On Thursday, the second floor ballroom of the Union was transformed as students had the opportunity to experience a little bit of Mecca at MSU.
Each student was handed a paper passport that read, “Welcome! Your journey to Mecca starts here,” and with that, the adventure was underway.
Eight student organizations — including the Saudi Student Organization and the Muslim Students’ Association — came together to celebrate Eid al-Adha, a Muslim holiday known as the Festival of Sacrifice.
Eid al-Adha generally is celebrated after the Hajj, also known as the pilgrimage to Mecca, which Saudi Student Organization President and psychology junior Alaa Tayeb said about 3 million Muslims complete each year.
However, because many Muslim students at MSU are unable to make the pilgrimage or celebrate with their families because they’re away from home, Tayeb said the student groups tried to create a familiar experience on campus.
As a result, the event — which drew about 75 students — was designed to simulate the pilgrimage with tables placed in each corner of the room to represent Ka’aba, Arafah, Muzdalifah and Mina, four places of religious significance that Muslims often visit in Mecca.
In addition to the trip to Mecca, the event also included a video about Hajj, a group dinner and a box where students would place a wish for the year with their name and email address to be exchanged as a way for students to make new friends.
Because Hajj is one of the five pillars of the Islamic faith, Muslim Students’ Association education chair and human biology senior Ismail Kazmi said the Eid al-Adha holiday has significance for Muslims from all backgrounds.
“This event is a celebration event because after you do Hajj you’re supposed to celebrate,” Kazmi said. “We want people to have fun, to eat, to mingle with people from other religions and hopefully understand a more human side of Islam.”
After planning the event for a month and a half, Tayeb said it was exciting to see it come to fruition.
“The first goal was for Muslims to celebrate the holiday because they’re away from home,” he said.
“The second goal was equality. We want everyone to feel welcome.”
Turkish Student Association President and doctoral student Serhat Bucak said he hoped the event would inform more people about Islam.
Although the atmosphere for Muslims at MSU is mostly accepting, Bucak said that is not the same in all other countries.
“The university is a very friendly and accepting atmosphere. They promote diversity, but this is not the case around the world,” he said.
“If there’s a chance for us to inform people about our religion and culture, we should do that.”
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