June 1994 Picnic for New Muslims

May 15th, the day Temple Dunlop planned for a picnic celebration, turned out to be full of showers, but no one seemed to care. Women and children filled her house and made the best of the day. A covered porch protected the grill and the chicken and kabobs turned out fine.

Michelle Miller formally said Shahada at the party. Michelle is now known as Munirah Ali, our new Muslim sister. Donna Pletcher had said Shahada at the English Sisters Study Group the week before the party. She repeated it before the imam here also. Four other women joined Munirah and Donna In the ceremony to obtain formally recorded Shahada certificates from the imam, Katharine Barker Abdallah, ImanShennan, Sadie Mahmood, and Mariam Bouslahmi. These women have been Muslims for a year or more, but without any paper to record the day and the witnesses. We live in a day of documentation, and these papers can prove useful. Brother Mouhamed Nabih Tarazi Ii presented a short speech on the significance of Shahada, before formally witnessing the women's testimony and presenting them with their signed certificates.

Congratulations to all our sisters who, in these times of hardship and persecution, came to document and celebrate their decision to be Muslim.