History of MYNA - Part 3 Reformation

The Convention that led to the Reformation

1985 - Gutbi ElMehdi Ahmed is president of ISNA, Iqbal Unus is acting secretary general.

- (4) Umar Hasan, of Indianapolis, working out of ISNA HQ, is chairman of both the ISNA Youth Committee at the time and of the upcoming youth conference. In his term pre-1985 ISNA Annual Convention, he and his committee-which is composed entirely of youth-have done 4 Youth camps, a for youth-by-youth survey sent out in mailings and in Horizons,

-Throughout the year (possibly after Aug., need to check the letters in the cabinet), Hassan sends letters requesting availability information of hotels in Denver, Chicago/IL-area, and Indianapolis for upcoming an youth camp/conference, or camps/conferences (or maybe it was for other events), he addresses himself as chairman of the “National Islamic Youth Organization.” (These inquiries may have been for what became the December conference, but the info requests are for earlier dates over the summer, so perhaps Youth Conference was pushed back and finally held in ISNA headquarters).

-Mohammad Abugideiri [brother of Fatima and son of Tijani Abugedieri, he also now lives in Washington] of Bloomington, IN, and Nadifa Abdi [Daughter of perennial youth advisor Dawood Zwink], of Indianapolis, are also members of the Youth Committee.

Jan. 1985 - “A ‘Youthful’ Comment” article is published in Islamic Horizons’ to counter criticisms of Muslim youth and presumably to counter the earlier critical column about youth camps. Mentions the 1984 youth sessions at the convention and that it was the “most successful youth program ever” in terms of youth participation and lectures. It says of the 1984 youth committee: “Alhamdulillah, this year the majority of the youth committee members were brothers and sisters who grew up in this society. As a result, they could better attend to the needs of the youth, and since they were youth themselves, it made it easier for the participants to relate to them.” It is critical of parental pressure to confirm to "parental culture" instead of Islam. It talks about three societies that the youth have to deal with “the American society” (which is 'un-Islamic'), “parental society” (which is also, basically declared bad), and “Islamic society (which is good). And then it calls for more trust in youth leaders: “At the end of the convention, we also realized that although youth are given responsibilities, they are often neither allowed, nor encouraged to act upon those responsibilities. Specifically, youth are sometimes ‘urged’ to organize themselves, but officials have so little faith in them that any new ideas or signs of change bring officials hovering over them./p/We have this to say to youth: If your ideas are within the Islamic framework, then keep them! Without new ideas and changes, we can never better ourselves or further the cause of Islam in America. Isn’t that what we’re all here for?”

February 1985 – MYNA-Pittsburgh Chapter (MPC) established by a couple of youth and adults who “had a lot of drive and were willing to put some effort and time into the venture.”

March 1985 - The Youth Committee releases a (pre-MYNA) Muslim Youth Survey in Islamic Horizons' March issue, in a (new?) section entitled “The Young Muslim.” Mohammad Abugideiri is the Youth Committee member contact person identified for the survey. The survey requests input on the formation of a youth organization. It says: “We need the help of Muslim youth. Who are we? We are a group of young Muslims. Some of us have struggled with the same problems facing you. Some of us are facing problems that you will not meet until you’re older. Please answer the following questions on another sheet of paper. It will help all of us to help each other.” The questions include inquiries about youths' demographic info, how long they've lived in north American, if they’ve attended school in North America, if they’ve ever been to the ISNA convention and how much, participated in youth camps, any Islamic activities in their community, any youth ones, ever been responsible for organizing any of those activities, what kinds of activities they’d like to see, what problems do they face as Muslims in North America, how they adjust to them, any other problems, and then lastly, it says “Are you interested in attending a youth convention to discuss these problems and to try to establish a Muslim youth organization? List some ways you can help to make this convention successful and meaningful?” It is to be addressed to “Youth Committee c/o Mohammad Abugideiri,” in Bloomington.

-"The Young Muslim" section also includes a column on spending time wisely by Nadifa Abdi, as well as other youth articles in the section, and a Muslim Pen Pals program is announced in the section, “c/o of the editor.”

May 1985 - Another “The Young Muslim” section appears in Islamic Horizons' May issue. The results of the Muslim Pen Pals announcement are featured, including notes asking for Pen Pals from kids aged 7-16.

April 1985 - An anonymous letter to the editor from “An Immigrant Muslim Sister” is printed in Islamic Horizons' entitled, “Immigrant Muslim Parents in America,” thanking the Youth Committee for their Jan. Horizons' column, "A Youthful Comment." It says the column was optimistic and further criticizes pessimistic articles. It blames immigrant parents for the loss of second-generation Muslims and includes a harsh critique of them, in which the writer says many immigrant parents “own weak faith in Islam.” It then gives them advice to help “counter the un-Islamic culture around us," including accepting responsibility for their children, practicing Islam, socializing with families of different ethnic backgrounds that will make for good Muslim friends, having Islamic books and magazines and playthings around at home, not being materialistic, treating boys and girls equally, not becoming over-involved with career, being involved in their children’s school life, not being narrow minded or misogynistic and letting girls wear hijab, and remembering the day of judgment. The writer says most Muslim parents are bad, hopes she hasn’t offended Muslim parents too much, and says she's only bringing it up as constructive criticism.

July 1985 - "The Young Muslim" section of Horizons' July issue features some future MYNA-active kids in its “Student Honor Rolls,” item, sighting their various school achievements and awards. Specifically mentioned are Afeefa Syeed, Grade 9, Omar Altalib, Grade 12, Mehmet Kilinc, Grade 12, and Suhaib Al-Barzinji, Grade 12. [Afeefa and Suhaib will eventually marry. Syeed, Altalib and Barzinji are all children of MSA/ISNA leaders and will all be active as leaders in MYNA.]

Aug. 1985 - The 1985 ISNA Annual Convention takes place in Louisville, KY. The ISNA Youth Committee (or Youth Planning Committee) feels that the time has arrived for Muslim youth to have a continental organization and discussion of the formal group that began in the summer heightens. The ISNA Majlis Ash-Shura endorses the idea of the youth group and encourages its development.

Aug.-Dec. 1985 - Organization takes place for the first of its kind upcoming Winter Conference to take place at the end of 1985, with Hasan as conference chairman. It is planned to be different from the youth camps done up till this point in that it will be for youth but largely organized by youth, as opposed to the "for youth by parents" camps of the past. Nor is it a side-program attached to an adult event. Hasan, his committee, and their advisors--including Zwink--organize the Conference as the foundations for the national youth movement they have discussed. [The idea among the youth committee and its advisors is clearly that the conference will be a springboard for a proper and independent youth "movement" or youth "organization." This seems to be their intention from the start as, as mentioned earlier, in the letters he sends out to different hotels for information about holding camps/conferences there, Hasan addresses himself as the chairman of the “National Islamic Youth Organization.” The existing ISNA youth camps of the time followed the national ISNA structure, so far, with different camps for different zones or regions, and this will eventually carry over into the new youth organization. Also, the ISNA Youth Committee has worked up till this point in a typical manner as other ISNA committees, with a good deal of oversight and bureaucracy in place. This too will be followed in turn by MYNA, which will expand upon it to include more people and more programs and further division into more regions and local areas, and regional officers. The conference is apparently well-publicized throughout the core of most-regular attendees of ISNA programs and ISNA leaders/workers, and it is mostly they who will send their children to participate and become leaders in the new group that is formed. Subsequently, the growth of MYNA, particularly through its early phase and then primarily in its decline, will continue to be related pretty directly to who came to that first conference, where they came from, who they know and continue to know and where they live and are active.]

People to talk to: Iqbal Unus and the 1985 ISNA Majlis Members, Umar Hasan, Mohammed and Fatima Abugideiri, Nadifa Abdi, Dawood Zwink.

Art: Fliers for the conference, pictures of it in Horizons, program booklet.