"Service" is a word that has been losing its meaning. We often forget that "service" is beloved by God Almighty Himself. In fact, He has made service the essence of the mission of all of His Prophets and Messengers, who worked to convey God's guidance and to show the way to achieve happiness in this world and the Hereafter. But we also remember those who believed in the prophets and helped them in their cause. They too were in the service frame of mind.
In a way, a Mosque has the faint role of exemplifying the "prophetic" mission. A Mosque, for example, helps people to gain knowledge; helps with their spiritual progress; offers strength and solace when people have doubt or are under great stress, when they mourn and when they celebrate; and a Mosque provides quiet space and retreat from the enormous pressures of the "world" and when despair crowds in. With this in mind, we should remember that serving a Mosque and its community is sacred work. It is crucial for the success of our families and preservation of our religion in this area of the world. In a well known narration by Uthman Ibn Affan, the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be on him, said, "Whoever builds a mosque, desiring thereby Allah's pleasure, Allah builds for him the like of it in paradise."
Building a Mosque needs collective community participation, pooling of resources, financial sacrifices, and, more importantly, purity of sincerity and intentions. We are in the midst of our largest expansion, which will triple our capacity (from 17,000 to 42,000 square feet), provide us with two new prayer areas for our sisters, a new prayer area for men, three baby sitting areas, a reading room and library, lecture hall for educational programs and interfaith activities, new offices for the Imams, secretary, the executive committee, and counseling, a new kitchen, a new washing area for women and men, a board and meeting room, a welcoming lobby at the entrance, all within a beautiful structure that connects aesthetically to the original Mosque building and crowned by a symbolic minaret and three additional domes.
This expansion is supported by state-of-the-art information technology infrastructure, a new audiovisual system, and a new security system. With God's grace and your generosity, we are closer to raising the funds needed to complete this unique facility, a total of approximately $5,000,000.
Long after the last brick is securely placed and the last nail is hammered, the work of "building" a mosque continues and has requirements that invite consistent work and sacrifice from the community. But this involvement is not a one-way venture. It brings untold blessings to all of those who are directly involved and to those whom we seek to reach and serve. Therefore, expansion in space is meaningless without expanding our services and our outreach. This growth requires hiring and training more staff, more volunteers, increased emphasis placed on professionalism and excellence, as well as an open-minded attitude and serious resolve in tackling our deficiencies and strengthening our competencies.
There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard and consistent work, and courage to learn from failure. It is important also to articulate an ideal that we need to keep before our eyes. It gives an objective to reach for and prevents us from falling into compliancy.
The ideal American Mosque should address the challenges facing the American Muslim community and provide its members with solutions to overcome these challenges. Some of the major internal challenges that American Muslims face are the Muslim Youth and their dissatisfaction with the current Muslim organizations and their confusion about their Islamic identity. These youth are underserved and face issues that relate to inadequate Islamic education, inefficient and often irrelevant weekend schools, family disintegration and higher rate of divorce, turning away from Mosques, leadership vacuum, ethnic focus and disunity, separation of immigrant and indigenous Muslims, intergenerational disconnect, extremism, assimilation, and marginalized role for women.
Whether you were born Muslim or have embraced the faith through conversion, whether you come to the Mosque every day or once a month, whether you are an Arab, South Asian, African-American, or Caucasian, whenever you walk into any Mosque, you must feel that you entering your Mosque. You should feel welcomed, spiritually fulfilled, intellectually satisfied, provided with relevant Islamic knowledge, and have your faith strengthened and heritage respected. You should receive social services and zakat, if you are in need. Islamic counseling should be readily available to you, or you may be referred to professional and trusted services. Finally, you should have the opportunity and means to become civically engaged with your local community and be an active citizen in your society.
In the past few years, we have seen a rise in malicious attacks against Islam and our institutions (through both words and deeds). Slander in the media and physical attacks continue to escalate. In response, we have broadened our services to the larger community and have vastly improved our civic engagement and our relations with the media and law enforcement agencies. We have joined hands with organizations such as United Power for Action and Justice and Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugees Rights. We have also reached out to Arab-based organizations, like Arab Religious Leaders of Greater Chicago, ADC, Arab American Police Association, Arab American Bar Association, AAFS, and AAAN. Moreover, we have strengthened our roles in local and national Islamic based organizations, like CAIR, CIOGC, MAS, IMAN, and ISNA. We have extended our outreach initiative with our neighbors and organizations of other faiths, focusing on local charitable initiatives, improving our interfaith dialogue, and strengthening our youth programs.
By the grace of Allah, our efforts have been very successful. Our Mosque is recognized as one of the leading Mosques in the Midwest and possibly the nation with regard to its services, charitable work, and community building. There has been more positive media coverage in both print and broadcast journalism. Many public officials have visited our Mosque. We have had several civic campaigns, including our active participation in support of comprehensive immigration reforms with our Latino brothers and sisters. Our political empowerment initiatives have led to the registration of thousands of new voters.
Our priorities in the coming years must focus on improving our core services, our educational programs and weekend school, and youth development and programs (including connecting to our youth in the public schools and colleges). We must also strive to make our Mosque more welcoming to all. Our outreach must expand so that our message reaches those who attend the Mosque and those who don't.
In order to accomplish these lofty goals, as God wills, we need a sound financial base and innovative financial solutions. For this reason, we will be launching the Mosque Foundation Endowment Fund (or Waqf) in order to secure financial stability, benefit the most from planned giving, and expand the diversity of income sources.
We have an ambitious and optimistic plan for the future, in which our community will become stronger, more focused, more open, more unified, and more empowered. In doing so, however, we must never forget that we are a community that serves others, especially the needy, the disenfranchised, the oppressed, and the misinformed.
Dr. M. Zaher Sahloul