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"Awesome Task" In Chicago
by Ayub Khan
CHICAGO, May 28 (IslamOnline) - Around 1800 Muslims gathered at Arie Crown Theater in Chicago on Sunday for the Nawawi Foundation's "The Awesome Task: Continuing the Prophetic Mission In America" program.
The program was organized to both educate Muslims of their responsibilities, as well as to seek endowments and funds for the Nawawi foundation. Speaker after speaker said that Muslims in America are here to stay, and that they have an awesome responsibility to proclaim the truth of Islam to the masses.
Ingrid Mattson, Imam Zaid Shakir, Umar Faruq Abd-Allah, Abdallah Idris Ali and Imam Hamza Yusuf spoke at the event.
Imam Zaid Shakir, director of DEEN Inc., said that there is goodness and virtue among Americans witnessed by the fact that they spent $203 billion in charity last year.
Shakir said that people around the world are benefiting with the ingenuity and inventions of the Americans. Muslims must recognize these positive aspects of American society and give glad tidings of Islam to them.
Muslims must also serve as warners to them about the spiraling moral decay occurring within the country. Muslims must tell them that true happiness cannot be found in the illusions like material wealth and carnal lusts.
Imam Shakir, giving the example of telemarketers, said that Muslims have the best product, then why are we hesitating to spread the message.
The Prophet (SAW) was a shining light and we should also strive be one. He said Jewish and Christian organizations collect billion dollars every year. The 10 million Muslims in the United States, who also have considerable economic power, can do the same, he said.
Umar Faruq Abd-Allah, scholar-in-residence and chairman of the Nawawi Foundation, who has taught at several U.S. universities, and also at King Abdul Aziz and Jeddah Universities in Saudi Arabia, said that Islam is not an alien transplant in America. It has existed on this great double continent for hundreds of years.
In his presentation, Abd-Allah cited archeological and historical evidence proving that Muslims indeed have been on the North and South American continent much before the arrival of Europeans.
He produced photographs of 13th and 14th century sculptures of Muslim rulers found in Mexico.
In 1410, the brother of the King of Mali sent two expeditions to the Americas.
Ottoman geographers and cartographers, like Piri Rei and Hajji Ahmed, produced remarkably accurate maps of the world and even reported on the arrival of Columbus to the so-called New World.
In 1492, when Columbus arrived in Cuba, he even reported seeing a domed mosque-like structure and recognized them, and chose to keep away from them.
Columbus also sited Muslim ships off the coast of Jamaica and noted that the women were covered in hijab. Similarly, other explorers like Cortez and Pizzaro knew that Muslims had been in the continent before them.
Speaking on the second wave of arrival of Muslims in Americas, who were brought as slaves, he said they were the people of immense pride, strength, knowledge and fortitude.
Muslims, in fact led many of the rebellions in the Dominican Republic and other places, for which the Spanish feared them. Realizing the potential dangers of Muslims, the Spanish used to immediately kill any African found in American-Indian villages.
Abd-Allah gave the example of Shaheed Pedro, who was boiled alive in Mexico in 1540 for giving Dawah to the Indians. Similarly, Luis Solano was burned at the stake in Peru for the same "crime".
In modern times, he said Muhammad Alexander Russell Webb (d.1916) and Malcolm X (d.1965) were the last great Muslim heroes of America. Speaking of Malcolm, he said that he was a cultural hero who set America on the right path.
Abd-Allah said Muslims have an awesome task here in this country and that we need all the elements of our community. Our task is a civilizational task, and we cannot be torn in this world. We must forget about the false return syndrome of going back to our original countries he said. We, Muslims in America, have inherited a great past and we must build on it. An awesome future springs from an awesome past, he said.
Sheikh Hamza Yusuf, prominent speaker and founder of the Zaytuna Institute, said that the "Awesome Task" is really a preparation for the "Awesome Day"; the Day of Judgment.
Yusuf said a Muslim's real power is in intention. Describing the Nawawi Foundation as an atomic bomb of the ummah, he said that knowledge is power. Muslims must come out of their shells and play the historic role they are destined for.
He said weakness is actually a power. He gave the example of the early Christians who were oppressed, but with their inward power changed the powerful empire of Rome. He said a slave's attribute is his powerlessness, and Muslims who are slaves of Allah can change the destiny of the world for the better.
Our weaknesses should drive us, he said.
Yusuf said that this great country has its flaws which can be smoothened just as running river smoothens the stones, and urged Muslims to carry out their responsibilities and remember Allah at all times.
Abdallah Idris Ali headed the fundraising activities, targeted at half a million dollars. The organizers did not give a figure of how much money they had raised, but it seemed they were close to their goal.
The Nawawi Foundation, which has been attracting a lot of youth to its specialized classes in Islamic studies, aims to disseminate the knowledge of Islam and provide guidance for Muslims in the West.
It has undertaken a momentous task to make the Qur'an and Sunnah, their interpretation, and commentaries, into the English language, and foster sound research, translation, writing, and media production in cognate fields. It also proposed to establish endowments, libraries, and other research facilities.
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