Asma Maryam Ali

This is a place for me to reflect on leadership in the MSA (Muslim Students’ Association) at my school (the University of Toronto). The MSA Executive is a team of 14 people including a President, two VP’s, treasurer, secretary, communications director and eight committee chairs. The MSA at UofT began in 1964 and has since grown to a yearly membership of approximately 2200 members on its list-serve and 400 active members.

Reflection 1: Female President 

The first at the St. George Campus. I wish I knew exactly what it meant or how it differs from having a male president. I would like to start with the premise that it doesn’t and go from there. Unless women are blessed with superior capabilities which men do not have. But let’s leave that alone for now. So I start in the name of God and I hope that the service I offer will do good to the community. We’ll have to plan and bring fresh ideas to the table. What good am I if I can’t bring something positive and asma-esque?  We have  a year to see that come to fruition, God-willing.

Reflection 2:

Just before I became president I had the opportunity to do umrah (a smaller pilgrimage to Makkah, Saudi Arabia) – to the house of God and the city of his beloved Prophet Muhammad , peace andblessings be upon him. The most beautiful thing about the Kaaba and the Prophet’s mosque was the diversityof people I saw in those places. People from all over the world, all colours, nationalities, and Islamic practices. I saw people doing things which they considered tradition and I had never seen before. I imagined the diversity of life experiences of these people, from various social strata and degrees of commitment to religious practice. People from nuclear families and other types of families, people with and without jobs, people who had lost loved ones, people who were into major sins, people who were extremely rich. The houses of Allah  accepted them all. Everyone was welcome to put their heads to the floor in these blessed places, and no stranger knew what others’ experiences truly were. I asked myself how often our own mosques and communities do this for others? What I see is the opposite. But the kaaba, it doesn’t ask who is sunni and who is shia, or who wears hijab, or who drinks or smokes. Everyone is welcome, and it keeps people coming back. I was determined that we should bring this to our MSA and to our work in Canada.

Reflection 3:

September 26, 2009 – The task of the leader

The task of the leader, unlike that of the follower, is to remain on her toes for everything that falls under her wing. To keep her eyes and hears open for any hint, any sign, that something might lead us away from our intended direction. But the task of the follower is to assist the leader in accomplishing this great goal, and not allow himself to be misled.

I work on a fantastic team of MSA executives. Each of them has unique virtues which make us powerful, Alhamdulillah. As the year goes on and we become bogged down by our non-MSA duties, I wonder if we’ll forget what our true strength is? I wonder if we’ll loose sight of our vision and let great opportunities slip through our fingers? I wonder if all of those menial tasks which once seemed easy will become tedious and boring. I wish not. I hope not. How do I keep them flying high, I wonder? Where does the spirit come from which we need to guide us through?

Recently I heard someone on TV say that it doesn’t hurt to push people further as long as you support them in doing so. I want to push, but where do I find the strength to support them? I want to turn to them and say, if you do your job, I will have the strength to support you. And then leadership comes to mean more—it means knowing that not everyone is in the same place or on the same page. We are individuals and we differ on how to execute the same vision. Some of us are more dedicated to that sort of task than others.

What do I do then, with a team whose intentions for being here are different? Each person is here, like employees in a company, with a different reason for being here. Even if I pay them, true motivation will not exist unless they get what they came for. Time to find out what they came for I guess…

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