New Trend Magazine (www.newtrendmag.org)
(Phone: 410-435-5000)
While Islamic Causes Lack Funds, Tiny pro-Government Mosque Collects
$1,000,000
Mosque Leader Seems Unaware of Islamic Objections to Such Wealth amidst
Poverty
In a back corner of College Park, Maryland, there is a tiny
mosque
called Darussalam which runs a school called al- Huda. At Juma' prayers
there
are about 300 people at the mosque. The masjid claims that 600 people
turn
up; however, we have distributed flyers at the place and reckon that
the
number is around 300, sometimes a few more. Most of them come for
prayers but
are not constituent members of the masjid.
The Center is collecting about $800,000 from the Muslim community.
Another $300,000 have been promised by a Saudi Bank. Question arises:
Is this an
Islamic
project which Muhammad (pbuh) and his sahaba (companions) would
accept. [The total project is $2.3 million.]
Why should we be worried about this huge sum being collected by
this
small community? Are we jealous? If we don't like it, why don't we go
and
pray somewhere else in any one of the Islamic centers which ring the
Washington D.C. beltway. No, dear readers, this is not a personal issue
or a
personality issue.
Muslims should know that there is only so much money in the Islamic
community. If it is spent on a building or a school structure, it won't
be
spent on much more pressing needs. The standard of Islam as evidenced
at
Darussalam's juma khutbas is low in quality. The khateebs usually tell
long
stories from Islamic folklore without any relevance to the audience,
except
for ONE PURPOSE: More donations needed for the masjid. The khutbas lack
scholarship and the Islamic stories told are usually from very weak
and/or
fabricated narrations. In any case, references are seldom given which
would
help people in the audience to verify the narrations.
The school does help to teach basics to Muslim children and
provides a
few jobs but definitely is not relevant to an input of $2.3 million.
The masjid functions as if there is NO oppression of Muslims for
which
funds are needed. There is a woeful lack of awareness of the Islamic
struggle. Recently our team stopped for JUMA' at Darussalam and invited
the
people to come out and support the cause of
SULAYMAN WALKER LINDH,
the
American Taliban. There was absolutely no interest. The people there
were
simply interested in collecting $800,000 for their property.
On July 6, 2002, during the
ICNA conference,
Br. Kaukab went up to the
founder of Darussalam, Safi Khan, a heavily bearded gentleman who has
studied
his Islam in Saudi Arabia. [In the latest issue of The Muslim Link, a
paper
linked to Darussalam, Safi Khan is shown in a photograph in close
conversation with the government-appointed Imam of the Haram in Makka,
AbdurRahman as-Sudais.]
The following conversation took place:
Kaukab: asalamu alaikum Safi Khan sahib, have you collected those
$800,000
Safi Khan: We are getting there.
Kaukab: You see nothing wrong with collecting $800,000?
Safi Khan: No, what do you mean?
Kaukab: You see no irony in collecting $800,000 for a tiny mosque while
the
Muslim world is suffering for lack of basic necessities?
Safi Khan: It's not a tiny mosque ...
Kaukab : Big or small, is this kind of money acceptable in Islam for a
building while Muslims are starving and lack funds even to defend
themselves in
Palestine?
Safi Khan: unh, unh, unh ....
Kaukab: You see no irony or lack of context in this kind of collection?
You
are an Islamic man and you can't understand the issue?
Safi Khan: No!
Kaukab: I guess we live in two different world: My people need basics:
Yours
need a million dollar building.
Safi Khan: I don't see what you mean?
Kaukab: May Allah learn you. asalamu alaikum
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Question arises: Is this a personal issue? It's an issue which the
Muslim
world must discuss. The Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) built a very humble
mosque
from which the greatest people arose, and he did not build it till the
Islamic power had been established. Here we have people with Saudi and
Kuwaiti connections, mocking the poverty of the people by establishing
these
‘White Elephant' projects around the country, all of which start at
$1,000,00.
NOW COMPARE WITH REAL NEEDS:
In RICHMOND, VIRGINIA,
Br. Jihad Abdul-Mumit
has established a creative
project to teach Islamic reform in the inner cities through drama and
imagination. The project needs a mere $20 to $40 thousand dollars to
travel
across the east coast to save the lives of hundreds of thousands of
teenagers. THE MONEY IS NOT THERE.
LOOK AT THE CAUSE OF
IMAM JAMIL Al-AMIN:
The Justice Fund has been depleted.
It does not have even $100,000, let alone $1 million. And this is a
NATIONAL
LEVEL CAUSE touching the lives of the entire Muslim community and even
the
entire African-American community.
A SISTER IN MCLEAN, VIRGINIA
(Pakistani origin)
has lost her children to a
man who does not want her to bring them up as "Islamic fanatics." Her
attorney has just given up her case because she can't pay the $5000
retainer.
LOOK AT MUSLIM CHARITIES: They have been closed down. The PALESTINIAN
WIDOWS
AND ORPHANS desperately need resources. But the Washington area, one of
the
richest Muslim resource areas, is being depleted of funds by Darussalam
type
of projects.
AN ISLAMIC COALITION WAS FORMED to OPPOSE THE
‘WAR ON TERROR.'
It
cannot
carry on its gatherings because funds are not available to help
activists to
travel.
In U.S. prisons, there are hundreds of thousands of inmates who have
embraced
Islam. Resources are needed to help in their rehabilitation when they
come
out. Money is scarce even for Qur'ans for those in prison, let alone
the
legal help needed.
In ATLANTA, a home for victims of domestic violence appeals every month
for
small funds, like $300 or $600, to help battered women and has a
problem
getting the funds.
There are STARVING MUSLIM CHILDREN IN BANGLADESH,
AFGHANISTAN,
SUDAN
and
SOMALIA who are the targets of missionaries. They would lose all hope
in the
concept of Muslim Ummah if they were to hear that a community of 300
people
is collecting 800,000 dollars for its property.
Is it not time for the rich Muslims to come out of the haze of their
own
holiness? There should be some Islamic justification for these million
dollar projects. All this on the basis of
ONE HADITH
torn out of context? Did
the Prophet (pbuh) ever teach that mosque building can be given a
priority
over jihad and food and health needs and basic requirements?
To start with, there should be a forum where these issues can be
discussed.
Who gave DARUSSALAM the permission to build such a costly project for
such a
small community when an Islamic school already exists in a mosque only
a few
miles away in Muslim Community Center of Silver Spring, Maryland?
Call Safi Khan and find out. His number: 301-982-9848 or 301-982-2402
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2002-07-07 Sun 09:53ct