Issue 3

September. Septembre 2014

IN THIS ISSUE

Question of the Month
New Beginnings by Sheik Hesham Alaghbari
Secret Springs of Action by Abdo Elnakouri
uOttawa MSA Upcoming Frosh Events
Sheiks Corner
Editors Note
Bismillah Al-Rahman Al-Raheem
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excited to meet old friends,
perhaps make new ones,
register for classes, buy
books, get back to routine,
etc.; all of which can be
summarized by saying that
September is all about new
beginnings. New
beginnings because some
students will be
experiencing their first
semester in university,
QUESTION OF THE MONTH
New Beginnings
By Sheikh Hisham
Alaghbari
A man with three sons owns 17 camels. In his will it is
written that his oldest son is to receive half of the
camels, his second son is to receive a third of the
camels and his youngest sons is to receive a ninth of the
camels. How is it possible to have the camels split
between the three sons?
Answer will be revealed in next months issue IshaAllah!
Send your answer to uomsatimes@gmail.com with the subject "Question of the Month", your name, and
phone number. A prize will be awarded to a winner every month!
3
others have learnt from their
shortfalls in the past and are
prepared this time around to
make changes in order to
perform better. University
time can be very stressful.
Many students become
overwhelmed thinking
about studies,
work/volunteering, family,
finances, spiritual growth,
and so on. Dealing with and
1
People usually set goals,
plan to take up some
challenges and make their
new year's resolution at the
end of December hoping to
start implementing them in
January. Yet, September is
that pivotal time point for
me. Despite having been out
of school for a few years
now, September continues
to be a special yearly
milestone for me. I would
also say that this is the case
for most university students
as well.
As students return from the
summer break, they are
Due to last minute change in how the question was phrased and a pinch of confusion,
the answer to Augusts Question of The Month is unable to be answered. We apologize
for the inconvenience and hope you continue to send in answers. Thank you for
understanding!
ANSWER TO AUGUSTS QUESTION
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5
renew your intention and
make it only for Allah.
2- Time management:
our biggest and most prized
capital is time. Yet, many
people have no problem
wasting it. If it helps, think
of time as money and make
sure that you get the biggest
bang for your buck. Some
students do not live up to
their full potential because
they think that they do not
have time. Yet, upon closer
inspection, you will find
that their time is not used
wisely. If theres anything
that a Muslim should be
greedy with, its time. Plan
to cut out all idle time in
your life and very soon you
will realize that you can
accomplish a whole lot
more. In addition,
procrastination can be very
detrimental to one's success.
Be proactive!
3- Good righteous
companionship: being the
stressful environment that it
is, university life leads
many students to haram
activities in order to relief
some of the stress. At times
of spiritual lows, one can
easily fall into the haram.
Make sure to stay close to
those who remind you of
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managing all of these things
can be a very rewarding
experience. It is only fully
appreciated in retrospect.
While attending university
has the obvious result of
academic and scholastic
growth, it is also the time
period allowing for the
transition from
childish/immature behavior
to that of a more responsible
demeanor. During this time,
a lot of mistakes are made
but most probably more
lessons are learnt. That's
why it is important to be
serious during university
years. This does not mean
that one should not have
fun. All it means is that
students must be balanced.
Having said this, it is
important to keep the
following in mind:
1- Intention: one of the
beauties of our religion is
that it allows one to gain
rewards from Allah and His
Pleasure simply through
making intentions whereby
turning an otherwise
ordinary action into an act of
worship. With the new
school year, make sure to
6
Allah.
4- Make duaa:
ultimately, everything is
in the hands of Allah. Call
upon Him for every need
of yours and take the
proper means and by the
Will of Allah, you will
achieve all your goals.
May Allah subhanhu wa
ta'la grant us success in
this life and the Next.
September is
all about new
beginnings.
Intention, Time
Management,
Companionship &
Duaa
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1
As human beings we
seem to have this
tendency to give out
usually incorrect and ill-
informed judgments on
others at every turn. The
world appears to be
filled with finger pointing
and blaming that is
seemingly absent of the
needed balance of
empathy and
communication. What
causes this kind of
disconnect between
people? This question is
certainly not an easy
one to answer, but
based on a concept in
psychology we can inch
closer to a better
understanding.
This concept is referred
to as the fundamental
attribution error and can
be defined as, Peoples
tendency to
overemphasize internal
explanations for the
Secret Springs of Action
By: Abdo Elnakouiouri
2
behaviour of others, while
failing to take into account
the power of the situation.
In simpler terms we tend to
mostly think that other
people do things because
of who they are while
neglecting the effect that
the context and situation
plays into instigating the
action. For example, if you
are walking down the street
and see someone trip and
fall, you are most likely to
believe the person to be
clumsy or absent minded.
Conversely, because of
what is termed the actor-
observer bias, if you are
walking down the street
and you yourself trip it is
clearly because you had a
rough day and that your
tired. In this case the trip is
attributed to circumstances
and not because of
inherent traits within you.
Another example would be
if you did not do well on a
test, the complete burden
3
of blame, according to
you, would rests solely on
the totalitarian teacher
that lacks any regard for
student success.
The problem with this is
compounded when we try
to understand why and
where our actions come
from. As the philosopher
Immanuel Kant said, We
can never, even by the
strictest examination, get
completely behind the
secret springs of action.
Our actions hardly ever
come from one sole
intention that that directly
causes the action. The
simple idea that
cause/intention X results in
action Y is rarely if ever
the case. Instead we need
to take into account our
competing motivations, the
circumstances and cues of
the environment, our past
habits and biases, our
available reservoir of
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4
actions permitted
through our beliefs, etc.
The list is infinite. The point
is that actions come from
a complex mix of
variables that would be
near impossible to fully
understand.
We also extrapolate this
to groups in general.
What is known as the
ultimate attribution error
expresses the idea that
we tend to explain the
negative actions of a
group that arent related
to us by labeling them as
all having a certain flaw.
If someone observes a
representative of another
group acting poorly, they
then label the whole
group as having an
inherent faulty
characteristic. However if
someone from a group
that we are associated
with acts in a negative
fashion we have a more
holistic view of the
circumstances from
within and can recognize
them as either an outlier
or acting outside of their
normal habits due to our
full appreciation of the
diversity and variables at
play. So for example if a
friend of yours yells at
someone at their work,
you might excuse their
actions because you
know that they are going
through especially
stressful times at home or
at school.
5
One of the many
motivations behind these
biases and errors is the
need to conserve
intellectual and cognitive
energy. Unless someone
has trained themselves and
learned to look for
alternative and
circumstantial explanations
for others action it is much
easier to see another
group or person in a one
dimensional fashion. Why
invest energy in trying to
come up with alternative
versions of why a person
did something when it is
much easier to have an
easy to digest cause and
effect behind the whole
thing? It has been shown
that when the brain is
preoccupied with other
processes the fundamental
attribution error is
committed more often
1
.

This means that as a result
of not having our full
mental capacity to push
ourselves to understand the
whole situation we instead
often opt to take the easy
way out since the possible
circumstances behind the
action are not easy to
access. It requires tapping
into our true human
potential to try empathizing
with a person or group that
act outside our scope of
understanding. Therefore,
we must either put forth
due effort before making
initial evaluations or
suspending judgement
indefinitely.
6
How might we bring
ourselves to overcome this
easy to commit error that
contaminates the lines of
empathy and
communication? Firstly we
must look within ourselves
and delve deep into our
past in order to gain a
further understanding of
how actions that now
seem disturbing were
once initiated by us under
an aura of normalcy.
Although we may tend to
secretly condemn
ourselves for our own past
actions, using them to
initiate a further
understanding on how we
came to carry out what
we did will nudge us
forward in the
understanding of how
different factors can lead
to retrospectively wrong
behaviour. Your actions
might have been the only
logical choice at the time
based on your limited
knowledge and the
circumstances. Observing
now with hindsight on how
things played out with a
deeper understanding of
the context, we can be
empathetic towards
ourselves and come to
terms with our mistakes. In
fact there are almost
certainly things that you
do now that you will look
back on in the future with
at least a slight distain.
If we cannot fully grasp
our own actions and
6 Issue 3 :: 01/09/14
7
intentions, can we
honestly assume that we
can do that for others?
We might see things that
might be oblivious to
them, but the
background knowledge
or the circumstances that
lead them to these
situations are not
necessarily available to us.
From this internal search
we resurface with a
newfound appreciation
and a humbling paradigm
shift recognizing that we
see things through the
scope of a single pixel in a
vast and changing
picture. Quick blanket
judgements on a person
let alone an entire group
are quickly rendered
obscene departures from
reason. This is but one
example of how delving
deeper within ourselves
leads to a deeper
understanding of the
world around us.


1. CllberL, uanlel 1.
"1hlnklng llghLly abouL
oLhers: AuLomaLlc
componenLs of Lhe soclal
lnference
process." !"#"$%"&%&
$()*+($ (1989): 189-211.

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9 Issue 3 :: 01/09/14

Editors Note
Salam! Thank you for reading this months edition of UOMSA Times, we
appreciate it! We here at the Times can't do this without you so keep reading,
sharing (I know you have social media), and telling your friends about us! If you
are interested in writing for us (whether it be an article, poetry, or any form of
art) or if you're interested in posting events in the Times' next addition, please
email us at uomsatimes@gmail.com. Thank you!

-Lynn Chalati
Sheikhs Corner
Some of the most difficult parts on living in Western society as a young Muslim
student are having question and a lack of or even no answers. Weve found a
solution! In this section of UOMSA Times you can anonymously send in questions
and have local sheikhs and imams answer your questions! Please send in all
your questions to uomsatimes@gmail.com.
Jazakom Allah Khayr!
Wassalaamu alaykom wa rahmatullah wa barakatuh