- Muslim Student Association vigil honor lives lost in the war on Gaza.
- Support pours in to Muslim students from across the campus.
Dozens of students, faculty staff, and families gathered at a vigil for peace prayers hosted by Syracuse University’s Muslim Student Association to honor the lives lost in the Gaza war.
Gathering on the Wednesday night, the Muslim chaplain at SU Imam Durić and Assistant Muslim Chaplain Imam Dzemal Crnkić led a prayer for safety and resolution during the vigil, The Daily Orange reported.
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“It’s really important to have events like this, to build bridges rather than burn them and to invite people to come together, support each other, to try to feel for each other, to empathize,” Durić said. “This is (a) time when we need to wake up our hearts.”
The event also included speeches from MSA student representatives, including MSA president Khadija Sharif and Imam Durić.
Sharif said dedicated spaces like Wednesday night’s vigil help people feel recognized on campus, adding that MSA has received messages of support from non-Muslims in the campus community.
“People are just seeing this humanitarian crisis and are called to just come and to support in any way that they can, so it’s been definitely a whole collective action,” Sharif said.
Weli Dahir, the co-chair of MSA and a junior studying policy studies, said it was a collective effort by MSA to organize the vigil.
“We’re just trying to spread peace and love throughout the world,” Dahir said. “With all these hard times and difficulties going on, we just want it to be the first step for change for the better and to set an example.”
More than 3,300 Palestinian civilians have been killed and 12,000 wounded by Israel’s indiscriminate bombing on Gaza, Palestinian authorities said as of Thursday morning.
Children and senior citizens accounted for almost 60 percent of casualties.