US: Female Muslim students unite to practice their faith and spread Islamic cultural awareness

 (Ahlul Bayt News Agency) For Fahmo Mohammed, an important part of faith centers around the word “ummah” — a term meaning “community” in Arabic.“It’s really our job to create that sense of ummah and unite us,” Mohammed said.Mohammed, a 19-year-old senior majoring in journalism and international studies, is working with Sabeen Waqar — a close friend — to form the Women Muslim Student Association, the first group specifically for female Muslim students.The two founders of the WMSA are currently working with the ASUO to gain official recognition for the group — a process they expect to finish by the end of winter term.Mohammed says the new group will allow female Muslim students to study their religion and educate the university community about their faith. And because women in some Islamic cultures wear not only a headscarf called a hijab, but also cover their faces with a veil known as a niqab in public, a religious group specifically for women gives its members the opportunity to socialize more easily.“When women come together, obviously we don’t have to be veiled,” Mohammed said. “Women unveil themselves. We just talk. There’s more social activity.”Mohammed also wants to address a misconception about the Muslim Student Association.“When I first came to the U of O there was this huge misconception that the MSA didn’t accept women,” Mohammed said.“It’s a misconception that most people have that women are not involved in the Muslim association,” Abdulrhman Aljaafari, current member and previously the group’s secretary, said. “It is important for American and other cultures to see both sexes participating in the events.”Aljaafari and Mohammed said that the misconception might come from the fact that many members of the MSA are from Saudi Arabia, a country known for not allowing women to drive. “If we are talking about women driving we should differentiate between Saudi culture and Islamic culture,” Aljaafari said. “(Giving women the right to drive) is something that we need to deal with as a country.”But the goal of the MSA is to celebrate Muslim culture from around the world, Aljaafari said.“We look at Islam as a culture that gathers all of these different people regardless of diversity, regardless of race, regardless of sex,” he said. “Even if we are different in our own (country’s) cultures, there is still a point that is similar for all of us that we gather around.”/149