Lobbied successfully for the installation of foot baths for Muslim students who wish to practice the ritual washing of their feet before praying on campus
The Muslim Students Association of Temple University (MSA TU) seeks "to contribute in [sic] providing a better environment for Muslims to grow in their deen" (an Arabic word meaning "faith" or "path"); to provide "a place to meet new friends, learn more about Islam, and ultimately become a better individual"; and to provide "a vehicle on campus where we educate the campus community about true Islam."
On the weekend of March 29-31, 2002, MSA TU hosted the MSA East Zone's Annual Conference, which featured a presentation by Imam Zaid Shakir. A former Muslim chaplain at Yale University, Shakir is well known for having expressed his desire to see the United States eventually become -- "not by violent means, but by persuasion" -- a Muslim country ruled by Islamic law; for having said that "every Muslim who is honest … would like to see America become a Muslim country"; and for having asserted that true Muslims could never accept the legitimacy of the existing American order, because it "is against the orders and ordainments of Allah," and because "the orientation of the Quran "pushes us in the exact opposite direction."
The aforementioned conference also featured a presentation by Shaikh Ibrahim Memon, a Buffalo, New York-based imam affiliated with a secretive Islamic training facility (in Buffalo) that is believed to be owned by the Islamic Society of North America. According to a Buffalo Common Council Member who is suspicious about the agendas and activities of Memon's group: "I have sources -- inside sources. These people at best are armed and dangerous. They are doing paramilitary training there…. I've been warned by my sources, one of whom was actually a member of the group and he said they were holding paramilitary exercises there and that he fears he is in danger of his very life."
In recent years the Muslim Students Association of the U.S. and Canada has led a movement to push for the installation -- in the rest rooms of universities and colleges nationwide -- of foot baths for Muslim students who wish to practice the ritual washing of their feet before praying on campus. MSA TU has supported the national MSA's efforts in this regard. As of July 2007, at least 17 universities -- including Temple -- already had installed, or were in the process of installing, such foot baths.
MSA TU has participated several times in MSA National's "Ramadan Fast-a-Thon" along with nearly 280 fellow Muslim organizations (mostly chapters of MSA). The purpose of this event is to raise, through temporary fasting, public awareness of hunger and homelessness in Muslim communities. Recent endorsers of the Fast-a-Thon include:
