Possessor of Highest Degree

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Now we may appreciate better the names that God gave Himself in the following verses:

He (God) is the Alpha, and the Omega. He is the Outermost, and the Innermost. He is fully aware of all things. [57:3]

…He has counted the numbers of all things. [72:28]

God Almighty who controls the whole universe has all the knowledge. He is the author of the Quran. He numerically structured the Quran (83:9) based on the number 19 (74:30). He gives us the reasons for this in verse 74:31, right after the number 19 is mentioned in the previous verse:

(1) to disturb the disbelievers,
(2) to convince the Christians and Jews (that this is a divine scripture),
(3) to strengthen the faith of the faithful,
(4) to remove all traces of doubt from the hearts of Christians,

Jews, as well as the believers, and
(5) to expose those who harbor doubt in their hearts, and the disbelievers; they will say, “What did God mean by this allegory?” God thus sends astray whomever He wills, and guides whomever He wills. None knows the soldiers of your Lord except He. This is a reminder for the people.

God surrounds everything and He possesses the Highest Degree. Glorified is the One God, there is no god besides Him.

Atef Khalifa

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 started over five 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. May God accept our efforts.

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 August 11 and 23. Hot meals and sandwiches were served to about 1000 needy people. This month’s soup kitchen services will be on September 13th and 26th.

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 Torah reading is directed by the Congregation-or-Chadash, the Gospel reading is directed by Casas Adobes congregational church members and the Quran reading by the participants from Masjid Tucson.

Soup kitchen and interfaith scripture group activities are coordinated by Senobar Tafazoli.