CalMSA
Posts
CalMSA December Newsletter

CalMSA December Newsletter

December Newsletter

Cal MSA
December 02, 2025

December 2025

﷽

Asalaamu’ alaikum and welcome back to the LAST newsletter of Cal Muslim Student Association’s Fall 2025 semester! Keep scrolling to discover our events, reminders, resources, and reflections to keep your imaan strong!

REMINDERS

OCTOBER - NOVEMBER

RECAPS!!

JazakAllah khair to everyone who came out and made this semester one filled with laughter, brotherhood and sisterhood, and moments that brought us closer to Allah SWT. May we continue to uplift one another as Muslims.

COMMITTEES

COMMITTEES HEAD APPLICATIONS FOR SP26

UPCOMING EVENTS

DAWAH COMMITTEE’s Convert-Sations

FRIDAY

SELF REFLECTION

DUA OF THE MONTH

No matter the situation, it is best to start it with taqwa (God-consciouness) to align our intentions and hard work with the blessings that Allah SWT can shower upon us. So as we enter final season, it is important to remember to rely on Allah to ease your heart of stress and anxiety and to increase your knowledge.

اللَّهُمَّ إِنِّي أَسْألُكَ عِلْماً نَافِعاَ وَعَمَلاً صَالِحاً وَحِفْظاً قَوِيّاً وَفَهْماً كَامِلاً وَعَقْلاً سَالِماً بِرَحْمَتِكَ يَا اَرْحَمَ ٱلرَّاحِمِينَ

Allāhumma inni asaluka ‘amalan nāfi‘ā Wa ‘amalan swālihā hifzan qawiyyā wa fahman kāmilā wa aqlan sālimā birahmatika yā arhamar rāhimeen

Oh Allah I ask You for beneficial knowledge and good deeds and a strong memory and a perfect understanding and a sound intellect by Your mercy, O the most Merciful of the merciful ones

GLOBAL MUSLIM NEWS

Welcome back to the Global Muslim News section of the MSA newsletter. As we continue to strive to be part of the worldwide ummah: a community that is bound together by shared faith, history, and responsibility, let us stay informed and connected regarding the humanitarian crises and political developments across Muslim countries.

SUDAN: THE WORLD’S LARGEST HUMANITARIAN CRISIS

You've likely been continuing to see lots of 'All Eyes on Sudan' on social media, but it's not quite enough for us to simply keep our eyes on the nation. Sudan is currently experiencing a humanitarian crisis that has continued worsening immensely since the fall of el-Fasher to the RSF (Rapid Support Forces) in late October of this year. Over 150,000 have been killed, and more than 12 million have been displaced. This remains the largest recorded and fastest displacement crisis in the world, and the largest humanitarian crisis ever recorded, according to the International Rescue Committee.

The Fall of el-Fasher and Mass Atrocities

After a 500-day siege, the RSF has seized control of el-Fasher, the last major Sudanese Armed Forces stronghold in Darfur, with credible reports of widespread executions as civilians attempt to escape. UN officials report that women and girls are being raped, people are being mutilated and killed, and satellite imagery shows blood visible on the sand next to piles of bodies. The UN Secretary-General's top relief official characterized the horror as an ‘even darker hell,’ truly showing the severity of the crisis. Tens of thousands have fled el-Fasher on foot to its neighboring Tawila, approximately 50 km away, but IRC teams have seen fewer than 5,000 arrive despite reports of large numbers attempting to flee, suggesting that many may be dead, trapped, or facing severe risks along the route. UN experts have gathered direct testimonials from survivors revealing several ongoing attacks against civilians, including ethnically targeted executions of unarmed civilians, sexual violence, looting, and mass forced displacement.

New Frontlines: South Kordofan and Beyond

The conflict has now escalated dramatically in South Kordofan, a strategically important state in southern Sudan. 21 children aged 14-15 were abducted by the RSF and SPLM-N faction on November 24 from al-Zallataya gold mine with the intention of recruiting them as fighters. A SAF drone strike on the Kumo area has killed 45 civilians, many of them being schoolchildren. More than 1600 people fled the town of Kertala in South Kordofan in a single day on November 28, as a result of worsening security conditions that are considered linked to RSF violations. Fighting has intensified in the Kordofan region after the RSF captured the strategic town of Bara, with drone strikes by both forces hitting new targets across the region. The geographic scope of the conflict is also expanding, alongside the risk of mass atrocities, ethnically targeted violence, and sexual violence remaining alarmingly high.

International Attention

The RSF is finally under investigation for war crimes by the International Criminal Court, with the current investigation progressing through evidence stages. In January 2024, the U.S. State Department declared that members of the RSF and allied militias had committed acts of genocide.

Yet the humanitarian response for 2025, estimated at $4.2 billion, is only 13% funded. The United States, Sudan's largest humanitarian donor, provided over $1 billion in fiscal year 2024, but no new U.S. aid pledges have been announced in 2025. Aid groups have called the crisis a "global failure" and the humanitarian response "too slow, too timid, and dangerously inadequate". It is not too late for us to give and contribute to the efforts, it is a pinnacle of our duty as an Ummah and essential to donate to imperative causes such as the Sudan Relief Fund and Doctors Without Borders

PALESTINE

Ongoing Genocide Under the Guise of Peace

A supposed ceasefire was announced, but the genocide has not ended. More than a month after a ceasefire was announced and all living Israeli hostages were released, Israeli authorities are still committing genocide against Palestinians in the occupied Gaza Strip by continuing to deliberately inflict conditions calculated to bring about their physical destruction. At least 347-356 people, including 136 children, have been killed in Israeli attacks since the ceasefire was announced.

Israel violated the ceasefire agreement at least 591 times from October 10 to November 29, through continuation of attacks by air, artillery, and direct shootings. UN experts reported that Israel has committed at least 393 violations since the ceasefire was announced on October 11, killing 339 Palestinians including more than 70 children. On October 29, Israel killed 109 people including 52 children after an exchange of gunfire in Rafah that killed one Israeli soldier.

Gaza medical sources report that as of late November 2025, at least 69,799 Palestinians had been killed and another 170,972 injured since after the October 7, 2023 attack, though researchers warn the actual toll is likely far higher. At least 20,000 children are among the dead, with one child killed every hour for the past 24 months. UNICEF estimated that 3,000 to 4,000 children in Gaza have lost one or more limbs, and at least 125 health facilities have been damaged including 34 hospitals. Nearly 658,000 school-aged children and 87,000 university students have been left without access to learning, with 92 percent of schools requiring complete reconstruction.

We must also continue giving to the Palestinian cause — consider donating to the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund to support some of our most vulnerable.

CAMPUS RESOURCES

PRAYER SPOTS

Click on the image above for the location of all the prayer spots on/close to campus 🤲

NEED HALAL FOOD RECS?

Click above to check out this food recommendation guide!

Need Halal Meat? Look for Crescent Foods At Safeway!