A pair of two Muslim students in Oregon University have been campaigning to win the approval of the first group specifically for female Muslim students to allow them to study their religion and educate the university community about their faith.

“It’s really our job to create that sense of ummah and unite us,” Fahmo Mohammed, a 19-year-old senior majoring in journalism and international studies in Oregon University, told Daily Emerald.

For Mohamed, her small Muslim ummah was represented in female Muslim students in Oregon.

Yet, with no group representing them, she decided to get involved to change the current circumstances.

Known as a hard worker, Mohamed started working with Sabeen Waqar — a close friend — to form the Women Muslim Student Association, the first group specifically for female Muslim students.

The two founders of the WMSA are currently working with the Associated Students of the University of Oregon (ASUO) to gain official recognition for the group, expecting to win it by the end of winter term.

Awaiting the new group, Mohammed noted that the new group will allow female Muslim students to study their religion and educate the university community about their faith.

Mohamed added that a religious group specifically for women gives its members the opportunity to socialize more easily.

“When women come together, obviously we don’t have to be veiled,” Mohammed said.

“Women unveil themselves. We just talk. There’s more social activity.”

When Mohammed approached the MSA, the group, which was already in the process of trying to get more female students involved, was excited about the idea.

“I was so happy about it,” Abdulrhman Aljaafari, current member of MSA and previously the group’s secretary, said.

“I told her I was going to do my best to help her out.”

In addition to their roles as vice president and president of the WMSA, Mohammed and Waqar also serve on the council for the MSA.

Misconceptions

The group was also expected to offer female students a chance to correct misconceptions about Islam, including hijab and niqab, or face-veil.

Mohammed also wants to address a misconception about the Muslim Student Association.

“When I first came to the U of O there was this huge misconception that the MSA didn’t accept women,” Mohammed said.

Aljaafari, the member of MSA, agreed.

“It’s a misconception that most people have that women are not involved in the Muslim association,” he said.

“It is important for American and other cultures to see both sexes participating in the events.”

Muslim students asserted that misconceptions about Islam came from cultural rather than religious facts, including Saudi Arabia’s ban on women driving.

“If we are talking about women driving we should differentiate between Saudi culture and Islamic culture,” Aljaafari said.

“(Giving women the right to drive) is something that we need to deal with as a country.”

Aljaafari added that the goal of the MSA is to celebrate Muslim culture from around the world.

“We look at Islam as a culture that gathers all of these different people regardless of diversity, regardless of race, regardless of sex,” he said.

“Even if we are different in our own (country’s) cultures, there is still a point that is similar for all of us that we gather around.”

Though there are no official estimates, the US is home to an estimated Muslim minority of six to eight million.

An earlier Gallup poll found that the majority of Americans Muslims are loyal to their country and optimistic about their future in the United States.

https://www.islamstory.com/index.php/en/artical/16263/US-Female-Muslim-Students-Want-Group