TORCH DOCS: Muslim Student Association

Gina Palermo and Angelica Acevedo • February 22, 2017

In light of the recent contentious rhetoric from the White House concerning immigrants and refugees from a number of Muslim-majority countries, the Torch decided to interview some of the members of the Muslim Student Association (MSA).

Cousins Seid and Ibrahim Mulic, the president and vice president, respectively, of MSA enlightened us on what it means to be a Muslim in the United States. They welcomed us into their prayer room and taught us some of the basic principles of Islam: shahadah, salat, zakat, sawm and hajj.

Many students aren’t aware that St. John’s University has an association of Muslim students, which is why they want to reach out to them—to let them know that they’re very much a part of the St. John’s community.

Seid believes that fear among the Muslim students on campus, is one of the reasons the organization has been silent for the past couple of years. “Muslims on campus started becoming afraid of their identity,” Seid said.

Ultimately, what the sophomores mainly want to instill in people’s mindsets is that the religion of Islam isn’t synonymous with terror.

“The biggest misconception I’ve seen of my religion is probably everything,” Seid said.

Ibrahim added, “The word Islam means peace … That’s like saying peace is a religion of violence.”

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About the Contributors

Gina Palermo, Managing Editor, Photo Editor

Managing Editor, Photo Editor: Gina is a senior Photojournalism major/Environmental Science minor who intends to increase the Torch's readership and open up its market by producing broader coverage of St. John's. As the former Art Director, she also hopes to vastly improve the design of the paper in a way that makes it more engaging, and reader-friendly. [email protected]

Angelica Acevedo, Editor-in-Chief

Angelica Acevedo is a senior journalism major with a minor in history. She has been involved with the Torch since her freshman year, and served as News Editor, Social Media Manager, Opinion Editor and Managing Editor in the past three years. As Editor-in-Chief, she hopes to continue to publish impactful, interesting and important stories that the St. John’s community needs to know. Angelica also hopes to grow the newspaper’s staff and contributors by creating an outreach position that will serve to reach out to students that are interested in practicing journalism and organizing workshops to keep them involved. Moreover, she wants readers to understand the work that journalists do and will advocate for more media literacy during her last year at St. John’s University. Have any questions? Email Angelica at [email protected]