I started my undergraduate degree at McGill when I was 17. I had grown up in a small town nestled amongst sand dunes and date palm oases half a world away. To say that it was a culture shock would be an understatement. But McGill was a remarkable place. People came from all over the world to learn, to teach, and to conduct groundbreaking research. They were passionate and curious, driven to find answers and change the world for the better. These are the same values that continue to drive me as a physician over a decade later.
However, the McGill experience that stands out for me the most is my time with the Muslim Student Association (MSA). As a young man in a strange country, I went looking for a familiar touchstone, but I found so much more. The MSA was a community brought together by Islam and by practicing their faith but driven by a commitment to excellence and service.
Over my eight years at McGill, I saw this community rise to the occasion multiple times. When waves of Islamophobia swept through Quebec, students would organize, educate and advocate. When refugees poured in from Syria and the Middle East, they would fundraise like few others. And, each year, without fail, they would welcome with open arms their fellow students, whether they hailed from the South Shore or Senegal.
As an alumnus, I struggled to recapture the magic of my time at McGill and the MSA. After talking to my close friend, Nazem El Husseini, we realized that we, and many other alumni, felt the same and were eager to give back to the community and institution that had shaped us. Together, we founded the McGill Muslim Alumni Society (MMAS) to do exactly that. In the two short years since our founding, we brought together a network of alumni stretching across the globe and connected them to aspiring students, to McGill and to each other.
Earlier this year, we leveraged the power of that community to fundraise for the Centre Culturel Islamique de Québec (CCIQ) Memorial Award, which was founded to honour the memory of the lives lost during the massacre in Quebec City in 2017. By the grace of God, we were able to raise enough money to increase the value of the award and fund it in perpetuity! The award will help support generations of McGill students working to promote tolerance and inclusivity.
McGill was a remarkable place full of remarkable people. Founding and joining the McGill Muslim Alumni Society has given us an opportunity to continue building on those connections and to continue learning from our friends and colleagues. But, just as importantly, it’s been a way to reconnect with McGill. With home.