Review: MIST

MIST (Muslim Interscholastic Tournament) is famous for being a fun, educational, interactive program of competitions and workshops geared towards bringing high school students together from around the nation to develop leadership, communication, and other creative skills, all while gaining a deeper understanding of Islam and Muslims. (http://www.misttoronto.ca/?page_id=2)

This year, MIST was held at the University of Toronto and alhamdulilah, I had the wonderful opportunity of attending. What a blast! The tournament spanned 2 and a half days and there was never a dull moment. Beginning with basketball on Friday afternoon and running until the awards ceremony on Sunday night, the participants of this exciting event brought life to the UofT campus (oh, and the Hangar out in the middle of nowhere, too!).

Though I didn’t get to catch many performances, I thoroughly enjoyed the awards ceremony at the end. The theme of the tournament was “Lantern of Modesty: Reflecting the Light from Within” so each team was responsible for creating a video to illustrate this theme. Some made me laugh, others made me cry, but at the end of it, all of them made me realize why I wear hijab. Just kidding! Though this was a common attribute of most of the films, they were all very creative and insightful.

Also at the ceremony were artists Boonaa Mohammed (spoken word artist), Obaida “Phatwa-Factory” Abdul-Rahim (comedian) and Halal Meat (nasheed artists). As young, talented individuals, each with an expertise in their field and the fuel of Islam propelling them forward, they were all truly inspirational.

But what got me most was at the actual distribution of the awards. Picture: a huge auditorium filled with students from rival schools, many up for the same award, each one a potential threat to you winning, each one is possibly competition… You wait… There goes third place… There goes second place… And -There goes first place. You lost. Your school lost. So you… CHEER?! SubhanAllah, I was absolutely amazed by the spirit of our young brothers and sisters. It did not matter who won the award, they were genuinely happy for one another! I’ve never, ever seen anything like that before. And I don’t mean one or two people who might have just been cheering for their friends; I mean entire schools chanting the names of those who defeated them. It was just. Too. Cool.

All in all, the tournament was a success and a definite reminder of the power of our youth. We have so much young blood and equally as much enthusiasm to move in the right direction. I pray that Allah SWT keep us moving in that direction and enable us to utilize our talents to serve the ummah for His Pleasure, ameen.

So now tell us – were you MISTified?
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