asSalamu Alaykum waRahmatullah MSA FAM! I pray that 2023 is off to a great start as we wrap up February! The MSA has had quite a month and we are excited to share all that with you in this newsletter! I will emphasize to stay tuned as we ramp things up going into Ramadan in March inshaAllah and then for Eid right after! May Allah make midterm exams easy and bless everyone in March and in Ramadan! Ameen!

Salaam friends 👋 Welcome back for another month recap of all the wonderful things our MSA volunteers participate in!

February Donation Drive: Türkiye-Syria Earthquake Relief

As many of you may know, in the month of February, Türkiye and Syria were hit with devastating earthquakes that have killed around 50,000 people and left many others injured and displaced. May Allah make these times easy on our dear brothers and sisters and aid them in this time of desperate need. Ameen 🤲. 

In an effort to raise funds to help the victims of the earthquakes, UKY MSA  connected with MSAs across the nation in a joint fundraising effort. This effort was featured on UKNow, UK’s news page, and alhamdulillah, allowed us to spread awareness and outreach our mission to many others on campus. Alhamdulillah, we were able to raise a total of $853.37. 

Click this link to read the article: Students raise funds for Turkey, Syria earthquake victims

SHARE Lunch

MSA members joined us in volunteering for SHARE Lunches on February 3rd and 17th. Alhamdulillah, with the help of our volunteers, we were able to serve a total of around 160 lunches to the community surrounding the Georgetown St. area. 

LUA Tutoring

MSA members continued to tutor elementary and middle school students at the local Islamic school, Lexington Universal Academy (LUA). MSA hosts after-school tutoring at LUA every Monday and Wednesday from 3:30 PM - 4:15 PM. If you are interested in becoming a tutor, please contact me (Iman Hassan) on GroupMe or at (859) 553-9998! 

Assalamu Alaykum y’all:) We have been working very hard to put on a wonderful Islamic Awareness Week (IAW) and it is FAST approaching! IAW will be from March 6-9, 2023 this year and we have four events in the lineup for the week:

Monday: Abrahamic Faiths Jeopardy Night with Kentucky Hillel and St. Augustine’s Chapel, in the Cat’s Den, 6PM-8PM

Tuesday: Meet a Muslim Tabling in the Gatton Student Center, 11AM-2PM

Wednesday: “Prominent Women in Islam” by Ustadha Lobna Mulla in the MLK Center at 6PM

Thursday: “Confidence in the Face of the American Muslim Struggle” by Dr. Tesneem Alkiek and Ustadh Ubaydullah Evans in Worsham Cinema at 6PM

Fill out this google form so we can get a head count of who is going to each event and send it to your friends to fill out too! Link: https://forms.gle/khVuR6NCGgFJjTRP9

All the information for each event is posted in GroupMe and Instagram (@ukymsa) so check out the awesome flyers there. Reach out to any board members if you have questions. Come out and make it a goal to bring at least one non-Muslim friend with you to each event!

MSA Members Participate in Christian-Muslim Discussion!

This month, MSA members Taha Sullivan, Rija Arshad, and Najma Amarkhail volunteered to speak in a panel discussion along with three Christian students from UK hosted by the organization, Christian Muslim Dialogue of Lexington, KY. The organization’s goal is to promote understanding and mutual respect between Muslims and Christians. The panelists were interviewed by the host and then it was opened to questions from the audience. Our members were able to share their passion and conviction for the deen and represent our wonderful Muslim community. May Allah reward them for their participation!

Open Debate Sheds Light on Islam’s Controversial Topics

For this month’s Tea & Tawfiq, we continued our discussion in the style of the YouTube Channel Jubilee’s popular series called Spectrum. This event was hosted by Halaqa Committee members Najla Amarkhail and Areeda Aftab! Given prompts, members moved to a respective position in the room to indicate their stance (agree or disagree) and then we allowed members to justify their decision. While the topics were controversial in nature, our members maintained respect and dignity with their answers Alhamdulillah.

MSA Welcomes Imam Shahied Rasheed

We had the incredible privilege of hosting Imam Rasheed for a lecture on his experience in the community of Lexington and the foundations of Masjid Bilal Ibn Rabah. His role in the community has been integral and he is a key figure in the forming of the Lexington Muslim Community, may Allah reward his many years of service!

Sisters and Brothers Cultural Night!

Sisters gathered at Grad Rep Aysha Afzal’s house dressed in their respective traditional clothing, allowing them to share their cultures with their fellow Muslimahs :). Many brought cultural foods and we were able to indulge in some wonderful Chicken Tikka Masala, Baklava, and more.  Alhamdulillah it was a wonderful night being able to appreciate all the beautiful cultures we have in our MSA!

The boys gathered at one of the brother’s homes to participate in similar activities. Brothers dressed in their traditional clothing and brought cultural food to share with everyone (I heard there was some beef biryani there 👀).  The night was spent in card games, eating good food, and brotherly bonding alhamdulillah. 

Keep an eye out for social events during Ramadan! We hope to host a potluck iftar inshaAllah :)

More pictures from February events:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1rRWTTCrI__UbQd_blbt7vMyCsct_6vh3?usp=share_link 

Salam everyone, If you have ordered an MSA 22-23 shirt please contact a board member to obtain it. We have extras in various sizes so if you are still interested also contact a board member about purchasing one.

Salaam, no updates this time. I am hard at work at fulfilling my goals for this year so please check the website occasionally for new additions! As always, please send us an email if you think the organization or the website could benefit in any way. JazakumAllahu Khayr.

Alhamdulillah for another wonderful month filled with remembrance of Allah swt and community bonding. We hope to see all of our members along with friends, family, and non-Muslim companions at our big speaker events next week inshaAllah! I wanted to share yet another beautiful hadith:

Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said, "Do not hate one another, and do not be jealous of one another, and do not desert each other, and O, Allah's worshipers! Be brothers. Lo! It is not permissible for any Muslim to desert (not talk to) his brother (Muslim) for more than three days." (Sahih al-Bukhari 6065)

May Allah swt strengthen our community bonds and keep us grounded in our iman. May He keep us steadfast in doing good deeds and prevent us from doing bad deeds. Allahumma Ameen.

Have a wonderful day (or night, whenever you are reading this)! Jazakum Allahu Khairan! :)