Last Wednesday, there was a graduation ceremony at the University of Malawi’s Great Hall in Zomba city.
The colourful event saw students from the Malawi University of Science and Applied Sciences (MUBAS) , University of Malawi (UNIMA) and Kamuzu University of Health Sciences (KUHeS) bagging their academic documents in various disciplines .
In this Exclusive Interview, Muslim Media Agency caught up with Shameemah Morta who graduated from Malawi University of Business and Applied Sciences.
Shameemah is not just a graduate but a top and an exceptional graduate who bagged a Distinction in Bachelor of Science in Architectural Studies. Amazing !
According to Shameemah Morta, God (Allah) made it easy for her to graduate outstandingly.
“Alhamdulillah, the secret to be frank, is that there is no actual secret. I am just an ordinary human being. My due thanks is to Allah who has made this possible. I simply tried my best to make my daily actions that defined what I wanted to achieve. It’s really the small things that matter but we take such actions lightly,” she told Muslim Media Agency.
Morta said she tried to be consistent in her studies plus believing in Allah in all her endeavours.
“First of all, I always have faith in Allah, then I keep a positive mindset at all times, and constantly stalking myself, finding my faults and then working on improving myself at all stages. These were important ingredients,” she said.
The smart graduate told Muslim Media Agency that her program (Bachelor of Architectural Studies) consists of learning in depth the concept of architecture as an art and as a science to yield people who can design beautiful, workable and also sustainable infrastructure for the cities to serve the people while conserving our environment.
According to Shameemah Morta, architecture is an important program because it has quite something to do with everyone.
“After all, we all need shelter as a basic need and hence it’s a very strong contributor to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) directly correlating with SDG 11 and indirectly to a few others. Considering our recent tragedy of Freddy, it is clear that we need more emphasis on our architecture particularly on housing the poor to ensure more resilience to such disasters,” she said.
Morta adds: ” All happens due to Allah but we are advised to trust him and still tie our camels. Architects are needed in developing housing for these people to ensure an increased level of safety.”
Morta told Muslim Media Agency that success in architectural studies starts with one’s mindset.
“It is important that we believe in our abilities and then have faith in Allah that He helps us throughout our academic journey. Next is that we do the work. The program is quite demanding and very time consuming, therefore it is very crucial that one must manage other desires like leisure, socializing etc to make sure you have enough time to concentrate and creatively produce solutions to problems (referring to school work/projects),” she said.
Finally, Shameemah Morta advised her fellow sisters in Islam that as they try and seek knowledge in different fields they pursue, it is very important to have Allah’s pleasure as their sole goal and intention.
“There is no good in anything without Allah’s Barakah (divine blessings) in it. I also advise my fellow sisters, including myself that we should always work hard while staying in our lanes. University life should not dissolve our Islamic morals and principles but rather strengthen them and if thats not the case, by Allah, we are better off without it,”
“Let’s not copy western cultures in quest for success in the modern day world’s definition of it. In short let’s strive to improve and seek knowledge for the sake of Allah,” Shameemah Morta told Muslim Media Agency.
Shameemah is a trailblazer. When she was just 17 in 2020, she won “My Future, Our Future ” Youths Essay and Arts Competition organised by the National Planning Commission (NPC).
Morta received her award and other prizes from President of the Republic of Malawi, Dr Lazarus Chakwera after being named the top winner in the Arts Category of the competition.
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