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
---------------------------------------------------------------
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
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

2002-07-07 Sun 09:53ct