Abdul Rahman, an MSA member, opened the event with Qur’anic recitation, followed by a translation by Khwaja Umar Ahmed.
Ahmed Abdelgany and Mohammad Rasouli initiated the banquet by posing a question to students, “Why MSA?”
“Muslims today have this ‘I don’t care” attitude,” Abdelgany said. “The purpose of MSA is to educate ourselves.”
Rasouli emphasized the importance of Muslims to be seen as proper role models in society. “Being good role models, to create opportunities for Muslim youth,” he said, adding that “people notice the smallest things, and as Muslims, we should try to unite together to be good role models.”
Students from 10 high schools around the Irvine area attended the event, where Omar Ezzeldine was guest speaker and discussed MSA through his personal experience.
“Am I the Islam my parents put on me? What really is Islam? And how much of what I do is more cultural than religious?” Ezzeldine asked the students, advising them to “find your passion and pursue it aggressively, pursue it excessively.”
MSA students Shazib Haq and Mohsin Farooqui also produced a video that portrayed a group of boys who stepped from a world of extensive late-night partying to finding their faith in Islam.
“Every time I go to MSA, I regain my love for Allah,” said Emmad Karmouta, a Fairmont High School student. “We have a brotherhood there and we must look out for each other.”
Yousef Hilmy, a student of Northwood High, says “The whole goal of MSA is to invite people to Islam and to motivate ourselves. It’s a good peer pressure,” said Yousef Hilmy from Northwood High.
Khwaja Hamzah Ahmed, a student of University High, said, “Our MSA is very active in the school’s society. As Muslims in a public school environment, we’ve been able to form our own brotherhood and sisterhood while also maintaining a sociable attitude to all those who approach us [regarding Islam].”
Rasouli said the occasion was a way to “finish off the year and pull together any MSA’s that were not as active throughout the year.”
“The occasion was a cumulative effort,” Abdelgany said. “This banquet was in art of our struggle to try and fill the shoes of older generations that are moving on.”
