February 2003: Page 1, 2, 3, 4

Submitters Perspective

Page 4

MASJID TUCSON United Submitters International

PO Box 43476 Tucson AZ 85733-3476 USA

Tel/Fax: (520) 323 7636

Masjid Tucson site: http://www.masjidtucson.org

Masjid Tucson e-mail: info@masjidtucson.org

Happiness is
Submission to God Alone

ISSN 1089-053X

  
 

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-or-Chadash Jewish group. This project has started over ten years ago with soup kitchens every other month. Then we started doing it every month in 1997. However, since May 1998, we were able to do a soup kitchen twice a month because of the increased interest and contributions from the community by God’s grace. Instead of feeding 300 people, we now feed 700 to 1000 homeless and poor people.

We use the kitchen facilities of Casa Maria, a Catholic run operation in south of Tucson. We also use the facility of Masjid Tucson to prepare the sandwiches before hand since Casa Maria kitchen is very tiny for the number of people that need to be fed.

Volunteers from the three communities run the soup kitchen. These volunteers get together twice 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. The last month’s soup kitchen participation was on Jan 11 and 25. Hot meals and sandwiches were served to about

1000 needy people. May God accept the efforts of the volunteers.

Interfaith Study Group

An interfaith scripture study group has been on going at the ICS Mosque since October 1997. The group started meeting at 7:30 p.m. on the first Tuesday of every other month. So far these scripture studies have been very fruitful and lively. During the study, each group reads and discusses their scripture for about half an hour. The congregation-or-Chadash group directs the Torah reading. Casas Adobes congregational church members direct the Gospel reading and the participants from Masjid Tucson direct the Quran reading.

Sister Senobar coordinates the soup kitchen and interfaith scripture group activities.

Righteousness is not turning your faces towards the east or the west. Righteous are those who believe in GOD, the Last Day, the angels, the scripture, and the prophets; and they give the money, cheerfully, to the relatives, the orphans, the needy, the traveling alien, the beggars, and to free the slaves; and they observe the Contact Prayers (Salat) and give the obligatory charity (Zakat); and they keep their word whenever they make a promise; and they steadfastly persevere in the face of persecution, hardship, and war. These are the truthful; these are the righteous. [Quran 2:177]

Reader Comments

Peace

I’m an Egyptian man living in the US myself who was born and raised to follow the traditional form of Islam and by God’s grace was guided to the true version. You know what made me start looking deeper and question my own be-liefs.

My wife is a born and raised American like yourself and she’s a Christian (not a traditional one and doesn’t belong to any denomination). It all started by trying to see what our faiths had in common, then I started getting deeper in my studies and I started questioning things I was taught and raised to believe without questioning.

I’ve been studying different religions for about 5 years now and I’m convinced this is the true path. But again that’s my own belief and I can’t force it on anyone. After 5 years of marriage and 3 kids to-gether (5 in all), my wife is still a Christian and I still love the special relationship she has with God.
C. S.

“Your own soul is nourished when you are kind, but you destroy yourself when you are cruel.” Proverbs 11:17