UC San Diego Welcomes First Muslim Fraternity

MAUREEN CAVANAUGH: This is KPBS Midday Edition, I am Maureen Cavanaugh. The days of the Animal House fraternity may be over in most cases, but life on campus can still get rowdy. Rumzi Khan is trying to be true to his culture and his faith which is one of the reasons that the Muslim Islamic inside several American universities have created their own fraternity. The chapter of Alpha Lambda Mu has started this year at UC San Diego That gives Muslim students able way to support each other who often feel left out of potential college expense. I would like to welcome my guests Rumzi Khan and Sayed Sadat. Welcome to the show. This started at the University of Texas, how did that start? RUMZI KHAN: As far as I know I believe that President and you see Dallas sold me the story come to school up with one of his friends and his friend told him that he was planning on going to Fiji when he came to school and got him thinking that we don't really have a fraternity system that we could be at, because Islamic weight not many of us. Alcohol or party or to the cut of stuff and even if we do the like everyone wants to be a part of it, we got the idea growing in his head that we should do something about it and then I think he got together bunch of his friends and the jury that the Constitution is started up at their school and opened up applications last June and that is when UCSD applied and brought to us at fault. MAUREEN CAVANAUGH: Is the organizations mission and principle based on Islam? RUMZI KHAN: Definition is that the idea is to have a fraternity with students but we're ocean to others not by the non-Muslim students and optimism to be a part of it, that some of our initiation receipt procedures require prayed together or in a mosque praying together in a mosque or recording reciting verses from the Qur'an, we make accommodations for non-Muslim students and they can beat in it to his we don't want to single anyone out and if people are going to be a part with us alert more around us and then be run with this we record that. MAUREEN CAVANAUGH: You chose the Greek letters Alpha Lambda Mu, does that stand for anything specifically? RUMZI KHAN: They signify the first two letters in the Qur'an. MAUREEN CAVANAUGH: Can you say that you don't have to be up purchasing Muslim to join to join, why is important to have Muslims to band together in a fraternity like this? What can you do this fraternity that you could get another fraternity? RUMZI KHAN: Like the idea for for today's of creating a network even after you have graduated you can still keep the top contact one of the cool things and we needed a church event we got hooked up to the network and found someone and even though we have been in America for a long time and I do people back home for engineers doctors and lawyers, but the gap between us is kind of prominent where we never stick her hand out to them saying help us to find something in the never come to us saying you need help, this can be a way of reaching the gap and the this may not help your me a reference right now but let's say someday get an email from wicked with confidence and I am so so-and-so and I need someone to help me out, it creates this bond in the net? And that fraternity is I think is it one of the greatest things that fraternities have come up in another thing that I like to better fraternity is the sense of brotherhood and what I saw on campus when he came in my freshman year I saw that Muslim who came to college campuses go one of two ways, either become closer or pushed away from Islam depending on who you meet and the soft this is a great way to bring everyone closer or people who are in close to his arm closer and one of the main goals here is to bring people who are more religious to become more social or more social people come more religion religious, we have seventeen members in our fraternity and we have members that don't pray every day were not religious but they are surrounded by people who believe in the same thing and who knows maybe they will start praying, and we started little things become big things in the future. MAUREEN CAVANAUGH: My question to you then Sayed do you think that non-Muslims will join? SAYED SADAT: I think the atmosphere that we have created a committee for everyone as everyone is welcome to join and not all of our events are religious religious oriented, the ethics that held the bonds and a lot of people appreciate that a college campus and there a lot of people it is hard to connect people on a personal level and there are some people in the religion to join and participate. MAUREEN CAVANAUGH: You say that there are seventeen members, how does that jive with how many Muslim students there might be at UC San Diego? RUMZI KHAN: I would estimate estimate between 100 to 200 maybe on campus probably, seventeen is a good number and is hard enough to get people to come to join something new when it is not established and people who joined this quarter they did not know me they do not know we were in the fraternity just heard about us and said they wanted to be a part of it and we're taking steps in the right direction and the future maybe the majority can become part of ALM and become the authority of Muslim student Association, wife fraternity over a club? SAYED SADAT: I don't think the two are necessarily different but at the same time they are against the goals of the fraternity is it different from a student organization, student organizations deal with the general Muslim population and I think with the a fraternity is a stronger and closer bond than you would get from a larger organization like them of Muslim student Association, I think the difference was the fraternity is there's a strong connection because it is more personal and there are more evidence and activities that we do together. MAUREEN CAVANAUGH: And it sounds as if what you're saying is that beyond when you graduate and when you go on to live your life you expect the fraternity that you get from this fraternity to stay with you and perhaps be a network for you to go on in life. RUMZI KHAN: Yes that is one of the schools that I see as a part of it by now we have seventeen members but we're probably going to have 45 graduate this year and every year we have new group members to keep cycling through and one of the things about it that I really liked that I can exactly do is everyone has his whatever we have these events it is your choice to come out, if I have time I will make an advance and if I can come similar friends are going whatever, for a lot of the events of the do our attendance is mandatory for all members, who said the meeting this is that we're doing you have seventeen guys come to an event, with that being said it's not sure to be there where we're against anything but a she told them as a board members okay if you need help that me know if you you will get seventeen guys and that is honestly the greatest benefit that you get out of it the college campuses that may have a group of guys that if you ever needed anything some sort of volunteers is something to ask questions or help you with glasses anything like that David group of people that one of the things that is it basically our mission statement is to help others and if they contact us will deftly do our best to go out of her way to help about and I see that as something that an essay can easily do because they cannot force people to come to stuff had we do say hey we're doing it. SAYED SADAT: And we are engaged in a whole new arena because we didn't have any relationships in MSA and putting ourselves of their students at UCSD I think this would be beneficial, and in 2010 that said 50% of people did not have an opinion of Muslims and of that same group 2/3 of them say the did not know about what Muslims are like, but is having a fraternity weird teaching and people about our religion in our ways and it opens up a new arena for us to engage people. MAUREEN CAVANAUGH: For this fraternity, what kinds of problems did Muslim student's encounter in the average social life of on campus? If you're going to be sticking to your principles and your faith you won't be partying the way that a lot of students do I mention? RUMZI KHAN: When I was a freshman I list it on the lives on campus and a minute non-Muslims Muslim is great person says I told him that I forgot the heart beat pork these guys would check before me and that was really cool, and the invited us to their parties and I which one of them it was fun, but after it was over I said I don't really want to be the situation again where there's nothing bad about it and understand that they have fun and you can do your own thing we was uncomfortable, but I don't exactly fit in with what is going on and so that is what is a right, go do something else had these kinds of party situations it be my friends after that would hang out on Fridays or Saturday nights are hangouts that consist of going to parties are doing a thing that is not just stuck just not stuff that we're part of it we end up going to Ralph's and getting stacks and coming home and hang out cracking jokes and horrified and I create bonds with people of that I may never have been friends with an event also my close friends MAUREEN CAVANAUGH: This leads me to another question, many of them young people of different faiths and backgrounds tend to break away from that with the go to college and is cut of the traditional rite of passage and get a little bit wild or just to break away with what mom and dad told you to do, is there room for the kind of experience in Muslim culture? SAYED SADAT: I think in the Muslim faith you're allowed to ask questions and question things and I know I have, I question everything as well but I was reinforced when I studied and what I learned in my faith so that is what probably closer, and I think a lot of was still, I think there's a false perception that we don't suffer the same problems of we're in society we have the same ills and problems that everyone else has, is a mouse from another faces from another if someone from another faith is having these poems you can see dissenting in the Muslims. MAUREEN CAVANAUGH: I heard what attracts people to this fraternity is that you don't have to constantly explain yourself to be one who don't know everything about Islam, is that one of the reasons? RUMZI KHAN: It is a positive I mean it's not in leg or anything like that to have to explain it but if you are in a situation at a party and everyone is drinking in your hang out with your friends and people keep asking have a drink subject I don't drink, you keep having to explain and I don't drink and because of seventy reasons and more people ask you and we have to talk about it in people understand in this that you don't do that, can it make you feel more at ease more comfortable MAUREEN CAVANAUGH: The kinds of activities what kinds of activities do you pursue through the fraternity? RUMZI KHAN: Some of the activities that we do for bonding we did this Sunday we're all going to fast together at that me that my apartment to do the breakfast before morning prayer we're all going to get together and get huge breakfast for seventeen guys and then after that we're going to pass the whole day so no one are now eating from some size some of the sunset and then sunset you'll go have pizza and go to another person's house and we do these figures are events or whatever to bring up some the two teachers something about is on something small like you should reappear appropriate food or something small like that are helping her neighbor and we get some type of moral and religious and if it to be at these events but other than doing that kind of stuff we've done events where we go and have breakfast together or we go out and we will learn about a together or we will putting on doing this huge barbecue inviting people from SDSU and UCI and for all of us to come together and hang out if we may or may not know somebody, the idea is to create a community I can interface diverse community where we might be like this right now but would want to branch out becomes friends with people from all the for faiths. MAUREEN CAVANAUGH: I have tended there I met a time, I've been speaking with thank you both very mild they much very much.