Campus Greek Life Could Get Islamic Touch
 

I got this in a forward.


THE NATION
Campus Greek Life Could Get Islamic Touch
Young Muslim women are intrigued by the prospect of a sorority where they wouldn't have to compromise their religious beliefs.

By Jenny Jarvie, Times Staff Writer


LEXINGTON, Ky. — Tottering on stilettos, Amira Shalash, a freshman at the University of Kentucky, tossed back her long, tousled hair and tugged at the neckline of her sweater, which had slipped off her shoulder.

Giggling, her friends — who wear hijabs, traditional Muslim head scarves — teased her that she was not dressed modestly enough.

The nine young women were gathered to learn about the nation's first Islamic sorority.

The motto of Gamma Gamma Chi: "Striving for the pleasure of Allah through Sisterhood, Scholarship, Leadership and Community Service."

The sorority, whose national chapter is in Greensboro, N.C., hopes to establish its first campus chapter at the University of Kentucky.

Taking a seat at the introductory meeting, Boushra Aghil, a 20-year-old junior in an olive green shirt and black hijab, studied the sorority's gold brochure. She was curious about how Gamma Gamma Chi would reconcile Islamic morals with sorority life — and the party atmosphere associated with it.

"My parents would never, ever let me join a regular sorority," Shalash said. "I don't know any Muslim sorority girls."

Yet many young Muslim women are intrigued by the concept. Since Gamma Gamma Chi was founded seven months ago, Muslim students from 14 states — and from Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates — have e-mailed the sorority's national headquarters in Alexandria, Va. The biggest response came from the University of Kentucky in Lexington, a city with a Muslim population of about 2,500.

The idea for Gamma Gamma Chi came from Imani Abdul-Haqq, a 34-year-old business administration major at Guilford College in Greensboro. She hopes to establish chapters in every region of the United States by 2015.

An African American who converted to Islam in 2000, Abdul-Haqq considered joining an established black sorority but worried that she would have to compromise her Muslim beliefs. Even the nickname for the nine predominantly black fraternities and sororities — the Divine Nine — makes her uncomfortable. Only Allah, she says, is divine.

"As a Muslim who dresses modestly and does not drink, I wouldn't want to set myself apart from the people I was pledging with," she said. "I want to feel the unity."

The Muslim women at the University of Kentucky said they also wanted that feeling of connection.

"The American white-bread sorority girls wouldn't always understand our issues," Aghil said. "We already wear a scarf, we recognize we are the odd people out, but we need a support system, a group that can support us in the Islamic way."

Gamma Gamma Chi is not the first sorority to offer an alternative to traditional, predominantly white American sororities.

Alpha Kappa Alpha, the first of four major black sororities, was founded in 1908 at Howard University in Washington. In 1991, Latina-oriented Gamma Phi Omega was established; in 1997, the multicultural Theta Nu Xi; in 1998, the South Asian Kappa Phi Gamma.

As the first Muslim sorority, Gamma Gamma Chi has the challenge of creating sorority life that is in keeping with Islamic law.

Although alcohol is banned in most sorority houses, a national study conducted in 2001 identified 62% of sorority members as binge drinkers.

That type of behavior won't be tolerated at Gamma Gamma Chi. Its president and executive director, Althia F. Collins, an education consultant and former college administrator who helped her daughter, Abdul-Haqq, establish the sorority, has devised a strict induction process.

"It will be a bit like 'The Apprentice' or 'America's Next Top Model,' " Collins said. "We will give them 'Gamma mail,' which details a challenge for them to work on, like learning verses from the Koran."

If more than five students at the University of Kentucky submit membership applications by January, Gamma Gamma Chi hopes to establish its first campus chapter in February.

At her Nov. 6 presentation on campus, Collins wore the sorority's colors — lavender and green — as she explained the concept of a Muslim sorority to the young women. Collins, who converted to Islam in 1999, pledged Delta Sigma Theta — a traditionally black sorority — when she was a student in the 1980s.

Many Muslims do not know what to make of the girls' interest in Gamma Gamma Chi. The National Muslim Student Assn., which e-mailed its local chapters this year seeking their opinions on the sorority, declined to comment for this article.

Tahir Rajab, 21, president of the Jacksonville Muslim Student Assn. in Florida, thinks Muslim women should not seek to emulate American women. "All these sororities sound very good on paper," he said. "But partying is what they are known for."

Muslim women who want sisterhood, he suggested, should call themselves the Righteous Woman Organization and use Arabic, rather than Greek, letters.

But many young Muslim women — more integrated in American life than their mothers and grandmothers — long to develop a campus identity. Already their clothes and speech blend Islamic standards with American style.

According to Waheedah Bagby, chairwoman of the Muslim Women's Council of Kentucky, a Muslim sorority would help them say, "Yes, we are Americans, we want to be part of college life, but we are also Muslims."

In this way, she said, young Muslim women are drawing a picture of what American Islam will look like.

After Collins' presentation, all of the women said they wanted to join Gamma Gamma Chi. They had just one question.

"Why," asked Aghil, "did you choose those colors?"

"Green is for the color of the prophet," Collins said. "Lavender is a peaceful color; people like to smell it before they go to sleep."

Aghil frowned.


"I've never been a fan of purple," she said later. "But I know it's very superficial of me to worry. We could have a Muslim sorority here in little-town Kentucky."

Gamma Gamma Chi's National Website:

http://www.gammagammachi.org/

Good for them. I wish them the best of luck!

Interesting article to say the least - I personally thought they would have gone with the colours of Green and White or a Dark Green and Light Green. However I'm not surprised at the interest in a Muslim sorority, I'm actually surprised it took this long really...

Should be interesting to see if it remains a local phenomonm or it begins to take-off... or even competing groups step forward.

I do as well!!

@ RA Cooper, I am sure there will be a large outgrowth from this as well as "competing" sororities and similar Muslim fraternities as well.

Growth and off-springs (if you will) should be the natural progression. It would be wonderful to see a Muslim fraternity started.

Well I do know of some Muslim men and women that have joined GLOs up here in Toronto so I do know the interest is out there... I think their success will hinge on how well they walk the secular-religious line, with veering too much in either direction damaging their growth,

Kudos to them for taking the initiative!

Re: Campus Greek Life Could Get Islamic Touch
 

THIS QUESTION IS FOR MEMBERS of BGLOs ONLY

So, as in the case of Althia Collins who pledged Delta Sigma Theta, do they hold dual membership in D9 sorority and Gamma Gamma Chi or have they denounced their D9 affiliations? This was not made clear in the article.

I have further questions but I need to ponder some more.

This is reeeeeeally interesting.

Re: Re: Campus Greek Life Could Get Islamic Touch
 

<sorry gotta ask as well> I assumed that since it said pledged that meant she wasn't initiated... but are there rules in HBGLOs or DST in particular that prohibits pledges who didn't initiate from associating latter with other orgs?

Re: Re: Re: Campus Greek Life Could Get Islamic Touch
 

That is an incorrect assumption.

Re: Re: Re: Re: Campus Greek Life Could Get Islamic Touch
 

So why wouldn't the article have said she "joined" or was "iniated into" instead of pledged?

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Campus Greek Life Could Get Islamic Touch
 

BGLO members, HENCE WHO MY QUESTION WAS DIRECTED TO, understand that pledged/joined/ initiated into are synonymous terminology in BGLO culture.

Re: Re: Campus Greek Life Could Get Islamic Touch
 

I'm looking on their website and I don't see anything about dual membership. I notice that they use terminology similar to BGLOs - Soror and MIP are some that stick out.

Well, this is interesting. I am also surprised that it took so long to form given the Muslim population, both converted native-born and immigrant. I think it would be interesting to see how the sorority grows with regards to women from Islamic countries who attend college in the states and with regard to international chapters in other Islamic or secular countries.

I am a little concerned that the ED, who is also a Delta, tried to push a little of Delta into the org rather than creating from scratch (ie Five Pillars). If SHE is a practiving muslim (not clear from the article or website), I am also concerned that she may have felt that Delta did not meet her needs as a muslim woman. There are many muslim women who are members of the D4 so I wonder if this is something that they will look towards instead of D4 or mulicultural sororities?

I wish them well! :)

I was also a little concerned about the fact that she pushed a little of Delta into it instead of basing it on the five pillars (for example). I think I would have liked that better. I would be saddened if she felt that Delta did not meet her needs as a Muslim woman. I'm Muslim and to me, it doesn't conflict with Muslim principles, but I guess one can look at that in different ways. I do think that it's about time that something like this has come along, though.

Ditto on everything you said. My line sister and I are both Muslim, and nothing in Sigma Gamma Rho has ever conflicted with my faith. But I wish my Muslim sisters the best of luck.

mulattogyrl & jubliance,
Do you mind if I ask you guys a few questions?

Do you wear the hajab and do you interpret the modesty of dress the way they do in many Middle Eastern/African countries (i.e. long dresses, etc)? Has this impacted the pari that you wear? I know I was suprised to see the items in their shop, especially the baby t-shirts and the tank tops.

As I understand it (and please forgive me, because I am not knowledgable about Islam), there is the expectation that you pray several times a day, facing Mecca. How do you handle it when you are at a sorority function/meeting?

I think this is a good idea and that I feel that it is something that is needed. I know some who are Greek and Islamic, but for those who don't think that Greek life and Islamic beliefs work together, this will be a way for them to have both. It also gives them a chance to fellowship with others of their same beliefs and they may also share what's different (ex. those who are from Islamic counties, Nation of Islam, etc.)

Co-sign with RACooper that this should have been done a while ago.

Also co-sign with Soror mccoyred...I think their pillers should have been more orginal.

Best Wishes to them!:)

BTW: Did anyone notice that the founder's mother used to be the president of Bennett College?

Thanks for the questions. Please keep in mind that I am answering only for myself, so my views may not be held by others.

I do not wear hijab. For me, it was a personal and spiritual choice. However, I do dress modestly, and more conservatively. But I do wear t-shirts. Generally my lower arms are the only uncovered part of my body, besides my head. Naila has not been an issue for me, because I mostly have jackets, sweatshirts and t-shirts. I personally feel that most sorority tank tops are too skimpy.

As for meetings and prayer, generally my chapter meetings occur around the time of noon prayer. I'll either make salat (say prayers) after the meeting, because our meetings only last 1.5 hours. When we have food/fellowship after our meetings, I stick the foods that I know I can eat, and sorors are great about making foods that everyone can eat (Example: at our last meeting, a soror made greens w/turkey meat instead of hamhocks).

interesting indeed.....

Jubilance1922, your insight answered my questions as well. I had always wanted to know since I found out that muslim women and men have (and still) become members of the D9.

I don't wear hijab either. I dress modestly most of the time, (although I have worn things that weren't so modest :0). Some of the baby t-shirts and tank tops could be worn in the privacy of their homes, or maybe under their other clothes, or something like that. I don't have a problem wearing para either because it's mostly t-shirts, jackets, sweatshirts, etc. I personally don't like baby-t's and tank tops with my letters on them.

I wouldn't see it as a problem to go and pray during a sorority meeting. Muslims go to work every day and manage to either make prayer or make it up, one way or another. It's personally never been an issue for me though :).

..
 

i think this is a wonderful idea. its nice that women who would like to join a sorority and remain strong with their faiths can do so without the conflict. relative to some of the non-D9 orgs, this is a welcome change.

Again personally I can see creating a sorority that purports to uphold a Islamic ideal... or at the very least is based off of a Islamic principle...

Now for the Muslims out there who do you think they might choose as an exemplar or ideal - in keeping with Islamic traditions and faith? I'm personally voting for the Prophet's mother...

That's interesting. What about the Prophet's first wife Khadijah?