“If you have something to say, bring it to MSA,” says Ayaz Siddiqui, President of the Muslim Student Association.
“We want the tough questions. The hard ones.”
Huntley High School has been a host to numerous other religious programs including small Christian worship clubs. But MSA is something different. For starters, they focus on a religion that is not very widespread and occasionally discriminated against.
“It gave us a place to talk about our causes and religion,” said senior Zeeshan Faizal.
The main causes of MSA include soup kitchen work, cleaning up garbage and numerous other charitable activities.
“One of the main tenants of Islam is charity,” said senior Aminah Darabu. “It helps us reconnect with real scripture.”
MSA has helped students organize their beliefs more succinctly, providing an open forum for questions and discussions.
“Religion is different to each person,” said Darabu. “I just want us to coexist and understand each other. As a Muslim, I feel that to a certain degree, people just don’t know anything about Islam. Especially in Huntley.”
But MSA is not reserved for only students who are of the Muslim faith, it also reaches to people who wish to learn about the religion.
“It helps me learn about other cultures,” said senior Leo Meijia. “I really like the people in it and it helps me understand the process.”
While a majority of the MSA students are of an Indian-Islamic base, they still want students from every walk of life to come join. Not just for the majority of people who can benefit from learning about a faith that is not so widespread
around Huntley, but also because it helps the Muslim student’s faith as well.]“We have all gone through times where we question our beliefs,” said Siddiqui. “And this club helps us feel securer in our faith. We can connect with it.”
MSA meets on Mondays at 2:35 pm, connecting Muslim faith with American questions.
“Whenever you have a belief you want to share it with someone,” said Siddiqui. “And when you have a platform like this, it makes it so much more simple and accessible for people as well.”