“That’s the most beautiful thing in Islam,” Elsayed says. “There are no social classes or barriers. Money, power, looks or social class doesn’t define who a person is but rather their morals and ethical conduct.”

It is a Tuesday morning when Mohamed Elsayed visits the UWM Post to meet with me for an upcoming article. I say hello and instinctively stick out my hand. He does not reach to meet my greeting.

“Sorry I can’t shake hands,” he says. “It’s against my religion.”

Mohamed Elsayed is Muslim. Men and women who are not married cannot touch one another. Even an innocent handshake is forbidden.

“There is no concept of men and women being friends in Islam,” he explains.

Elsayed is the president of the Muslim Student Association (MSA) at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. The MSA was founded in 1963, becoming the first national Muslim student organization. UWM’s MSA chapter is one of 600. It boasts a membership of about 200 students, Elsayed says.

As we continue conversing, Elsayed does not meet my gaze. Eye contact between opposite genders is also not allowed.

Gender interactions

This limited contact between unmarried men and women, Alaa Mohamad explains to me later, is to preserve modesty. “It is the nature of a Muslim woman to be shy and modest,” she says. Mohamad is a practicing Muslimah (the term for a Muslim woman), and also a student at UWM.

As we converse, she is confident, intelligent and well-spoken. She makes eye-contact the whole time. I do not see the timidness she is discussing. But then again, I am a woman.

Mohamad goes on to say that women can be in any situation with a man as long as they preserve their modesty. She says she participates in many co-ed study groups with little difficulty.

“If I have a question on something, I’d rather call a girl than a guy,” she says. “I’d rather email a guy because it’s less revealing of my character.”

Traditional Muslimahs must cover every part of their body except for their face, hands, and feet. They must wear loose clothing and cannot wear their makeup. The hijab, or head and body covering, preserves her modesty, but also the modesty of the men around her.

“I should want to do that,” she says emphatically. “The way I dress is my own choice. God has commanded me to cover my head and body.”

One thing that Mohamad is adamant about is that Islam is not oppressive of women. She says that by dressing the way she does and behaving the way she does, she is not submitting to men. She is submitting to God.

The rules on gender interactions extend to dating, although there is no real concept of the word in Islam.

“There is no such thing as boyfriend or girlfriend in Islam,” says Elsayed.

If, for example a man is interested in a woman, Mohamad explains, he would first go speak to a person that knows the girl well, as well as someone he trusts. He would ask about her. Next he would go to the girl’s family and ask permission for the two to get to know one another. Then the two can begin to get to know one another in group settings—but they can never be alone.

“There is a proverb that says, ‘When a man and a woman are alone, temptation is the third,’” says Mohamad.

Western concepts of dating for women, she says, focus on buying material things and needing constant affection from a man. She says this draws energy away from other, more important things in life, such as family and faith. “Something as playful as dating shouldn’t be a venue to marriage,” she explains.

After a man and a woman have spent time getting to know one another, they can decide to get married, at which point they would sign Islamic marriage documents, in addition to the legal marriage documents

Practicing Islam

Dating is not the only unique challenge to Muslims in college. Islam mandates that Muslims pray five times a day facing Mecca. Muslim students who are on campus all day, need a quiet place to pray. MSA’s office on the third floor of the Union serves as a prayer space for students, Elsayed says. There is also a mosque (the Muslim place of worship) on Maryland Avenue, he continues, but it is only for men.

When praying, men and women have to be separated—it is believed that women provide a distraction for the men.

Mohamad says that she meets up with a few girls in the MSA office at prayer times.

Class schedules can also create problems, especially long classes. Mohamad says she has taken a few classes like that in the past, and the professors were fine with her stepping out for a few minutes to pray in the hallway.

Muslims not only collide with non-Muslims while in school, but also with Muslims who practice their faith in different ways. “Different Muslims practice Islam differently,” says Elsayed. “[But] one of the most important concepts of Islam is to never judge anyone no matter what you see.”

Both Elsayed and Mohamad say that tolerance of both Mulims and non-Mulims is a core belief of Islam. She says that she doesn’t have any friends that dress the way she does, gesturing to her long skirt, sweater and head scarf. But she doesn’t mind. “It’s a symbol that I am a Muslimah.”

Elsayed says that devout Muslims often try to encourage others to learn more about the religion if they’re interested, and the non-devout Muslims admire the more devout Muslims for their convictions. Likewise, Mohamad tries to show her female friends that “it’s not hard to cover your body and hair.” There is never any condescension or judgment involved, however.

“That’s the most beautiful thing in Islam,” Elsayed says. “There are no social classes or barriers. Money, power, looks or social class doesn’t define who a person is but rather their morals and ethical conduct.”

During our conversations, Elsayed and Mohamad both stress how important education is in clearing up misconceptions many people have about Islam. Every year, MSA hosts Islamic Awareness Week, which seeks to inform students about Islam through a variety of activities and lectures. This year, IAM will be held Mar. 24-26.

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