For Fahmo Mohammed, an important part of faith centers around the word “ummah” — a term meaning “community” in Arabic.

“It’s really our job to create that sense of ummah and unite us,” Mohammed said.

Mohammed, a 19-year-old senior majoring in journalism and international studies, is working with Sabeen Waqar — a close friend — to form the Women Muslim Student Association, the first group specifically for female Muslim students.

The two founders of the WMSA are currently working with the ASUO to gain official recognition for the group — a process they expect to finish by the end of winter term.

Mohammed says the new group will allow female Muslim students to study their religion and educate the university community about their faith. And because women in some Islamic cultures wear not only a headscarf called a hijab, but also cover their faces with a veil known as a niqab in public, a religious group specifically for women gives its members the opportunity to socialize more easily.

“When women come together, obviously we don’t have to be veiled,” Mohammed said. “Women unveil themselves. We just talk. There’s more social activity.”

Mohammed also wants to address a misconception about the Muslim Student Association.

“When I first came to the U of O there was this huge misconception that the MSA didn’t accept women,” Mohammed said.

“It’s a misconception that most people have that women are not involved in the Muslim association,” Abdulrhman Aljaafari, current member and previously the group’s secretary, said. “It is important for American and other cultures to see both sexes participating in the events.”

Aljaafari and Mohammed said that the misconception might come from the fact that many members of the MSA are from Saudi Arabia, a country known for not allowing women to drive. 

“If we are talking about women driving we should differentiate between Saudi culture and Islamic culture,” Aljaafari said. “(Giving women the right to drive) is something that we need to deal with as a country.”

But the goal of the MSA is to celebrate Muslim culture from around the world, Aljaafari said.

“We look at Islam as a culture that gathers all of these different people regardless of diversity, regardless of race, regardless of sex,” he said. “Even if we are different in our own (country’s) cultures, there is still a point that is similar for all of us that we gather around.”

When Mohammed approached the MSA, the group, which was already in the process of trying to get more female students involved, was excited about the idea.

“I was so happy about it,” Aljaafari said. “I told her I was going to do my best to help her out.”

In addition to their roles as vice president and president of the WMSA, Mohammed and Waqar also serve on the council for the MSA.

The WMSA is currently working toward being recognized by the ASUO. They hope to have official school recognition by the end of winter term. 

Mohammed’s identity as a Muslim student goes beyond her activities with the WMSA.

In November of 1999, Mohammed’s family moved to Clackamas, Ore., from her hometown of Nairobi, Kenya.

“We always believed that the success in life for our children lay in according them the best education that was available,” Zainabu Dore, Mohammed’s mother, said in an email. 

Mohammed attended Clackamas High School. According to Dore, she excelled in academics and was a member of the debate team.

“I have a house full of trophies by Fahmo from debate and speech competitions during her high school days,” Dore said. 

Growing up and going to college in the United States was a balancing act between her ethnic, cultural and religious backgrounds and American society.

“You can assimilate to culture, but you can’t conform to culture,” Mohammed, who wears a hijab in public and prays five times per day, said. “I’m proud to say that I don’t party.”

On weekends when she doesn’t have to be in Eugene for Duck TV where she is a member of a news crew, Mohammed drives to Portland to stay at her aunt’s house. During winter break and summer term, she makes the 21-hour flight back to Nairobi. 

Mohammed is fluent in Swahili and English but also speaks Somalian and Arabic.

“Coming from a conservative cultural background, I have inculcated in my children the ability to be ‘westernized’ while at the same time retaining their cultural values,” Dore said. “Fahmo is an open-minded person who cherishes her culture and has had a unique ability to maintain a balance between the two ‘worlds.’”

Waqar, a close friend and cofounder of WMSA, describes Mohammed as a selfless person. 

“She goes out of her way to help people,” Waqar said. “I was really shocked when I met her.”

Waqar, who has been friends with Mohammed for about a year, said that they met in an Arabic class. She was impressed when Mohammed, despite being busy and late for another class, offered to help her international student classmate.

“Fahmo was right behind me and she said, ‘Oh, I know where the class is, let me help you,’” Waqar said.

Mohammed’s roommate, Jasmine Wilson, a junior majoring in psychology, said that she is most impressed by Mohammed’s work ethic.

“She’s really dedicated and a hard worker,” Wilson said. “She leaves (home) at like seven in the morning and doesn’t get (home) until eight at night. She is always going.”

After hardly more than two years at the University of Oregon, the 19-year-old plans to graduate at the end of summer 2014. She is currently taking 22 credits and plans to have three minors — documentary film, african studies and economics.

When she finishes school, Mohammed hopes to be a broadcast journalist for a Kenyan news organization.

Beyond her future plans, her busy schedule and her work for Duck TV, her faith is both the structure and center of her life.

“Every issue that I’ve ever had in life, I look to my faith for guidance,” she said. “Our religion is literally our lives.”