policies and views of the national organization are not necessarily shared by local chapters. The United States and Canada are divided into five zones, three in the US and two in Canada. Each zone has a zonal representative, chosen by the members of the affiliated chapters within that zone. Chapters make up regional councils. The first MSA National chapters were formed in 1963 at
224-440: Is presented in forms of topic tailored tables, free literature, and also through dialogue. Activities may include speeches given by prominent Muslim figures, interactive games, movie showings, or a night of Islamic entertainment and traditional ethnic dinners. Islam Awareness Week seeks to promote a positive understanding of Islam throughout the university community and hopes to build and strengthen connections and relationships within
252-627: The Black Lives Matter . Umbrella organization Group of industry-specific institutions For the fictional company set in the Resident Evil videogame series, see Umbrella Corporation . An umbrella organization is an association of (often related, industry-specific) institutions who work together formally to coordinate activities and/or pool resources. In business, political, and other environments, it provides resources and identities to
280-525: The University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign (UIUC) by international students. The initial leadership primarily came from Arabic-speaking and Urdu-speaking members, with guidance from students of the Egyptian-based Muslim Brotherhood and Pakistan-based Jamaat-e-Islami Islami movements. A Saudi Arabian charity, the wahhabist Muslim World League , provided early funding for
308-1766: The Arts and Humanities United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation Global [ edit ] International Co-operative Alliance International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements Girls on the Run United Nations umbrella organizations See also [ edit ] Big tent Federation Supraorganization Umbrella brand Umbrella company Umbrella fund Umbrella school Umbrella term References [ edit ] ^ Legal, US. "Umbrella Organization Law and Legal Definition | USLegal, Inc" . definitions.uslegal.com . Retrieved 5 February 2018 . ^ Ortiz, Rosalba; Peris, Jordi (January 2021). "The Role of Farmers' Umbrella Organizations in Building Transformative Capacity around Grassroots Innovations in Rural Agri-Food Systems in Guatemala" . Sustainability . 14 (5): 2695. doi : 10.3390/su14052695 . hdl : 10251/199935 . ISSN 2071-1050 . ^ Melville, Rose (2010), "Umbrella Organizations" , in Anheier, Helmut K.; Toepler, Stefan (eds.), International Encyclopedia of Civil Society , New York, NY: Springer US, pp. 1577–1582, doi : 10.1007/978-0-387-93996-4_628 , ISBN 978-0-387-93996-4 , retrieved 2024-04-28 ^ "Giles Coren Times article prompts Polish complaints to PCC" .
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#1732780034567336-694: The City of New York, in New Jersey federal court. The suit alleged, on behalf of two New Jersey MSA chapters, that they were deprived of their Free Exercise rights under the First and Fourteenth Amendments, and seeks to force the NYPD to expunge all data, information and conclusions regarding the Plaintiffs compiled by the NYPD. In April 2018, the NYPD and the plaintiffs finally came to a settlement agreement. Among
364-670: The Fast-athon, and other regional and national projects were born. Now all of MSA National's leadership was born in the US and/or Canada, and MSA began to make its own decisions and take positions on a variety of issues without regard to other groups or organizations. Today, the organization is present in various forms on several campuses across the United States and Canada. In contrast to early membership, members are now frequently American-born Muslims. Activities include prayer times, lectures, discussion, and social events, and seek to unify Muslim students from different cultural backgrounds. At
392-904: The Guardian . 2008-08-08 . Retrieved 2022-11-11 . ^ Business Solutions, WebCider. "buildingSMART, United Kingdom and Ireland" . www.ukbimalliance.org . {{ cite web }} : |last= has generic name ( help ) ^ "United Nations Umbrella Organizations" (PDF) . FSI Transition Center. 2017. External links [ edit ] [REDACTED] The dictionary definition of umbrella organization at Wiktionary Authority control databases : National [REDACTED] Germany Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Umbrella_organization&oldid=1239294731 " Categories : Supraorganizations Types of organization Hidden categories: CS1 errors: generic name Articles with short description Short description
420-554: The Islamic Book Service, to distribute magazines and books. In addition, books about Islam were distributed on campuses to both Muslims and non-Muslims. In the 1970s, a fiqh , or legal council was established by MSA; initially the fiqh rendered opinions on minor issues such as the start of Ramadan. By 1988, however, it was making decrees on a broad range of religious and social issues. In 1994, after nearly 12 years of being virtually defunct, MSA National's leadership held
448-582: The Northeast US, citing a list of 12 people arrested or convicted on terrorism charges in the United States and abroad who had once been members of Muslim student associations. In rationalizing their monitoring activities, the NYPD noted they followed the same rules as the FBI, but several civil rights organizations argued that they engaged in unconstitutional racial and religious profiling and spying without evidence against individuals. The universities involved in
476-1039: The Public Interest UEFA Ulster Defence Association United Way Yamaguchi-gumi National Federation of Coffee Growers of Colombia ANC Asia [ edit ] Bangladesh [ edit ] Hefazat-e-Islam Bangladesh Europe [ edit ] Russia [ edit ] The former KGB United Kingdom [ edit ] Bond : network for organisations working in international development Homeless Link NAVCA (National Association for Voluntary and Community Action) (UK) UK BIM Alliance Transport for London Maritime UK North America [ edit ] Canadian GeoAlliance Canadian Hockey League Central Intelligence Agency Jewish Federations of North America Rainbow Railroad Metropolitan Toronto School Board and its six boards United Fund for
504-756: The claims made and adding inline citations . Statements consisting only of original research should be removed. ( February 2015 ) ( Learn how and when to remove this message ) AFL–CIO and other national trade union centers DD172 Department of Public Safety European Armenian Federation for Justice and Democracy European Music Council European Federation for Welding, Joining and Cutting (EWF) Federation of Poles in Great Britain Federation of Student Islamic Societies Independent Sector National Retail Federation National Wrestling Alliance Open Source Geospatial Foundation Software in
532-525: The contacts and friendships she made in the early 1990s working for MIT 's Muslim Students Association. Members of the Muslim Brotherhood , the world's oldest and biggest Islamist movement, established the first MSAs in the country... and the movement's ideology continued to influence the MSA long after that. At MIT, several of the MSA's most active members followed the teachings of Abdullah Azzam ,
560-607: The country have offered their stories of exclusion and marginalization within the organization, saying that efforts to talk about race in the community are often met with resistance or dismissal. The Black In MSA hashtag (or #BlackInMSA ) generated discussion of the stereotypes and racism which African-American students were subject to in the MSA from Arab and South-Asian members. This included reluctance to engage with issues affecting African-American students on campus, reluctance to talk about racism, and hesitation or outright refusal to support African-American students and communities in
588-404: The groups. Early goals for the movement included the promotion of "a self-definition [that] involves initially and fundamentally [an] Islamic identity" of its members, as well as an appropriate Islamic lifestyle while they were in the US. With time, MSA groups became more interested in seeking how to integrate and institutionalize Islam and Islamic culture into American life. Current issues such as
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#1732780034567616-508: The next generation of North American Muslims, signifying a radical shift in MSA National's future direction. From 1994 onward, MSA National held conferences on college campuses, convention centers and mosques around the US and Canada, with no guidance and direction from any other group or organization. Fifteen years later, by 2010, yet another generation was poised to take the leadership of MSA National. Activities such as Project Downtown,
644-632: The position of women in Islam and problems in the Islamic countries began to be debated. The groups proved important as mobilizers in developing increasing Muslim political activity in the United States. Student leaders, as these graduated, went on to form the Islamic Society of North America . From the 1960s onwards, the MSA engaged in educational activities, including the translation and publishing of works by major Islamic scholars. In 1966 MSA founded
672-443: The smaller organizations. In this kind of arrangement, it is sometimes responsible, to some degree, for the groups under its care. Umbrella organizations are prominent in cooperatives and in civil society, and can engage in advocacy or collective bargaining on behalf of their members. Examples [ edit ] [REDACTED] This section possibly contains original research . Please improve it by verifying
700-634: The student monitoring included Yale; Columbia; the University of Pennsylvania; Syracuse; New York University; Clarkson University; the Newark and New Brunswick campuses of Rutgers; the State University of New York campuses in Buffalo, Albany, Stony Brook and Potsdam; Queens College; Baruch College; Brooklyn College and La Guardia Community College. In one monitoring incident, a conference which
728-493: The terms of the settlement, the NYPD promised to stop and never again engage in surveillance based on religion or ethnicity, the NYPD also agreed to compensate Muslim owned businesses, individuals and Mosques for financial losses caused by the program as well the suffering and indignation caused by it. In the 1970s, the MSA conducted a survey which showed that most "felt like there weren’t enough efforts to include African-American Muslims and African-American students at MSAs across
756-460: The university community for the promotion and recognition of Muslim North Americans. Suspected al-Qaeda member Aafia Siddiqui was active in the MSA at MIT when she attended there in the 1990s and was known for participating in charity for Islamic organizations. Journalist Deborah Scroggins , in exploring how Siddiqui might have become an Islamist extremist, wrote for Vogue that if Siddiqui "was drawn into terrorism, it may have been through
784-487: Was to be attended by MSA students included Siraj Wahaj , a prominent but controversial New York imam who has attracted the attention of authorities for years. According to the ACLU , as a result of ongoing spying through undercover police and informants, the covert program introduced distrust of law enforcement and a culture of community fear and stigma. In June 2012, MSA National, along with other plaintiffs, filed suit against
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