Day in the life of a Madinah University Student
Posted Feb 15, 2021, 6:42 AM UTC
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LOL the guy wearing hoodie on 1min 55.
May Allah help the students on the right path and knowledge, so they can help the ummah.
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Medinah uni is for muslim male students only who study for the purposes of teaching and dawah. The fields of islamic studies in other universities have male and female students.
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I think they are in the process of building female housing and accommodation.
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People should not be fooled by only the beautiful and fantastic parts of Madinah University. There is more to this than that. There are racism in Madinah University, so much so that some teachers prefer white western students than those who have a bit darker skin. Here I'm not denying that there are some amazing teachers. People who work in the offices of the university won't look at students nor are they willing to help anyone unless you demand it and if you first stand up for your rights. I've seen many masaakeen brothers from Africa who had been denied of getting monthly support (i.e. getting money) for months because those in the office just tell them to come back the next day, most of them in the offices always say to students (تعال بكرة). When it comes to salawaat in the university, the timing are oddly placed e.g. you have classes when there is salah time for dhuhr. There are some good teachers who will let you go out earlier in class for you to pray salatul-dhuhr on time.
I've mentioned before here in r/Islam on another thread post that there have been some students who have cut off the wires of speakers for adhaan. On my building, the very first night going to bed, I was so happy that I will finally be able to wake up from adhaan and that I don't need to use an alarm to wake up. Lo and behold, I woke up late and my roommate who's studying kulliyah of da'wah, he overslept. Unfortunately, my roommate wasn't even that serious when fajr salah. I once tried to wake him up for fajr that he got angry with me and no longer wants to talk to me because of that. So, I went up to the buildings to see if the speakers have their wires connected, they were cut off. I tried to put them back and could see the wire going to another building, I then went to another building on the rooftop, the same, the wires were also cut off. I tried to fix them but unfortunately that didn't work.
The internet connection there is also very awful. Though, somehow I think it's good that it's slow, otherwise, many students will busy themselves being online and not using their time studying. What's interesting is that, there are many students who have never had internet before in their home countries, when coming to the university, you will see at night many students sitting in the street (i.e. within the university), using wifi from their phones. It's somehow sad because they can sit in the street hours and hours. You also hear and see awful stuff in the university. There are students who don't pray salah, you will see students who eat with their left hands despite not having physical disabilities, students stealing from one another, etc. I could mention other worse things you see and hear in the university. The university is so disorganized and not well managed that sometimes they accept people from abroad that are not even muslims. When other students found about that, they then tell about those individuals are not muslims, so they get kicked out from the university. If it were not for the help of some students I know, I wouldn't know where to go and from where to get help when I arrived in Madinah. You won't get help from the university. It's the students that are doing the work and helping other students.
During the pandemic, they've also locked down the entire university. It's like a huge prison you live in.
I think some of you have heard about stories of people getting their passport lost. It's still happens. There was a student who wanted to have some break, i.e. during the time where you have the possibility to come back home and come back later to university, he went to the office for asking about his passport. They couldn't find it, it was later found on the table's "foot" because the table wasn't stable, some of the workers in the office used a passport to support that table.
For my own experience, people in the offices, teachers, etc. they used to ignore me, never looked at me nor greeted me with salaam, once they heard about that the mudeer (president of the unviersty or how you call it) wanted to see me, suddenly, those people that used to ignore me now started to greet me with salaam, saying my name and begging me to make du'a for them, etc.
Most of the students also stick together with their nationalities. Indonesian students usually stick for themselves, Americans sticking for themselves, etc. You end up being alone and being lonely, especially if you are somewhat unique as to where you are from. Sure, you will meet very some good students. Those few good students will help to motivate you. There is much to say about the university but the most important thing is for you to not have high expectations. Otherwise, if you intend to come to the university, you will get disappointed a lot. Also, don't let yourself spend time with people who speak your language but spend time with those who don't know the languages you speak, e.g. where you will force yourself to speak Arabic. I've seen many students making that mistake wherein many years in kulliyah, yet they can't even speak Arabic properly. You will also get some form of test when you go there, if you can speak little bit Arabic, sometimes the teachers will mistake you that you can speak Arabic fluently and they will put you directly to the kulliyah. Those students that come into the kulliyah have hard times in following the classes. So, it's better for them to start from ma'had lughah. I've met many students who were haafidh of Qur'an, can speak Arabic fluently, have memorized some long mutoon but chose ma'had lughah because they want to be in Madinah as long as possible. So, they will act as if they can't speak Arabic properly.. hehe..
Sure, there are some good things but people shouldn't fantasize the university as if it's all flowers.
Mashallah good post brother I enjoyed reading about your experiences and I'm sorry for the racism you encountered astaghfirullah
May Allah help us all to rectify our shortcomings and deal gently with one another. One of my friends who recently graduated from Jami'a al-Imam in Riyadh shared some of the challenges and pieces of advice that you mentioned, he also highlighted the blessing of being able to study full-time with a complete scholarship, housing, food, stipend, paid flights. May Allah give you success in your studies.
Thank you for sharing brother
Why do you think they prefer students with white skin?
I can only speculate but their actions are clear in this regard. I've experienced it and many other students.
I've read they prefer Western students as they are interested in dawah in the West, do you think this could be why?
As if other students aren't interested in giving da'wah in their home countries. I'm a convert from the west but I don't happen to have a white skin. Many people have inferiority complex, anything from the west are seen superior and intellectual. It's like that as to where I'm from, my country have been colonized before, hence the colonizers way of life is seen to be superior and intellectual while the natives are seen lowly and don't have much knowledge. People who are integrated and assimilated is seen superior as well. It's somewhat like that by many people in Saudi, other converts I know have expressed that before from both students and those who have business visa of sort. Hence, many Saudis are very racists towards those who have dark skin. I'm of course not generalizing the Saudis, as there are very good brothers. It's just happened to be that some are racists and some aren't. It's very sad but it's prevalent.
It’s very common with the Arab populations in general. This is one of the reasons why western countries are 1000x more Islamic than Muslim countries.
No. Their kufr renders their deeds invalid.
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wow sounds like a prison like you say. Id rather have a western university with its principles of equality and justice over what you have described. SubhanAllah how lost us muslims are that western universities seem orders of magnitutde better.
Madinah University is much more better than Western universities contrary to how you make it sound to be. I've had the privileged to have gone through a western university as a person who is born and grew up in the western country. Also, compared with other countries I've been into in terms of Islamic studies, in Madinah University you have all the necessary facilities and means contrary to other places. Sure, each place have their own pros and cons. I was merely pointing out some cons that need to be told contrary to the video in question as if everything is all fantastic. The same can be said about immigrants I've met who have had this fantasies that in the western countries, you pick up money from the trees. When those immigrants start to live the real life in the west, they always come to the realization that it's not like how they'd imagined it to be.
well, at least they arent racists in the universities in west. At least they dont work on grift and corruption and hierarchy. iv been to 3 universities here. There's equality, just like t he Quran states. You are making it sound like a prison the medina university. its not unsurprising tbh. there's a lot of racism and people there are not best exemplars of how the Quran describes good people so...
True, it may feel like it's a prison and there certainly exist racists everywhere and it's not only unique to the place I've talked about. I've been subjected to racism in the west more so than in Madinah.
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Many students that have been in Egypt, they've expressed that it's way better there than in Madinah University. You actually feel much closer to brothers and you feel a sense of you are working for your knowledge. I was in Egypt during the Husni Mubaarak period, you felt the brotherhood, etc. In Madinah University, it's not like that as you feel that you are alone and lonely. Studying under mashaayikh in Egypt is way different than in Madinah. You feel that the mashaayikh care for you. I mean, there is also poverty and nothing is like "glamorous" there. In Madinah, you have like all the Dunya. Many students, especially brothers from Africa, some who literally come from the bush, sort of speak, they're duped into believing that the west offers many opportunities, many have expressed that they want to make hijrah to the west, while us and others from the west say to them that we want make hijrah to Muslim countries. In Egypt, it's not like that. Sure, there are many pros and cons of each countries. It's just that because we have love for the Masjid al-Haram and Masjid Nabawi, also that you have so much expectations due to the sahaabah having been there, many great imams, etc. that you get disappointed a lot as what's really going on in the country. As to where I'm from now, you are not afraid of talking about many masaa'il but in Madinah, you have to be careful who you are talking to and you can't just befriend everyone in the university. Many young brothers who don't really know many mashaaykh, when they meet certain brothers and when being tested as to whom of scholars they listen to or being asked if they know certain scholars, if they reply like "I don't know" then they will get angry and say e.g. 'هذا كلام الشيطان', I mean.. really.. One brother also tried to explain that everything is not perfect in Saudi, by explaining that some students tried to threaten him that he will report that brother to the police and his reasoning was that because the brother talked bad about the Saudi kingdom.. common..
The most important thing is, you are just there to study and that it's temporary. If you meet some good brothers there, even if it's only one or two, that you stick to them and ignore the rest. Many things are really time consuming. There are many things I could say but I think that's the overview of all things.
I've heard students can go to Masjid Nabawi for extra studies under shuyookh. How common is this?
It's very common actually. It's not only in the masjid Nabawi but also other masaajid and sometimes on mashaayikh homes. If people only study in the Jaami'ah, you won't gain much and many students have expressed that the real knowledge is actually outside the Jaami'ah. Many scholars have said that the studying in the Jaami'ah should be taken as a means instead of means to an end. The Jaami'ah also sometimes invites some big mashaayikh wherein they give some lectures. Alhamdulillah, during the breaks there are something called dawrah, like intensive studies from mashaayikh. During that time, many choose to study under mashaayikh instead of coming home to their countries.