The first MSA National chapter was formed in 1963 at the campus of University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign (UIUC) by international students. The initial leadership came from Arabic-speaking and Urdu-speaking members, with guidance from students of the Egyptian-based Muslim Brotherhood and Pakistan-based Jamaat-e-Islami Islami movements. A Saudi Arabian charity, the wahhabist Muslim World League, provided early funding for the group. Early goals for the movement included the promotion of "a self-definition involves initially and fundamentally [an Islamic identity" of its members, as well as an appropriate Islamic lifestyle while they were in the US.