Isa Cruz

Over the last several years, the Muslim Students Association (MSA) has become a powerful voice on campus. From hosting Eid Mubarak celebrations to interfaith events, MSA has grown into a source of community and education.

On Saturday, October 25th, students gathered at MacMillan House for a “Henna Night” hosted by MSA. This event was part of a international week-long program called “Charity Week,” which aimed to raise funds for Islamic Relief, a worldwide organization dedicated to humanitarian work.

“Islamic Relief is this long standing humanitarian developmental organization that’s been raising money and doing on-the-ground work in various different countries,” Aniqa Chowdhury ’26, co-president of MSA, said.

According to the Bowdoin MSA Instagram, funds donated to Islamic Relief will go towards “a range of projects … from education to health, from emergency to long term projects, all across the world.” This includes funds for humanitarian causes in such nations as Palestine, Bangladesh, Kenya, Malaysia, South Africa and Sri Lanka.

Last year, Bowdoin MSA raised over $3,000 during Charity Week. Chowdhury noted the powerful experience that giving back offered to participants.

“Young people can make a change, especially when we get excited,” Chowdhury said. “We were just excited to be a part of this larger movement to make a change while also engaging everyone in the community, not just Muslim students.”

This year MSA raised over $1,000. Over a third of the donations came from a fundraiser comedy show that featured standup performers Ismael Loutfi and Ahmad Abdulwadood ’24.

In addition to fundraising, MSA hopes that these events bring together Muslim and non-Muslim students.

“[Islam] is not like certain religions, sometimes predominantly the population is of a certain culture,” Chowdhury said. “For Islam, there’s white people, Black people, literally everyone. And so it’s us wanting to also host events for the broader public so we can be in community with everyone.”

For Chowdhury, being involved in MSA was key to finding a community at Bowdoin.

“I think it’s so important for me to be involved in MSA, because there is such a small group of Muslims on campus,” Chowdhury said. “Having MSA be this space where Muslim students can come together is really nice. It feels like family.”

For Muslim students across Bowdoin’s campus, the MSA creates a cherished community, or as Chowdhury would describe it, an “ummah.”

“There’s an Arabic word called ummah, and that means family. So we’re creating an ummah here at Bowdoin,” Chowdhury said.

According to Chowdhury, building a strong MSA is critical in preventing isolation amongst Bowdoin’s Muslim students.

“When I first started out, there was an MSA, but all of the Muslim kids were spread out around campus, and there was nothing bringing them together, and they were praying and they were fasting, but it was all in isolation because there was no community for them,” Chowdhury said. “And so I feel strongly about being involved in the MSA board, so I can help create events to better make the community cohesive and develop a sense of care for each other and excitement.”

Bowdoin MSA also hopes that its work will help to dispel painful stereotypes and falsehoods about Islam.

“I think there can be a lot of harmful stereotypes about what a Muslim looks like, or what it can mean to be Muslim,” Chowdhury said.  “I feel developing intimate friendships with people … and humanizing groups of people is very important, and that’s something we tried to do through our events at the MSA.”