الحمد لله رب العالمين والصلاة والسلام على سيد المرسلين وعلى آله وأصحابه أجمعين
Assalamu Alaikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh,
Brothers and sisters! I am honored to be amongst you. We have gathered here for the sole purpose of seeking the pleasure of Allah (SWT). Allah must come first in our lives. It is with His blessings that all good and righteous deeds happen, and it is with His Will that we have gathered here tonight.
Alhamdulillah, for us, the groundbreaking in September 2012, the moving in into the new location in September, 2014, and our steady progress with a direction and purpose has been a long journey and an achievement for the entire community. Alhamdulillah, Allah (SWT) made this possible.
In order to update you on what’s going on in AMDA, I am pleased to let you know that Alhamdulillah, we have tried our best to broaden the range and scope of our activities.
Under the leadership of Brother Dr. Zeeshan Rizwan, we have launched the ‘Muslim Youth of AMDA (MYAMDA)—a program that empowers our youth to discharge the duties of religious and community leadership. InshaAllah, AMDA’s First Annual Youth Conference will be held on March 4th and 5th.
Talks, presentations, and workshops are conducted for our youth at frequent intervals on a wide range of topics revolving around ethics, morality, spirituality, fiqh issues, and more. MashaAllah, some of the youth of our community have begun to deliver Friday khutbas and khatiras in our Masjid while also taking part in sports events and other social and humanitarian activities. This is very encouraging and augurs well for the future. We are planning to set up a library and a basket ball court to further boost the involvement of our youth.
Alhamdulillah, while we care for our youth, we also care for our seniors. MashaAllah, Sister Marina Azim and Sister Dr. Marina are making pioneering efforts to bring about a respectful inclusion of the seniors in our community. A luncheon is being organized for them on March 13th. Also, the Friday Family Night Event on April 1st has been dedicated to honor our seniors. We are trying to evolve an ongoing program whereby our seniors feel that their presence is a blessing to the community, and that the community stands to benefit from their words of wisdom and their experience.
We want AMDA Masjid to be a place where neither our youth nor our seniors feel alienated; a place that helps them feel welcome and helps them develop their bond with the community.
We extend social and humanitarian services by cooperating and partnering with other charitable organizations such as MMCC, CAIR, Helping Hands, Zaman International, and others. We participate in food drives, help orphans, and assist in soup-kitchen activities. Recently, we joined hands with other Islamic organizations to make a humble contribution towards providing drinking water to the residents of Flint who are under the grip of a severe Water crisis.
We impart Islamic education to the adults through our Qur’an cum Arabic class and other religious discourses. Workshops and seminars are conducted by scholars and guest speakers on diverse topics. MashaAllah, our sisters hold a regular weekly halaqa to broaden and deepen their knowledge of Islam.
Our kids are exposed to Islamic education through our Sunday school. It is run and managed by a team of dedicated professionals. InshaAllah, the school will soon have its own website. As a matter of fact, because of lack of space for classrooms, we had to reluctantly stop admitting new students.
We held an event in our Masjid for the students of Central Michigan University. We visited our neighbors living in the ‘Town Village Senior Living Complex’ to introduce ourselves and to acquaint them about Islam and Muslims. Our first Masjid open house event attracted many non-Muslim visitors not only from the public but also from members of the clergy. We participate in interfaith dialogues. A couple of months back a non-Muslim brother embraced Islam by declaring the Shahada in our Masjid after the Jumu’ah prayers.
Alhamdulillah, we have begun to conduct Muslim marriage services at AMDA. We have also started to offer funeral services through arrangements made with ‘Rahman Funeral Home’ in the city of Detroit. We have published Religious Brochures for free distribution to the community. We are also a part of ‘Adopt a Road Program,’ in which our community adopts a road and does road cleaning on a day in fall. AMDA’s Friday Sandwich Program sponsored by the community members is also one of our activities. The sale proceeds from it helps us to defray some of the recurring expenditure of the Masjid. A clothing bin has been installed in the Masjid premises for people to drop off clothing and shoes for the poor and the needy.
Among some of our other activities are: an annual family picnic, a monthly family dinner, a monthly tahajjud salah in Jama’ah, a weekly khatira followed by community breakfast, and a daily recitation and reflection of a few verses from the Qur’an after Fajr prayers. During Ramadan, we have a community sponsored iftar and dinner in the Masjid on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday of every week.
MashaAllah, AMDA’s website is becoming more and more robust as we progress. Transcripts of khutbas, khatiras, talks, and tafsir of the Qur’an are uploaded regularly. Upcoming activities are posted regularly. We are working on other useful features to further improve our website.
Following the recent influx of refugees, mainly from Syria, we are going to have a panel discussion on Foster Care by a group of experts in the field on March 19th. We are working with the Red Cross to conduct a blood drive at AMDA in April or May of this year. A workshop related to funeral rites is also going to be conducted in a month or two. A seminar on Islamic Financing is to be conducted in April inshaAllah.
Brothers and sisters! After what has been said in all humility, let me now remind you and myself that the Qur’an has encouraged us again and again to spend our wealth in the way of Allah. We are reminded to do so before it is too late. Allah commands His believing servants to spend fee sabilillah from what He has granted them. The only things that will benefit them will be the good deeds that they send forward for themselves.
We should thank Allah (SWT) for the countless blessings He has blessed us with. The greatest blessing we have is the blessing of faith (iman). One of the ways to express one’s thankfulness to Allah is to worship and obey Him—to be His humble and obedient servants. And one of the ways to do that is to establish and support the institution of Masjid, one of our most important religious institutions.
Brothers and sisters! The best time to spend our wealth, for the pleasure of Allah, is now; while it’s still ours, while it means the most to us, while we still want to hold on to it. We shouldn’t put off spending our wealth for the pleasure of Allah, because tomorrow we may not have it. Tomorrow we may not be here to spend it! How many people die every day, leaving behind all kinds of wealth that is not going to help them? The Qur’an says,
مَنْ ذَا الَّذِي يُقْرِضُ اللَّهَ قَرْضًا حَسَنًا فَيُضَاعِفَهُ لَهُ أَضْعَافًا كَثِيرَةً
“Who is the one who will give Allah a good loan so that He may multiply it for him many times?” (al-Baqarah, 2:245)
Allah asks us for a good loan not because He needs it. He is ‘Al-Ghani’—Self-Sufficient; free from all needs. He asks us so that He can multiply it for us many times over. Allah is helping us out. The prophet (SAW) said,
مَنْ بَنَى لِلَّهِ مَسْجِدًا مِنْ مَالِهِ بَنَى اللَّهُ لَهُ بَيْتًا فِي الْجَنَّةِ
“Whoever builds a mosque for the sake of Allah, from his own wealth, Allah will build a house for him in Paradise.”
Allah is the One Who has given us everything that we have. He gave us our life, our faith, our health, our wealth, our provisions, our homes, our families, and countless other blessings.
وَمَا بِكُم مِّن نِّعْمَةٍ فَمِنَ اللَّهِ
“Whatever blessing you have is from Allah” (al-Nahl, 16:53).
My dear brothers and sisters! I encourage you, as well as myself, to take advantage of our wealth while it’s still ours, and to spend it fee-sabilillah. Spend, no matter how little it may be. Spend something for the sake of Allah, and do it with sincerity—with ikhlas. Do it with the hope that Allah will accept it from you. Do it with the hope that Allah will multiply it for you. Do it with the hope that it will be waiting for you on Yawm ul-Qiyamah.
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آَمَنُوا إِنْ تَنْصُرُوا اللَّهَ يَنْصُرْكُمْ وَيُثَبِّتْ أَقْدَامَكُمْ
“O you who believe! If you help Allah, He will help you and make you stand firm.”(Muhammad, 47:7)
So who will respond? Are we going to trust in Allah, or are we going to leave this for somebody else to do? Are we going to try to get this reward from Allah, or are we going to leave this reward for somebody else to claim?
AMDA’s Board of Trustees, the Advisory Board, the Board of Representatives, and the Standing Committee are humbled by the trust that you have placed in them. The construction of this Masjid, and the activities it is engaged in would not have been possible without your overwhelming support, your financial resources, your duas, your time, as well as your valuable ideas and suggestions.
May Allah (SWT) bless this Masjid; bless those who envisioned the project of this Masjid; bless the volunteers, bless you, your families, your communities, and the entire humanity. May Allah (SWT) bless us all with great reward in this world and in the hereafter. Allahumma Ameen.
أَقُولُ قَوْلِي هَذَا وَأَسْتَغْفِرُ اللَّهَ لِي وَلَكُمْ وَلِسَائِرِ المُسْلِمينَ وَالمُسْلِمَاتْ فَاسْتَغْفِرُوهْ إِنَّهُ هُوَ الْغَفُورُ الرَّحِيمُ
وصل الله عَلَى خيرِ خَلقه مُحمَّدٍ وعلى آله وأصحابه أجمعين- بِرَحْمَتِكَ يا أرْحَمَ الرَّاحِمِين
Wassalamu Alaikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.
