Personal Perspective: Yale Muslim Living

By Atif Qasim

When I first came to Yale, I had heard that there was an Islamic Students Association (ISA) on campus, but I didn't know any of its members nor did I know how to find them. Interestingly enough, they found me.

During my residential college's ice cream social I happened to meet the ISA president. I told him that in my haste to get to Yale I had left my Qur'an at home and wondered if he knew where I could find a copy. Later that night the ISA vice-president--someone whom I did not know at the time, but whom I now consider a really great friend--stopped by my room. He gave me an even nicer copy of the Holy Qur'an (which I still have) than the one I had left behind.

We talked for a while and he told me where the Friday prayers were held and how the organization held Iftars, Eid dinners, and made special arrangements with the dining halls during Ramadhan.

What surprised me most was to find someone so willing to help a total stranger like myself mainly because we shared a common bond--Islam. I think it is this kind of camaraderie that really reflects the Muslim community here at Yale, especially in our tutoring program for children at the local Mosque.

I came to learn later that one of the ISA's main goals is to help increase awareness of Islam in the community. This is accomplished by having a wide variety of respected speakers come to talk about issues in Islam.

Overall, I would say that it is most comforting for me to know that, in the world of college life, where it can at times become very easy to lose one's spirituality, there are people here whom share and strengthen my faith, people whom I can talk to whenever I have problems, and people that I know really care.

Graphics by See-Ming Lee.

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