A Muslim University Student's Checklist

Find your university's Muslim Student Association (MSA) office: there you can…
· locate the daily prayer space and Prayer timings
· weekly Juma prayer location (not necessarily the same as normal prayer room!)
· meet and introduce yourself to other fellow Muslim students
· find Islamic books, audio and video tapes
· stay up-to-date on MSA events and announcements
· find Muslims to share a room, apartment, or house with
· come to relax between classes and read some Quran in peace!

Get to know other Muslims in your classes and on-campus:
 How do you break the ice?
· "Assalamu Alaikum, are you taking this course?"
· exchange personal information and contacts such as phone #, room #, e-mail
· form study groups with other Muslims (you need someone you can depend on!)
· seek their help in studies, especially from seniors
· a few contacts made early on go a long way in your university life!
 
Attend the MSA orientation week activities:
to find your way around campus and the area around the university
to find Halal food places on and off-campus
to find Muslim brothers/sisters hang-outs
to find off-campus prayer spaces for weekends
to find Muslim residences in case of emergency
to make new friends (and get free food!), etc.
World Religions class students:
introduce yourself to the Professor
let them know you are attending and willing to help in providing Islamic literature, or any other info e.g. Islamic website addresses for other students' paper research, online Quran & Hadith resources
speak to them about having a speaker from a local Islamic Centre come and present Islam to the class (they will gladly agree!)
Find out the 'safe' and 'un-safe' places to be when on campus in after-hours:

find a good quiet study space for yourself (which you WILL need!) e.g. at a library, or rez basement, which will also serve as your personal retreat from the hectic university life (sometimes even your room-mates make matter worse)
 
Keep in touch with family and friends back home:
they need to hear from you and know how you are doing
take time out no matter how busy at least once a week if you go home for weekends, or more often if you stay full-time on campus (plus who knows when you may have to ask for more money!)
Attend Islamic events organized by your MSA:
weekly Halaqas, normally held on Friday evenings
good way to wind down the week
a great learning experience
access to a Shaikh (a.k.a. your personal councillor!)
strengthens your Iman and identity and prepares you for the next hectic week
participate and volunteer in 'Islam Awareness Week' activities
Organize your timetable to not interfere with any prayers:
especially when you have choice in picking tutorials and lab sessions
leave yourself ample time to make Wudu especially before Juma
if you have a class at Juma time, find out who else is in similar situation and what do they do about it?
Advice to Muslim…
Sisters: it is especially important to find other good Muslim sisters to keep company because the gates of Fitna are not only wide open but you are a primary target for those who do not have your (Islamic) best interests in mind.
Brothers: learn to lower your gaze (if you haven't already) or you will find yourself in all sorts of trouble. Enough said!
 
University life makes us very vulnerable as we are bombarded with every kind of 'alternative lifestyle' as acceptable and fun so know the difference. The code of modest conduct that is observed between Muslim brothers and sisters applies ten-fold to your conduct with non-Muslims!
 
When things go wrong:
do not underestimate the power of prayer and Dua*
in everything, seek Allah's Help and seek His protection and strength
in times of distress, remember your goal and purpose, remember Allah (subhanahu wa taala), remember your relationship to Him (sometimes that is all you will have to motivate you!)
And finally… don't make the university experience any harder than it already is by trying to wing it on your own. You can't! We all need help and positive reinforcement, and advice from those who have gone through the same experiences

"You shall certainly be tried and tested in your wealth and properties and in your personal selves, and you shall certainly hear much that will grieve you from those who received the Scripture before you and from those who ascribe partners to Allah, but if you persevere patiently, and become Al-Muttaqun (the pious) then verily, that will be a determining factor in all affairs, and that is from the great matters, [which you must hold on with all your efforts]." (The Holy Quran 3:186)
 
*Dua for times of sorrow, anxiety or distress: "O Allah! I am Your servant, son/daughter of Your servant, son/daughter of Your maidservant, my forelock is in Your Hand, Your command over me is forever executed and Your decree over me is just. I ask You by every name belonging to You which You have named Yourself with, or revealed in Your Book, or You taught to any of Your creation, or You have preserved in the knowledge of the unseen with You, that You make the Quran the life of my heart and the light of my breast, and a departure for my sorrow, and a release for my anxiety."