May 1995 Islam's Stand on Terrorism!

by Fauzi Labidi

A picture of a firefighter rescuing a one year old baby from the rubble of the Oklahoma City bombing was published in a British tabloid under the title "In the Name of Islam". Muslim communities all over the U.S. were outraged by these accusations and were quick to condemn this violent, cruel, and cowardly act. [the Oklahoma City bombing] When the villain turned out to be a white male, it was impossible for many to imagine that such a terrorist act would come from within and be committed by White Americans. Ignorance, unfortunately, tends to lead to wrong conclusions.

What is the Islamic viewpoint regarding killing children and innocent civilians? In Islam, a great deal of discipline and care are taken at time of war. The life of the Prophet (PBUH) and the life of his companions provided the Muslims with clear commandments to be obeyed during conflicts. it is forbidden for Muslims to commit the following acts during wars:

• Killing women, children, elderly people, sick people, and hermits.
• Killing animals, destroying plants, demolishing homes, and destroying water supplies.
• Killing or mutilating, the wounded; stealing, looting, and torturing.
• Killing those who are not taking part in the war.
  

This proves that Islam values all life even at times of war, let alone at peaceful times. Equating Islam with terrorism is the most outrageous, ignorant, and unfair statement ever uttered. As one brother from Oklahoma City said in the aftermath of the blast: "A person committing terrorist acts has no religion but one - terrorism."

We hope that this tragedy will open the eyes of America and make it think twice before they rush to premature conclusions and accuse innocent people.

May 1995 Oklahoma City

May 1995 Spillover of a Disaster

by staff

Form the first moment Muslim Americans watched the horror of the Oklahoma City bombing, they knew they were struck twice. First, by the sheer size of the calamity that his innocent citizens and children, and second, by the suspicion that they would probably have another hate wave to deal with. Here is how their fears were proven right.

The earliest victim was Abrahim Ahmad; an American Jordanian who was hauled back to the U.S. to be questioned by FBI. "I was treated like dirt, like a dog. I was pronounced guilty by the media," said Ahmad, who just happened to be flying to Europe less than two hours after the explosion." They have spat on my wife, they have put trash on the lawn, filthy things..." he added.

Perhaps the most devastating spillover was what happened to Sahar Al-Saidi in Oklahoma City. Haidar Al-Saidi's 6 months-pregnant wife was alone at home, when angry assailants banged the doors and smashed windows, responding to TV rumors that Middle Easter people were responsible for the deadly bombing of the federal building. Fearing for her life, she locked herself in the bathroom and in the tension and anxiety, went into labor to give birth to the only Oklahoma bombing victim who did not die of the bomb's blast, but of the blast of Tabloid Media and people's ignorance.

The rush to judgment led to bomb threats, harassing phone calls and vandalism against Muslim groups, mosques, and Arab-Americans across the United States. A Muslim couple in Norman, OK received a threatening personal response. Norman Police Lt. Leonard Judy said the Islamic Society of Norman reported an onslaught of threatening calls and death threat calls after the bombing. Ninety miles up the road, in Stillwater, the window of the Islamic Society was shot at with a pellet gun sometime after 2 p.m. Wednesday, said Stillwater Police Chief Norman McNickle.

Similar incidents happened across the country, even here in Columbus, where local media coverage was responsible. Community leaders reported to IQRA! of at least two threats on the answering machine and one community member spoke of her colleague at work who called her 'murderer' the day after the bombing. the local MSA president had police check the place for Friday prayer for fear of bombs.

If the media condemnation was - to put it mildly - explainable given the anxiety associated with the blast, the attitude that followed was certainly not. Grieving Muslims, who (according to AP) have contributed to the relief efforts, and collected donations, were not acknowledge.
In Oklahoma City, Muslims were excluded from Sunday's prayer service led by President Clinton and the Rev. Billy Graham. "We have the same grief and sorrow, and we were told we could not be accommodated," said Rehab Robyn Assaf, a Muslim-American teacher at an Oklahoma City mosque.

The second event IQRA! know about happened in Tempe, Arizona's State Press, the student newspaper of the Arizona State University. It featured a cartoon showing a picture of the Prophet which is unacceptable in Islam - among three other pictures. On top of the pictures a sign that reads "Dead Religious Leaders. "The first picture has a name tag of "J. Smith" showing probably a man resembling the Mormon leader carrying a Bible and smiling. The second picture shows a grim-faced fiercely looking bearded man holding a large dagger/sword dripping with blood. The name tag reads "Muhammad". the third picture is showing a Buddhist monk with the name tag"'Buda". The last picture frame is empty, but has a name tag reads "Jesus". One police officer points to the empty frame and asks another officer: "What happened to this one?" the other officer answers: "It's empty."

The MSA of ASU at Tempe along with the Islamic Cultural Center of Tempe met twice with the "State Press" editorial board and the cartoonist Bryce Morgan, and demanded that an official apology be published in the paper. They wanted a statement from them that this cartoon is inaccurate, inappropriate depiction of our Prophet (PBUH). The demands were denied.

In spite of some serious inaccuracies and false hints from major TV Channels and newspapers (including unfortunately CNN) there were no acknowledgement of wrong or apologies from ABC or NBC that hosted numerous self-proclaimed terrorist experts throwing hate and conspiracy theories here and there (except for the responsible coverage of the Columbus Dispatch and Lantern on the local level). As far as we know, no channel apologized for the 'mistake' (e.g. the broadcast of two "white male" suspects. Channel 6 by Charlene Brown still associated them with Middle Eastern descent!)

The Local Reaction - How the ISGC reacted in a few hours

by Ayman Ismail

As soon as the Islamic Society of Greater Columbus (ISGC) and the MSA members heard the news of the Oklahoma City bombing, they knew it meant trouble. The pessimism was based on previous experience for the Gulf War, the World Trade Center bombing and the PBS documentary "Jihad in America."

Since the media was already speculating on the involvement of some Islamic groups, the BOT of the ISGC found that it is important to meet and discuss some action plans. The meeting was arranged within an hour. 7:30 pm at room 11 at the OSU Fawcett Center for the second day was the place, all TV channels were contacted - in person - in addition to the Columbus Dispatch. The idea was to involve as many people from the different Islamic organizations in the city. However, it was difficult to reach everyone within this short period of time.

With the grace of Allah, those able to attend represented most of the organizations of the Columbus Islamic community. Many options were on the table, including the press release and media coverage. The controversy was that it might be early to have a statement to the media which might further expose the community. The discussions finally resulted in a draft statement for the media, a spokesperson and a list of what to say and what not to say. At 9:30 p.m., the taping for TV news began with a question and answer session following it. What finally aired were two minutes of 35 minutes in tape that did not include the press statement! The following day Channels 10 and 4 asked for representative to talk on TV. the ISGC selected Sr. Hiba Nasser and Br. Brian Clouse. By April 27th, the Dawaa Committee had arranged for an Open Forum on Islam with Dr. Shaker El-Sayed from ISNA at the Ohio Union.

MSA vice president Abdullah Al-Amiri advises the community to be cautious and act responsibly. "We always emphasize to everyone including the media that painting everyone with the same brush will do nothing but increase the number of hate crimes."
He asks that all Muslims who receive any form of threat to immediately contact the police and report it to the BOT. It is important to keep track of such acts to make a case to the officials and to the media about the seriousness of this issue should legal action be deemed necessary, then this information will be useful. This also should be reported to the hotline established by ICNA [Islamic Circle of North America] at *******.

April 1995 Eid, What Does It Take?

by Rached Zantout

On the morning of Friday 3/3/1995, exit 115 of I-71 got very busy. What was happening? Lots of bearded men, women with scarves on their heads, and everybody had good looking clothes.

Going into the parking lot of the sports complex at that exit, you could feel you were going into another world. Suddenly, this area was transformed into a Muslims gathering area, a place to pray, enjoy and celebrate the end of our month of fasting, Ramadan.

The speakers were set at strategic places, the microphones were ready, one where the Imam would give his Khutbah and a wireless one with the brothers chanting the Eid chants. Lines were set on the floor for the first few rows so that brothers and sisters could make straight rows while praying. Donation boxes were set up at the entrance for different causes, Zakat-ul-Fir, as well as an Eid Hall fund.

Outside, tables filled with donut boxes and refreshments were setup. Two sites were designated, one for men and the other for women. Even IQRA! had its own table to collect donations, subscriptions, and distribute the Eid issue.

The announcements, the prayer and the Khutbah all went smoothly. Then the brothers and sisters went outside to take their issues of IQRA! and eat and drink, for on this day we were allowed, again, to eat and drink whenever we felt like it. Even children had fun outside with the balloons and the candy. Later on, the children and their mothers would celebrate in a party at Haggerty Hall [at OSU].

Every year we do this kind of activity twice, once at Fitr and once at Adha. Just how do the brothers and sisters prepare for Eid? Is it easy? How many brothers and sisters does it take and how long before Eid do they begin preparing for it?

According to Brother Khalid, [Farag], the president of the MSA, preparation for Eid starts with preparation for Ramadan. This year the MSA, Islamic Center and Masjid Al-Islam decided to use a facility similar to the one in which the MSA is holding its Jumma prayers. The facility was larger than the Whitehall Community Center (the place where we used to pray Eids previously). Also, the parking lot of the facility is much larger than any other facility they looked at.

After the middle of Ramadan, the brothers and sisters geared up for Eid preparation. according to Br. Fauzi Labidi, there were 8 brothers who helped set up the infrastructure for such a smooth Eid. Two brothers transported the tables, boxes, microphones, and speakers. Buying and bringing donuts, coffee, and tea also required 2 brothers. Setting up the line guides, the speakers, and microphones was done by one brother. It took 7 brothers to set up the tables outside, clean up the place after we left, and return everything to its original place.

Br. Fauzi estimates that a total of 50 hours went into preparing for Eid prayer. This number of hours was spent planning, laying out, and dismantling Eid prayer.
The organizers of Eid prayer also hired 2 policemen for traffic and security purposes.

According to Sr. Aalia [last name??], there were 10 sisters involved in the preparation for Eid. Two purchased balloons, rented the helium containers, and sold the balloons outside the Eid prayer hall. All 10 took part in organizing, acting, and singing during the Eid party at Haggerty Hall. It also took 3 sisters to buy the gifts for the large number of children that attended the party. Approximately the same number of hours spent by the brothers preparing for Eid was spent by the sisters preparing for the Children's Eid Party.

A simple mathematical calculation would tell us that on the average a brother or sister worked between 6 and 7 hours for us to have that smooth of an Eid. They all did that in addition to running a life with all its responsibilities of taking care of their families, working or studying. If you think this number of hours is too much for a single brother or sister, you can help. Volunteer to take a portion of thouse hours by contacting Sr. Aalia or Br. Fauzi before the next Eid.

One important task that was left out of the above jobs for Eid is the advice. This task is an obligation on all the Muslim community towards the brothers and sisters responsible for Eid prayers. What is your impression about the Eid prayer? Go to the brothers and sisters and congratulate them on the good things you saw or felt!
More important, go to the brothers and sisters and tell them about what you think went wrong. Do you have a better solution? Volunteer it. You will feel good if you get to implement it next Eid!

April 1995 Muslim Networking

By Tabassum Rehman

In today's fast paced computer age, communication seems to be the key for survival and growth. Communication between the chapters of the Islamic Council of Ohio is what Br. Souhail Khan and other delegates had in mind when they established the Ohio Muslim Network on Saturday, March 18th, 1995.

The aim of this network is to connect all of Ohio's Muslim organizations. Right now, this includes organizations in Springfield, Akron, Dayton, Cincinnati, Cleveland, and others. It can include the MSA in the future, but, as Br. Souhail explained, the Network is starting out in a simple manner. They will see how it works and evaluate it after 3 months. In the future, they may also add a bulletin board.

Why create an Ohio Muslim Network when we already have the MSA and Sisters' Nets? Br. Souhail explained that he and his colleagues wanted to be "proactive" to react to situations. "So we can take action before things happen." The example he gave of this proactive approach was monitoring bills in Congress and finding out how they are going to affect our Muslim communities. the network will also be used for da'wah work. All in all, it will provide a means for faster communication between Ohio Muslim organizations, and Insha'allah, if everything goes well, for all the Muslims in Ohio as well.

The current agenda is to publish a book with E-mail addresses of Muslims in Ohio. If anyone would like to include their E-mail address in the publication, please E-mail Br. Souhail Khan at *******.

May Allah (SWT) help their efforts.

April 1995 ISGC Constitution Vote

by Khaled Farag

The Muslim community in central Ohio has grown dramatically in the last few years. The average Jumma Prayer is now attended by at least 450 people. at least 3000 people attended the Eid prayer on March 3. During Ramadan, Omar Mosque was regularly occupied to its fullest capacity. Omar Ibn El-Khattab Children School had 132 children registered this fall. The school administration had to deal with multiple shifts to accommodate the lack of space.

The mosque structure itself is in its old age and the cost of regular maintenance required just to maintain it is increasing. In one year we learned that we need several thousand dollars to repair the parking lot's cracking pavement. Several thousand dollars are needed to change the carpet. Recently, it was concluded that a new roof, which will cost more than $7000, will be needed very soon.

The most serious problem the community is facing today is the dramatic change in the type of services the MSA does for the community at large and the massive demand for services. This is all happening while the number of willing volunteers to do the work is declining.

I told a friend once that I was the president of a student organization called the MSA. He then asked me what type of activities do we do as an organization. When he learned that this small humble "student" organization operates a "church" of 400 professional and student patrons coming from at least 80 different countries, marries people, buries people when they die, mediates family disputes and provides counseling, raises on average $100,000 a year for international relief, organizes every Friday two off-site congregational prayers, conducts at least 4 weekly study sessions "halaqas", operates a weekend school for 132 children... My friend interrupted me and asked, "Whom was I kidding?" He continued to say, "You are obviously not describing a student organization. What you have is a small independent community."

The fact that the community has outgrown Omar Mosque in size and capacity is not new news for many. For that reason, in 1989, the MSA executive committee commissioned a task force to plan and work on long term solutions for the administrative and capacity problems the community is facing. the task force developed a plan to expand the structural assets of the community to accommodate its growth. The task force studied primarily the construction, development and operation of a full time Islamic school and the acquisition of a new Mosque-Community center complex with all the associated administrative and financial needs.

The acquisition of such assets required clear and perfected plans to manage and operate such facilities. The task force recommended to the MSA general assembly the complete restructuring and the overhaul of the existing management style of the MSA. The idea was to reorganize the MSA to accomplish the following goals:

• Preserve all the excellent Islamic characteristics and actions the community has developed and accomplished in Central Ohio over the years.
• Expand the opportunity for the professional members of the community to undertake a more active role in the leadership and service of this community.
• Re-energize and enrich the Muslim activities in the local universities and colleges. Such activities have almost been abandoned due to the work load of the members of the MSA with community projects.
• Provide a flexible and stable platform for the establishment of the full time Islamic school.
  Guard the Islamic assets (waqf) and guarantee that such assets grow and remain in Muslim hands.
• Initiate financial investment plans for the community to financially sustain the operation of the organization.

In early 1994, the MSA General Assembly accepted a proposal to reorganize the MSA under a new name, The Islamic Society of Greater Columbus (ISGC), and approved a new management structure that included an elected board of trustees and an executive committee. The general assembly elected initial members of the board of trustees and made a recommendation that a new detailed constitution of the organization be presented for adoption in the near future.
[ed. note: Those were Ahmed Abdullah, Hany Saqr, Khaled Farag, and Mouhamed Nabih Tarazi. See June 1994 ISGC passes with flying colors By Rached Zantout]

The Board of Trustees of ISGC organized many informal meetings with many of the brothers and sisters to brainstorm and critique several outlines for a proposed constitution. Presentations and seminars were organized for the brothers and sisters to maximize their critique and hear all suggestions.

Many models were initially at hand. After each meeting, the BOT collected the suggestions and critiques of each model. Most of the suggestions were excellent, but many of them contradicted one another and had to be integrated together to form a complete draft constitution and a set of bylaws. The notes were reconciled many times and, slowly, a skeleton of a draft constitution began to emerge.

The draft constitution was debated again in many small groups whose purpose was to eliminate the contradictions and further perfect the proposal. Many participants started with opinions that were later changed by others who debated their points through constructive criticism and mutual respect. The depth and seriousness of the analysis that these brothers and sisters gave to the proposals reflected the maturity of the Muslim community in Central Ohio. The resulting document was a constitution in its embryonic stages. Although it contained many ideas from just about everyone, many people who drafted the constitution will not agree with every detail in it. That indeed reflects the multitude of differing views on some issues and the resulting compromises. The draft constitution was then posted in the Mosque in order to be circulated for further modification and change. Written suggestions were also encouraged. Many suggestions and modification were further debated and critiqued by the BOT and the person making the suggestion before being added to the proposal. After nearly 2500 man-hours of debate, editing and critique, a semifinal proposal was presented to at least 13 members of the MSA (10%) of the number of members to read it and formally presented to the MSA executive committee.
The proposed constitution was mailed to every member with a notification of the special general assembly to be held at 9:15 pm on Friday, April 7, 1995. Since absentee ballots will not be taken, the attendance of all members is critical.

Highlights of the Proposed Constitution:

Continuity of the growth of the Muslim Community in Central Ohio. this will be the result of stable Islamic leadership and will ease focusing on long term community goals.

The restructured MSA under the name ISGC will basically have the community manage its affairs by Shura practiced on every matter. the community will elect representatives to a shura council. The representatives are called General Body Representatives (GBR). The shura council elects a president of the executive committee. The president, once elected, will select the remaining members of the executive committee and seek their confirmation by the (GBR). The executive committee remains the manager of the day to day affairs of the community. The role of the BOT will primarily be the long term planning for the community and protection of the Islamic waqf entrusted to the community.

The new structure of the organization allows the creation of additional affiliate organizations to professionally manage and operate future projects such as a full time Islamic School, day care centers, Islamic cemeteries, and financial investments for the community to sustain its growth.
ISGC structure allows other Islamic Organizations willing to affiliate with or join ISGC by name or by effort to complement and accelerate the developed growth of the Muslim community. the student members of ISGC can focus on Islamic Dawah on the campuses in Central Ohio. Many additional MSAs will be formed while remaining inseparable parts of ISGC.

[Ed. note: Main differences between MSA and ISGC: non-student members, new General Body from which elections are made, Veto Powers to BOT, and Quotas for students]

March 1995 Good-bye Ramadan, Hello Easy Life?

by Rached Zantout

[ed. note: Sheikh Shaker, Ahmad, and Aisha are imaginary figures]

"Asalaam alaikum Sheikh Shaker, I would like to congratulate you on your Eid Khutbah. It was, as usual, very powerful. You made me feel for my Muslim brothers and sisters here and abroad. Wallahi, my heart is crying for them."

"Asalaam alaikum Ahmad, how are you doing? Jazakum Allahu Khairan but things that I said that are true are from Allah and all mistakes are because of my shortcomings."

"Alhamdulillah, Sheikh Shaker, Allah (SWT) kept us alive to observe Ramadan and pray Eid. we gained so much in this blessed month. Fasting, taraweeh, quiyam, itikaf, Reading a lot of Quran, zakat ul-fitr, zakat ul-mal, jumaa prayers. praying in congregation more often, attending fajr prayers. This month always brings the good stuff in me," said Ahmad.

"Subhanallah," replied Sheikh Shaker, "This month does that to all of us. Even the prophet (PBUH) was more generous during Ramadan, although he was still the most generous man. He would increase his worship during Ramadan and especially during the last ten days."

"Alhamdulillah," replied Ahmad. "Now I can go back to my usual schedule and relax a little bit. I feel like I have done my job for the year. I will be anxiously I waiting for the next Ramadan."
"You know, Ahmad, the Prophet I (PBUH) used to work all year. He used to fight for the cause of Allah, preach to Muslims and Non-Muslims, take care of the Muslims affairs, his family's, and his own affairs. He even had the time to fix his own shoes." said Sheikh Shaker.

What? The prophet used to do that? I always imagined he was a very powerful man, sitting on his throne with servants doing everything he wished. How did he find the time to do all of those things? Ah, he did not have to go to school and do all the homework and projects, that's how." said Ahmad.

"Tell me, Ahmad, did you slacken on your homework or Projects during Ramadan?" asked Sheikh Shaker.

"No," answered Ahmad, "before Ramadan began, I knew that I had to devote the nights after Maghrib to praying Taraweeh and Quiyam, so I made my schedule so that I woke up at Fajr and finished all my school studying. You know what? I was so fresh after Fajr, that I even had the time to read 20 minutes of Qur'an . before going to classes. "

"That is because Allah (SWT) puts barakah in your time and makes you finish things faster when you obey Him and worship Him more," answered Sheikh Shaker.

"I wish the whole year was like Ramadan so that I could do more in less time," exclaimed Ahmad. "But the problem is that after Ramadan is finished, there is no more taraweeh or quiyam. the brothers and sisters tend to go about their own business. I start missing more congregational prayers. I don't attend fajr at the masjid and become more involved in my day to day activities. I guess it is partly the fact that there is less worship to do outside Ramadan."

"You know Ahmad, the Prophet (PBUH) taught us that not only prayers, paying zakat, hajj and fasting are acts of worship. Everything you do can be a kind of worship for the sake of Allah, if you perform it with the right intention." explained Sheikh Shaker, "Your studies can be for the sake of Allah, playing sports can be for the sake of Allah, even eating and drinking can be for the sake of Allah, provided you have the right intentions that you want to benefit Muslims with the knowledge, strength or power you are acquiring. And you should also have the intention of using what you gain through those acts in something that Allah would be pleased with. You know that the prophet (PBUH) even told us that removing harmful things from the path of people, Muslims or non-Muslims alike, is an act of worship!"

"You know Sheikh Shaker, you are right, I can keep the same pace I gained in Ramadan throughout the year. But..." Ahmad asked, "I don't know what is needed to be done and whether I can do it."

"I was talking to Br. Khaled, our MSA president, a few days ago, and it seems that the masjid needs a lot of things to be done," explained Sheikh Shaker. " He told me that the MSA is overwhelmed with things to be done and urgent projects, but they are getting little assistance from the 500 or so brothers and sisters that attend Jumaa prayers, taraweeh prayers, and the MSA iftars. In fact, I know that only a handful of people are doing the activities you are seeing."

"But... we never know about it. They do not announce it. I make sure to read every bit of paper on the notice board in the masjid. I never saw that they needed any help." said Ahmad.

"You are right," agreed Sheikh Shaker, "but that is not an excuse for us. Even if they are not doing their job properly, we should go and ask them to assign duties to us. After all, it is our masjid and they are only our elected representatives to organize the work and activities around the masjid. I heard Br. Abdullah, when I visited him last week, saying that they had many projects to be done," added Sheikh Shaker. They are trying to:

• Build a mailing list so that they can reach more Muslims in central Ohio.
• Organized the cataloging of all books in the library and build a computer database so that brothers and sisters can find books more easily.
• Run a weekend school. They need help from parents to obey the rules, like dropping their kids off on time and in the masjid's parking lot, not on the street. They also need volunteers to help the school staff, and to clean up at the end of school.
• Organize a boys group for older boys. A small group of boys are trying to organize all by themselves but they need guidance and help from older brothers with some free time, to help them conduct a study group and some regular game time for sports.
• Organize a summer program for Muslim Youth in Columbus. They need volunteers to escort children on field trips, prepare food or watch over children during indoor activities.
• Maintain the weekly halaqahs on Saturdays and Fridays. They need brothers and sisters to attend those halaqahs and participate in giving lectures.
• Organize dawah tables at the unions in central Ohio colleges and universities. They need volunteers to sit there and answer questions, help prepare pamphlets and follow up with interested non-Muslims.
• Maintain the masjid. Part of the roof is leaking and they need donations, ideas, expertise, and manpower to fix it. The parking lot needs to be cleaned regularly, the holes need to be filled, the top resurfaced and the lawns mowed. The gutters need some work to be cleaned and repaired. Helping even with small things like buying supplies for the masjid, cleaning the bathrooms or carpet need volunteers. The children's playground needs to be repaired. Many children play in it during spring and summer. Even the inside of the mosque needs some work. The MSA has been talking for a long time about changing the carpet where we pray. They need also to clean and paint the shoe racks after the dirt built up from the shoes made them look ugly. they need volunteers who will improve the look of the mosque by doing some landscaping and some reorganizing of the inside of the mosque.
• Maintain a Xerox machine, a computer and a fax machine for the use of the Muslim brothers and sisters in the mosque.
• Organize the Eid prayers. This activity alone needs more than 20 brothers and sisters to go smoothly. Jazakum Allahu Khairan, they have been doing with far less brothers and sisters. They need more volunteers to make it better.
• Maintain a positive image of Muslims in central Ohio, nationwide, and worldwide. They have established a media committee for that purpose. However, they still need volunteers to locate articles about Muslims, write press releases to the media, and formulate a good strategy for dealing with the media."

"Ma shaa' Allah", Ahmad exclaimed, "All of that and we didn't know about it? Inshallah, I will contact the MSA and see what I can do."

"Asalaam alaikum Sheikh Shaker, Asalaam alaikum Ahmad. Ahmad! Daddy says that we need to go soon so you'd better come."

"Asalaam alaikum. Aren't you Aish, Ahmad's sister?" said Sheikh Shaker.

"Yes Sheikh Shaker," said Aisha.

"Sis, we were talking about the community needs and Sheikh Shaker explained to me how the masjid and the community in general are in need of every minute we have," said Ahmad.

"Wallahi, I was thinking about that same issue as I was hearing your khuttbah, Sheikh Shaker," said Aisha. "You know the women's section also needs much work and we need a lot of help in our activities. I heard a sister the other day talking about the activities in the women's section. It seems that we need a lot of sisters to be able to even maintain the current activities. The sisters need help in:
• Organizing the Eid party they do every year after Eids.
• Attending and giving lectures in our halaqahs on Saturdays and Sundays.
• Babysitting the children during the halaqahs and picnics.
• Cataloging, expanding, and organizing the children's library we started not so long ago. It even includes video and audio tapes.
• Cataloging, expanding and reorganizing the sister's library including the audio and video sections.
• Organizing the fundraising activities that we do every year, like selling food after jumaa prayers for the benefit of the masjid. The yearly bazaar at the beginning of Fall. Did you know that we ask all sisters who are going abroad to bring us Islamic items from overseas and we sell them for the benefit of our mosque?
• We need help in maintaining and fixing things in the sister's section of the mosque too, or at least volunteers to report defected things to the MSA so the brothers can fix them.

"Ahmad, Aisha, Come on. We have to go visit our brothers and sisters and congratulate them for Eid," shouted their father from their car. "Asalaam alaikum Sheikh Shaker. Sorry for interrupting but we have appointments."

"Jazakum Allahu Khairan Abu Ahmad. A true Muslim always keeps his appointments, and especially when one of them is to visit me at my house after Asr Prayers."

They all laughed and Ahmad and Aisha hurried back to their father's car after they said salaam the Sheikh Shaker. They had learned a lot form their small talk after the Eid prayer. They had made a promise between themselves and Allah that they would devote more time to benefiting the mosque and the Muslim community in general. They even started at that moment by smiling at every Muslim or Muslimah they encountered as the Prophet told them that smiling when you meet a Muslim brother or sister is a donation (sadaqah).

March 1995 Ramadan Harvest

A survey of some of the workers in Ramadan - Four Weeks of Labor + Pure Intention = Eternal Relaxation

by Ayman Ismail

A sense of place is closely attached to its physical as well as its psychological (or spiritual) characteristics. Ramadan memories are always distinct because they concentrate a rich blend of spirituality and action such as prayer in congregation, quiyam, qonoot. They occur at a unique place (the mosque) and are shared by a homogeneous group of souls surrounded by mutual love and affection for Allah.
Who can forget the happy moments when hands reach out together for that first date that breaks the fast, the heart shattering sounds of Quran reciting by Brs. Samy, Yasin, and Mahmoud echoing during Taraweeh prayer, the soul-charging short talks after the forth raqaa, Hani Saqr's cheerful Friday nights with the Seerah of the Prophet (PBUH) and those tranquil pious nights of I'tikaf. Without a doubt, a remarkable environment to anyone, even to an outsider.

However, this environment is not ad-hoc. Hard working individuals devoted their time, effort and foresaw their own satisfaction and comfort to accomplish a single job, like organizing iftar or preparing a halaqa or finding the imam. Who were some of these 'knights', and how did this experience affect them as individuals? What have they learned from it and to what extent did they encounter trouble? In this article IQRA! interviewed some of those 'servants of Allah', not just to acknowledge their effort (may Allah reward them for it), but also to understand the meaning of working for His sake and learning from our won hands-on experience so that our community continues to grow.

Perhaps the most noticeable duty during the fasting month was the 'break-fasting man'!

Title: iftar coordinator, detail: organize iftar, distribute food, clean up. time: 3-4 hours daily. Count: 20 iftar days, 2400 meals served.

Br. Bassam Abdallah, with his team of 'warriors' had the impossible task of satisfying everyone's hunger and thirst efficiently and equitably! Bassam and his dedicated team of brothers (may Allah reward them all) worked 20 days during Ramadan, preparing the cutlery, paper rolls, transporting, allocating, distributing the food and cleaning up the masjid. Bassam was generally pleased with the participation of the community in cooking for the meals, especially during the last ten days which were booked daily. However, he hoped that everybody would help in the clean-up. "It was annoying t see some just sitting against the wall watching those doing all the work! Sometimes I lost my temper, but in the end the feeling I got from seeing fasting people satisfied was great!"

This experience definitely changed both the way he perceived people's attitude and the way he behaved with them. "Astaghfirullah!" he said, smiling, when he was asked about people's manners. "One really has learned patience!" Next year, if he were to do this again, he would organize this differently. "Every member of the food distribution team should rotate leadership of the distribution process. There are too any opinions that confuse everyone and lower the efficiency."

Br. Bassam is engaged to a sister from Lebanon. May Allah complete their marriage in happiness and bring them together in peace.

Title: prayer imam. Detail: Lead Taraweeh prayer. Remarks: imam of mosque in Saudi Arabia, majors in English as a second language.

Away from the messy food stuff and more into spirituality, Br. Sami Al Mubareek was our imal for many of the Taraweeh prayers. A delightful new addition to our Columbus community from Saudi Arabia. He brought along a sensational voice and tilawaa that penetrated the hears with Quran's meanings. Br. Sami is a recent 'hafiz' (memorizer) of Quran. He owes that gift to a halaqa in Al-Hofouf, western Saudi Arabia and a Syrian Moqri'e (Quran teacher).

"Memorizing the book of Allah is not easy, and it is easily forgotten. I have to constantly remind myself by practice over and over again," he says.

Although he heard a lot about Columbus from his brother Khalid, who studies at OSU, Sami was impressed by the commitment of the Columbus Muslim community. Sami, a graduate of Arts majoring in English, is here to study for a Masters in English as a Second Language. He was an imam of a mosque in Al-Hofouf and gave khutbahs there.
Sami is married in Saudi Arabia and has two children. He is currently staying with his brother and making sure that his brother's life is in full accordance with Islam.

Title: MSA secretary. Detail: you name it, he did it! Time: 1-2 hours daily.
From an organizational standpoint, the MSA made a tremendous effort in putting the Ramadan team together. IQRA! tried to interview many of the MSA staff during Ramadan, but it was virtually impossible to get a few minutes of their time. "I really have so much to do," said Khalid Farag, MSA President as he dashed off chasing one MSA staff member.

Rached Zantout, being also on IQRA! staff, was contacted through e-mail. Informally, MSA staff complain from lack of responsible 'labor force'. According to Rached, the total number of assignments is 65 people in the various committees and subcommittees, "but when you remove the overlap of individuals who serve on many committees simultaneously, the number is much less than that," he said. "Basically, everyone is doing everything. There is no clear definition of responsibility," he complained.

financially, Ramadan has not yet materialized as a donation month. Br. Ali Rubaian, MSA treasurer observes that beside the zakat box, donations in the masjid have not increased during this month! He explained that ever since the Friday prayer moved to Bethel Road, the donation boxes became almost empty. "One can assume that those who donate are not the ones who regularly come to the mosque!" he said.

It is not possible to acknowledge all those who served Allah during this month. One can only pray to Allah "Oh Allah! Reward the one who spends in your cause freely!" and hope that more and more Muslims will seek this reward.