¶ Overview
On-campus Friday prayer is the largest initiative that UC Berkeley MSA facilitates. It aims to provide a qualified speaker to lead a sermon and prayer for 150+ students, faculty, staff, and guests every week on campus, from 1:20-2pm at Hearst Gym Room 237. This initiative does not only provide a convenient location for an obligatory duty for Muslims, but also builds community and good relations.
The educational coordinator must be at every Friday prayer and ensure everything is running smoothly. If they are unable to make it, they should let other board members know.
¶ Reserving Hearst Gym
Weekly Hearst Gym reservations for our on-campus jummah prayers have been provided to us free of charge for many years from university administration. It is the Educational Coordinators responsibility to follow up and ensure that we have the space secured for years to come.
Email the Hearst Gym Facility Manager Brent Atkinson (brentuc@berkeley.edu) in mid-July about booking Room 237 for Friday prayer for the fall semester. Email him in mid-December for the spring semester. Include the specific time (1-3pm) and dates (all Fridays of instruction, check the Berkeley school calendar).
Do this by:
- Log into Hubspot and go to the
Contactspage - Search for Brent's name and click on his/her contact listing
- In the contact profile page that comes up, click on the Email tab.
- Paste the template below into the email and send it directly from within Hubspot. This will allow future Educational Coordinators to track all past communication with administration.
Hearst Gym Reservation Template:
Subject: Hearst Gym Reservation- UCB MSA Friday Prayer
Hi Brent,
I am [YOUR NAME], the UCB Muslim Student Association Educational Coordinator. Berkeley MSA wants to reserve the Hearst Gym Room 237 for Friday prayers every Friday from 1-3pm for the next semester.
These are the dates:
[DATES].Thanks,
[YOUR NAME]
Brent may be out of the office when you email him, be sure to follow-up in a week or whenever he's back in the office. If there are issues regarding the funding or reserving the space, add the SSWANA Initiate Program Manager, Doaa Dorgham and the Assistant Vice Chancellor & Associate Dean of Students, Samuel Santos into the email thread from within Hubspot.
¶ Scheduling Logistics
Start booking khateebs in the beginning of July for fall semester, and in December or earlier for spring semester.
In terms of the cycle of speakers, our goal is to have 3 recurring speakers that come in once every month. The fourth speaker of every month should be an irregular guest speaker. This ensures a balance of consistency and diversity.
Create a spreadsheet of the Friday prayer dates, the speakers, and speakers that you have contacted and their status (confirmed, unavailable, etc.). Here is an example.
¶ Booking Speakers
Use our Hubspot contact database to contact speakers. By clicking on any scholar's name, you'll find a brief bio, contact info, and other information that may be helpful.
There are other speaker databases on the Google Drive or people you know that you may contact, which is great. However, it is highly recommended that speakers used in the past year are used again to build a relationship with them and because we know their quality.
If you don't know a speaker and there is no information about them in the database, research the speaker. Youtube videos of their khutbahs are very helpful.
Booking Khateeb Template:
Subject: Khutbah at UC Berkeley
Assalamualaikum [TITLE] [NAME],
My name is [YOUR NAME] and I am the educational coordinator for the Muslim Student Association (MSA) at UC Berkeley.
One of the services that the Cal MSA provides to the community is having jummah prayers on campus.
We would be grateful to have you as a khateeb at one of our jummah prayers.
The dates that we are currently looking for khateebs are:
[DATES]
Please let me know if you are available at any of these dates and are willing to host a jummah prayer for the UC Berkeley Muslim community. Also, please let me know if you have any questions. I look forward to hearing back from you.
JazakAllah khair,
[YOUR NAME]
Contact about 2-3 speakers per week for efficiency and to avoid potential overlap. For those that you wish to have in the cycle, mention that you want them once a month for the semester. As always, send all emails to scholars from within our Hubspot contact database so that they are tracked.
Follow up in a week if they don't answer earlier. After that, move on to other speakers. If they confirm a date(s), great! The next part will go on to next steps. If not, thank them for their time and efforts.
Re-confirm a week before their date to ensure that they will be coming. After the re-confirmation, send them the location, parking, and other info they need for the day-of.
Day-of Logistics for Khateeb Template:
Salaam!
The Jummah khutbah starts at 1:20pm. We start salah at 1:50pm to ensure finishing by 2pm, so people can get to class on time.
The Jummah prayer is located at Hearst Gym (Bancroft Way & Bowditch St, Berkeley, CA 94720) Rm.237 on the UC Berkeley campus.
Parking can be hard to find so it is recommended that you come about 10 minutes early. There is street parking near the gym on Bancroft, and the closest parking garage is the Lower Sproul Garage (2465 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94720) and the second closest is Underhill Garage (2616 Haste St, Berkeley, CA 94720).
My phone number is [YOUR NUMBER], feel free to call me if you're having any issues. I can meet you in front of the gym and take you to the room if that works for you. Let me know if you have any questions or concerns. We look forward to having you.
This process can be disheartening if speakers don't reply. Connect with people who may know them personally for advice and/or consult the database which may give other contact routes.
¶ Stipend/Contracted Services Agreement Form
This form is used for processing the honorarium that we give to the speakers.
Once a speaker has confirmed a date, let them know that you will be sending them a form that they need to fill out. The treasurer will send you a partly-filled form that the speaker needs to fill out in the beginning of the year that you can edit. The only thing you need to do is fill the dates. This is how it looks.
The form should be sent to them 1-2 weeks before their date, and should be sent back to us at least a day before their date, or whatever date the treasurer thinks is best for them. The speaker is only required to fill out the "Individual Rendering Service" portion. They are also required to attach a resume with the form. If they have already spoken in that year, they don't need to attach another one.
Honorarium Form Template:
Subject: Khateeb Contract Form
Assalamualaikum [TITLE] [NAME],I hope that you are doing well inshAllah. Here is the form that you need to fill out if you wish to get an honorarium.
Please fill out the "Individual Rendering Service" portion and sign your name at the bottom. In addition, attach your resume as well.
Please fill this out as soon as possible (before [DATE]) and let me know if you have any questions and/or concerns. We look forward to having you.
JazakAllah khair,
[YOUR NAME]
Once they send the form and resume back to you, send it to the Treasurer and confirm that they got it. You must also upload these documents to Hubspot under the scholar's contact for future reference ("Attachments" section on the right). The Treasurer may send updates on the processing of the forms, if not, ask for updates so you have that information for the speakers. Some speakers may refuse an honorarium. Thank them for their efforts and support.
¶ Day-of Speaker Logistics
Be on-call about an hour before Friday prayer because they may call you in regards to parking, etc. Offer to take them from their parking spot to the room, or from the gym entrance to the room. If you are unavailable, ensure another board member can do this. Take them to the restroom if they need to make wudu. After the khutbah and prayer, thank them in person if you're able and send them a thank you message afterwards.
¶ Speaker Etiquette
This is general speaker etiquette that the educational coordinator should consider for Friday Prayers and Ilm Classes. More specific mandatory duties are noted above.
| When | What |
|---|---|
| Prior to the Event | Communication: Send concise and respectful emails. Respond as soon as possible. Ask speakers well in advance of the event (it's never too early to book!). Send reminder emails close to the date of the event, asking if they need anything. Provide them with a phone number for the contact who will be there the day of, so that they can notify you of delays or concerns. Make sure they know: The time and place of the event, as well as where to park and how long the event will be. Let them know how long it will take to get the honorarium. If you're using their photo or bio for promoting, ask if there is a specific one they'd like you to use. |
| Day of the Event | Meet them where they park and walk them to the event (or give them a ride if they need one) and pay for their parking. Have water bottles for the speaker (tea or other refreshments are also nice). Walk them back to their car. Give them a thank you card and chocolate/gift after the event is over |
| After the Event | Send them a thank you email a couple of hours after the event (if it's not very late at night) or the next morning. Submit the honorarium forms as soon as possible. |
¶ Other things to keep in mind
- Be respectful of the speaker’s time; don’t let people linger and ask questions after the official event time is done
- Speakers might have kids that they can’t leave at home; let them know that they can bring them, ask if they need someone to watch them, snacks, games etc.
- Be aware that some speakers might not feel comfortable sharing info needed for the honorarium form (social security, phone number etc) so keep in mind that you may need to pay them through other means
¶ Prayer Rug & Speakers Set-up & Clean-up
The prayer rugs and speakers are in the closet in Hearst Gym. Ensure that set-up starts at 1pm. Community members should be there to help. Ensure that everything is working before Friday prayer starts. There should be extra batteries for the microphone.
For clean-up, community members should be there to help roll up carpets and put back the speaker system. Vacuum carpets at best once every other month or at least once every semester. Ensure that everything fits into the closet. Ensure that the room is clean and how you found it when you first went in.
¶ Comprehension Quiz
If you were instructed to read this page as part of an online training curriculum, you must submit this quiz and answer all questions correctly. In the case that you do not answer a question correctly, you may view which questions were incorrect and take the quiz again.
