Muslim Student Association groups on college campuses have seen a lot of male leadership throughout the nation, but the ACTC schools are showing a new break in the trend—all five colleges have MSA orgs led by female students. Last Sunday, a local event titled “Celebrating Change,” sought to honor the seven students responsible for leadership in each MSA organization.

Daybreak Press Global Bookshop, located on Grand Ave., invited the leaders of each organization to an informal ceremony celebrating women’s leadership. The bookshop often serves as a gathering space for events that embrace its mission of promoting  social justice and global literature, including fiction, nonfiction and poetry.

The shop is run in conjunction with a publishing house of the same name, owned by Tamara Gray. After graduating from Macalester in 1988, Gray moved to Syria and spent 20 years there before returning the U.S., where she became stuck due to the spreading war in Damascus. Returning to her Twin Cities roots, she is now a doctoral student at St. Thomas, and her daughter is an undergraduate at St. Catherine’s. Gray spends her time traveling around the country, teaching, speaking and writing about Islamic history and spirituality. 

Gray led Sunday night’s dialogue, with four of the seven honorees (those able to attend) seated at the front of the room to answer questions. Gray introduced herself and the students, and explained a broad history of women’s role in Islamic leadership before posing some questions to the panel. Honorees included junior Asra Nizami and sophomore Leyla Suleiman from St. Catherine’s, junior Asra Nizami from Macalester and senior Anisa Abdulkadir from St. Thomas.

Gray said that during her undergraduate studies at Macalester, she would have never imagined having a female MSA leader.“We found out about six weeks ago that all of the [MSA] presidents and co-presidents are women,” Gray said. “This is an accomplishment for MSA, an accomplishment for Minnesota, and it shows how women are taking that leadership role and making a real change.”

The group discussed common challenges, such as difficulties in securing student interest and attendance, and in finding the best way to communicate and lead a group of people. Many of the students were rebuilding orgs that had fallen flat, and exploring ways to rejuvenate.

“It took us a while to get our groove on,” Nizami said.

Sophomore Nadia Al-Mosawi is the current president of Hamline MSA. Although she was unable to attend the Daybreak Press event, she expressed her appreciation of their effort to recognize the MSA leaders.

“I think the Daybreak Press event is a beautiful thing because they are really appreciating the work that women are putting into these organizations and really motivating the younger female generation to become leaders,” Al-Mosawi wrote in an email interview. “The [individuals] running the store are amazing and have done many things to help Islam flourish. This event could not have been in a more perfect time because March is Women’s History Month.”

Hamline MSA hosts events such as Islamic Awareness Week, Friday prayers, and works with other orgs to set up interfaith events.

“To me being a woman in a leadership position is normal because that is how it’s supposed to be,” Al-Mosawi wrote. “I am not saying men are not worthy for these positions, but there needs to equal distribution. Growing up, my mother was the man of the house, so to me I’m just another woman. In all honesty I believe that greater proportion of MSA leader in the ACTC are women is because there are more women that attend these schools.”

Gray hoped the event would give the MSA orgs a chance to connect, get to know each other in person, and collaborate in the future.

“Perhaps next year we can host a women’s conference, and now that you all know each other, we can start that synergy of working together,” she said.