The "Muslim Tax" And Other Topics Explained By Auburn Community Leader.

According to the last census of Enrollment by Foreign Country and Level (Non-resident Aliens)

Fall 2016 from Auburn University, there are about 328 students that come from countries where Islam is the main religious belief. They make the third biggest group of international students just behind Chinese and Indian students.

Since the numbers are so big, the importance and involvement of this group is essential for the promotion of diversity in Auburn University.

The person in charge of the Muslim Student Association is Asim Ali, graduate student from Auburn and Pakistani heritage.

The MSA is a local, student-run organization, it is not affiliated to any national or international associations whatsoever. It used to be a charter organization during the early 90’s

Asim started the journey with the MSA after the incidents of 9/11, stating that after the events, Muslims in America were portrayed the wrong way and someone needed to do something about the prejudices.

What made you join the MSA and be one of the first members/leaders of the organization?

You know, there is a quote used by a famous leaders that says “If not us, then who? And if not now, then when?” And I think that the idea is that we need people to step up to the play and own their identity. If there is going to be someone out there representing Muslims, it should be Muslims and so this is an outlet to reach that. It is our responsibility to talk about it and show them why we celebrate certain things in our culture, I like to call it “the Muslim tax.”

Could you expand more on that? What is the Muslim tax?

I kind of came up with this the other day. We did a pizza party and we did not have any sponsors so we had to pay for it. It is a mix of money, time, comfort and pleasures. It is kind of a tax. The reality is that if I was just a white guy from Demopolis, Alabama, we wouldn’t be having this conversation because I would be at home watching TV, hanging out with my kids. So, the fact that I have to sacrifice the opportunity costs to be able to do this (interview), that’s a tax! Because when you need information on Muslims, I want to make sure that you go to a Muslim to get it. So, sacrifice of time, money, comforts to ensure that my neighbor doesn’t think I’m here to blow them up. That’s what the Muslim tax is. And all minorities have to pay that tax, and if they chose not to pay then there are other consequences such as “We are going to build the wall!”

What is the impact of the MSA in the Auburn community?

One way to measure an impact is how many people are learning about Muslims and Islam being in a community that otherwise wouldn’t. There is always events and opportunities, anything that helps people feel that Muslims are part of the community as a way to learn something different.

And what kind of reaction do you get from the Auburn community when organizing events?

Overwhelmingly positive, we have great turn outs, people always come out and participate. I grew up in Auburn, this is what Auburn is, and it is awesome. I wouldn’t dare doing it 10 miles in either direction but I will do it here, it’s just different.

How is the Muslim community reacting to the social phenomena that have been happening lately? (I.e. Donald Trump’s travel ban, escalated racism, etc.)

The reason why someone like Donald Trump is in charge it’s because of misinformation and a significant of cognitive dissonance on behalf of those people who support him. And I don’t say that be insulting or anything like that, it is just the reality. Only one per cent of the population is Muslim in the United States. So chances are that most of the people who are talking about Muslims have never met a Muslim. The only way to solve that problem is trough one on one interactions. Sometimes I would talk to people who had known me for years and they would ask “Asim, you are a real Muslim? You are not like “them,” you are not like the other Muslims” and I respond that I am pretty much like the majority of Muslims. So our responsibility is to meet people and allow them to ask questions about us and allow them to interact with Muslims.

Any setbacks or problems during your time as an advisor at the MSA?

Not really any setbacks, but we had one year when the president wasn’t very active so it didn’t lead to an active year. When you’re a student you have limited time, and you want to change as much as you can during that time, but the reality is that you can’t. Instead of finding a place where Muslims can pray every day let’s just find a place where Muslims can pray on Friday, so that’s a step in the right direction. We had to learn that balance.

How do Muslims try to teach and preserve their identity and culture to newer generations?

Personally, the most important thing that I can know is that I am raising American children not children that are from Pakistan or some other country. They might have their heritage or some of their cultural context comes from a different country but they are American. Quite frankly, I’ve told my friends that the United States is the easiest place to raise a Muslim child. First of all, I have the freedom to raise them however I want. And because it is a minority, it’s very easy to say “I understand that that house is decorated for Christmas, but we don’t celebrate Christmas, here’s why.” Being able to share that is quite convenient, because there’s always examples of how we do certain things. The Masjid here has a Sunday school for kids 5 thru 18. My kids are learning Quran with an Arabic teacher. They go over the page he is teaching for the day, they are learning how to pronounce letters correctly and things like that.

What does being an advisor of the Muslim community mean to you?

No matter how I see myself, others will always see me a certain way. So being able to give graduate students the comfort to live with their identity and being comfortable with that identity particularly as Muslims during a time when it’s not easy to have that identity I think it is really important. So I take a lot of pride of my role as an advisor because of that reason.”