OCTOBER 2025

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Asalaamu’ alaikum and welcome back to the Cal Muslim Student Association’s October newsletter! Keep scrolling to discover our events, reminders, resources, and reflections to keep your imaan strong especially during midterm season! 

REMINDERS

SEPTEMBER RECAP

We hope you all enjoyed our August/September line up! Check out our recap of our events below! If you weren’t able to make it to these events, don’t worry as we have many planned for October! 🙂‍↕️

COMMITTEES

If you still are interested in joining a committee, fill out the applications in our linktree!

GRADUATE COMMITTEE LOOKING FOR MENTORS!

UPCOMING EVENTS

More graphics will be released soon so keep a look out for our week aheads for more information regarding these events inshallah!

WEEK OF RESISTANCE

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 midterm season, it is important to remember to rely on Allah to ease your heart of stress and anxiety and to increase your knowledge.

“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” 

A Conversation With Our Creator

Take a brief moment to ask yourself: do you spend enough time with the Qur’an? And by this, I don’t just mean memorization or recitation, or even reciting it in our salah. I mean reflection, contemplation, and real conversation. The Qur’an is meant to be a dialogue. Through it, we get to know our Creator, and we connect with the generations before us who did the same. It’s not just ink on a page. Rather, it’s a living guide, a source of love, hope, and mercy, showing us that what we’re going through is part of a much bigger story.

But here’s the part we often forget: the Qur’an isn’t only for moments of ritual, but rather it’s meant for life as a whole. It’s for the times when we’re stressed, when exams are weighing on us, when deadlines pile up, when we feel lonely, or when things just don’t make sense. Allah SWT tells us directly in aya 82 of Surah Al-Isra:

“We send down the Qur’an as a healing and mercy for the believers, but it only increases the wrongdoers in loss” (17:82).

So my reminder to myself first, and then to you: when the stress builds, when you feel like you can’t take it anymore, turn to the Qur’an. Allah is there for you.

GLOBAL MUSLIM NEWS

Welcome back to the Global Muslim News section of the MSA newsletter. If you’re new here, we strive to ensure that at Berkeley MSA and as Muslims before all else, we are all part of the worldwide ummah: a community that is bound together by shared faith, history, and responsibility. In this section of our newsletter, we aim to remain dedicated to bringing light to stories, struggles, and triumphs from across the Muslim world, with the underlying remembrance that what affects one part of the ummah affects us all.

EYES ON PALESTINE

This last week alone, 357 Palestinians were killed and 1,463 were injured in Gaza, as Israeli attacks continue to devastate the Strip. The continuous bombardment of Gaza City has razed the territory's largest urban centre, killing dozens of people daily and destroying numerous residential buildings and schools. An estimated 1 million people remain in harm's way in Gaza City as attacks continue across the enclave.

In a long overdue landmark development, the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory has officially determined that Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. This recognition by the UN comes as global condemnation that has been rising over the humanitarian crisis. Infants continue to die from malnutrition, a heartbreaking reminder of the ongoing blockade and its devastating impact on Gaza's most vulnerable.

Additionally, discussions have persisted regarding a potential ceasefire plan, with various proposals circulating at the international level. However, the violence has also persisted unabated. Advocacy and using our voices as young people, even if it seems like a small effort, truly can and, InshaAllah, will influence government action. If you can’t speak up, donate, and if you can’t donate, continue making dua for our Palestinian brothers and sisters. 

Indonesia at the UN

At the recent UN General Assembly, Indonesia's leaders addressed the Palestinian crisis and other issues of justice. As the world's most populated Muslim country, Indonesia has historically been a strong voice for Palestinian rights, and this past week Indonesian leaders continued that trend through their condemnation of Israeli actions and calling of accountability on the global stage. These diplomatic efforts remind us that our ummah across the globe consists of nations using their platforms to advocate for justice.

SUDAN’S DARFUR REGION

The crisis in Sudan's Darfur region continues on with horrific loss of life. More than 70 people were killed when paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) carried out a drone strike on a mosque in el-Fasher, an attack that shows brutal targeting of civilians. The paramilitary group has laid siege to the city, the capital of North Darfur state, with women and girls continuing to face severe risks including starvation as a weapon of war, bombardment, and sexual violence.

The September landslide in the Marrah Mountains that killed over 1,000 people in the village of Tarasin is a stark reminder that Sudan faces, not only conflict, but also natural disasters, with limited international aid access due to the ongoing fighting as well. In Khartoum, RSF airstrikes on September 9 damaged a power station, which has caused blackouts and disrupted critical hospital services. The people of El Fasher and throughout Darfur demonstrate extraordinary courage in the face of unimaginable hardship, and they deserve immediate international action, support, and urgency, all of which we can contribute to through dua, donation, and raising awareness.

CAMPUS RESOURCES

 PRAYER SPOTS

NEED A FOOD RECOMMENDATION?

LINKS

1. MSA 

   1. Linktree - access all important links below and most recent events/ RSVPs

   2. MSA WhatsApp Group

   3. Public Comment Form

   4. Instagram (@calmsa)

   5. Contact Us

2. Mental Health Support

   1. Muslim Mental Health Initiative (MMHI) - Sign up for free online and on-campus consultations

   2. Counseling and psychological services  

   3. Bay Area Muslim Therapists - list of Muslim-identifying therapists in the Bay Area

3. Palestine 

   1. Palestine Linktree

   2. PalestineLegal

   3. Books

      The Hundred Years' War on Palestine by Rashid Khalidi3.08 MB • PDF File Download

      The Question of Palestine by Edward W. Said2.11 MB • PDF File Download