Masjid Tucson Activities
Soup Kitchen
We participate in an ongoing project to help feed the hungry in
our town in cooperation with Casas Adobes Congregational Church
and Congregation Whovarin, Temple Emanuel Jewish groups. This project
was started in 1993. By God’s grace, we feed about 400 homeless
and poor families every month.
We use the kitchen facilities of Casa Maria, a Catholic run operation
in south of Tucson. We also use the facility of Masjid Tucson (ICS
Center) to prepare 600 sandwiches the day before since Casa Maria
kitchen is too small for our group. More or less three volunteers
from each group make the sandwiches. Children also participate in
making the sandwiches. They are great helpers.
Volunteers from the three communities run the soup kitchen. These
volunteers get together once a month. They buy all the necessary
food for the soup kitchen. They prepare, cook and distribute the
food the next day at the Casa Maria’s kitchen facility.
Interfaith Study Group
An interfaith scripture study group has been on going at the ICS
Center (Masjid Tucson) for years. The group meets generally at 7:30
p.m. on the first Monday of every month. During the study, each
group reads and discusses their scripture for about half an hour.
These stuidies are helpful. For example, Congregation Or Chadash
group frequently publishes selected verses from the Quran in their
newsletters.
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Let_the_World_Know Project
Free Qurans to Libraries anywhere in the world upon approval
We are looking for volunteers who will help us to place the Qurans
in Public, University, Prison, or Hospital libraries. There is a
high demand for the Quran translations in the libraries to learn
more about Islam. Let us make an effort to spread the message of
True Islam (Submission) to the people looking for information on
Islam. Let us provide them the correct message so that they realize
the beauty, peacefulness and universality of the religion despite
the “corrupted” image reflected by some people and countries.
It has been our experience that unsolicited mailing of the Qurans
to libraries does not accomplish much. Therefore, we have an on-going
project called Let_the_World_Know to place the Qurans into the libraries
with the help of volunteers.
God willing the work required of the volunteers is to solicit the
libraries and to offer them a complimentary copy of the English
translation of the Quran by Dr. Rashad Khalifa, to see if they would
be interested. You can talk to the librarians about placing the
Qurans in their library, either in person or by phone or email.
If they accept the offer, all you need to do is to let us know the
name the librarian you have spoken to and the address. God willing
we will mail the Qurans directly to them from Masjid Tucson with
a cover letter. Just write to us when you know of a library where
we can place a copy of the Quran.
Please get involved. You can start checking out your local libraries
to see if they have copies of English translation of the Quran by
Dr. Khalifa. This could be your chance to earn extra credit in the
cause of God. You can write to us, |
or check out our web
page . There are some helpful hints about how to reach out to
the libraries. There is also a list of libraries that have already
been contacted so that the efforts are not duplicated.
Speaking on Islam
We have been invited to speak about Islam at a forum of 65 or more
people in Tubac, a small town south of Tucson. We were told that
they will have a standing room only group when someone from our
mosque addresses them. Those attending are divided 50/50 between
working people and retirees.
Below is what they want from us:
The Forum's interest in your religion goes well beyond a simple
understanding of its precepts. There is becoming, perhaps in the
general population, a growing concern that the concept of Islam
is not compatible with democracy.
It appears to some that, at the time of 911, few believers in the
religion of Islam, whether or not Americans, spoke out against the
terrorists. Some believe that this is because Islam believes that
non believers are corrupt in the eyes of Allah. We see terrorist
leaders saying that only by accepting Allah can we be saved and
that if we don't accept Allah, then it is alright to murder the
non believers, once they have been given the choice. This we hear,
is the belief of even moderate Muslims. Submission to God, therefore,
is only valid if it comes from the Muslim perspective.
We also wonder why women appear to be inferior to men in the eyes
of Islam, subjected to the will of men and, apparently, second class
citizens.
We invite you to come to clarify these issues for us.
So God willing that is exactly what we are planning to do. |