After four months of planning, the Muslim Student Organization hosted its third spring conference, “Building Bridges, Connecting Individuals,” on April 19 and 20 in the MU Student Center.

Several years ago, MSO celebrated Islam Awareness Week by encouraging people to come and learn about Islam by talking to scholars and activists, graduate student Nabihah Maqbool said. This changed in 2011, when the MSO executive board decided to host a spring conference to benefit Muslim membership and develop Muslim people’s faith.

“This spring conference is open to the whole community,” senior Hafsa Lodhi said. “There are people from the Muslim Student Organization, MU community, Islamic Center of Central Missouri and other people interested.”

The conference venue this year, provided the attendees a comfortable space to attend lectures and daily prayers.

“Every year, it has a bigger turnout,” Maqbool said.

This event featured four speakers from around the country: AbdulBary Yahya, an AlMaghrib Institute instructor; Tayyibah Taylor, a publisher of Azizah Magazine; Faizan Mumtaz, an activist in Muslim Youth organizations and Ammar Alshukry, a spoken word poet.

The selection of speakers is based on their faith, life experiences, practical daily living tips, expertise and speaking styles, Maqbool said. 

“What sets this year’s speakers apart from the speakers we have had in the past is the uniqueness that each one brings,” Radhia Khenissi, an MSO spring conference planning committee member, said. “They all bring something different to the table, which is refreshing.”

For Maqbool, Taylor is most interesting.

“She is an African-American Muslim female who is a good role model for women and men here,” Maqbool said. “As a Muslim woman, I really look up to Taylor. She is incredibly knowledgeable, kind, patient, humble and powerful. She is a businesswoman, educator, activist, so for me, she is really a highlight.”

Lodhi said she liked all the speakers.

“I have seen Ammar Alshukry’s spoken word poems on his website and they moved me a lot,” Lodhi said. “Taylor is the founding editor-in-chief and publisher of Azizah Magazine. I have never known her before, and I think she is cool and amazing.”

This two-day spring conference held speeches, workshops and panels regarding a wide range of topics that Muslims struggle with and provided them with practical and spiritual guidance.

Khrnissi said she liked the talk “Understanding the Prophet SAWS’ Character” most.

“I love listening to talks about the life of Prophet SAWS,” Khrnissi said. “That is a topic that I will never skip over or get tired of hearing about. He was the greatest Muslim and such an example to aspire to be like. It’s humbling and such a great reminder to hear about the way he lived his life, treated the people around him and dealt with adversity.”

For Lodhi, it was a good opportunity to push and encourage people from the whole community — not just the Muslim community — to build long-lasting relationships.

“We hope to interact the whole MU community with Islamic Center of Central Missouri and hope all the community members get involved, relax and have fun,” Lodhi said.

For Khenissi, this conference served as a way to revive the spirit of the community and build bridges to help connect with others.

“One of the things I love about the spring conference is seeing everyone get together outside of the Mosque,” Khenissi said. “It’s nice to see everyone of all ages and backgrounds mingling over food and discussing topics they had just heard about in the auditorium or simply discussing their plans for later on in the week. It makes me happy to see others happy.”