4-23-17: NAACP Dinner begins with Prayer- Highlights of Imam Elahi's Prayer
Thousands of people stood up and respectfully listened to Islamic, Christian and Jewish Opening Invocations in Today’s NAACP Fight for Freedom Dinner at the Cobo Center in Detroit Michigan!
Before addressing this amazing annual assembly, I had a chance of meeting and having short conversations with many political and religious leaders including:
Congresswoman Debbie Dingell, Congressman John Conyers, Senator Stabenow, Senator Gary Peters, Mayor Mike Duggan of Detroit, Rev. Dr. Wendell Anthony the president of NAACP, Donnell White the Executive Director, Eric Sabree of Wayne County Treasury, Rev. Greg Roberts, Rabbi Yisrael Pinson and many more.
It was an amazing day of outreach and engagement. Islamic House of Wisdom is blessed with all these opportunities and fulfillment.
I was happy to see Br. Osama Siblani and Br. Nasser Beydoun during the dinner.
This is the text of my humble Invocation. During the invocation I tried to take an extra step to point out the suffering of other nations, such as Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and Bahrain!
Imam Elahi's opening prayer at NAACP dinner in Detroit 4/23/17
I am so humbled and happy to be part of 62nd Annual Fight For Freedom Dinner this evening, honoring the NAACP for over a century of services and sacrifices for the sake of people who suffer from poverty, racism and discrimination.
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
Salaam alaikum (peace be with you all)
In Your name, O Lord of love and justice, peace and endless possibilities.
O Lord You promised both in the Bible and the Quran to make the weak and the oppressed the examples and the inheritors of this earth.
Thank you, O Lord for giving NAACP and all of us an opportunity and determination to be part of this struggle, to try to make the miracle of Your mercy and justice shining for all.
O Lord help our entire nation to join this journey of justice, and speak up against the evil of hypocrisy, dishonesty, discrimination, war, extremism, terrorism, death and destruction.
O Lord, we have lost our hope and trust, on those who chose to worship money, might, domination and devil over the Divine, , but we would never lose our hope, faith and trust in You and the universal messages of justice, human dignity, unity and brotherhood, You sent us through Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Mohammad (pbut).
O Lord, our world is thirsty of justice, freedom, peace, prosperity, reconciliation, forgiveness, friendship, solidarity, togetherness and cooperation!
Give us vision, courage and energy to replace racism with righteousness, discrimination with dignity, segregation with sympathy, hatred with love and empathy.
Please answer our prayers, provide protection, comfort, hope and healing for those who cry of pain, poverty, hunger and insecurity from the women and children in our neighborhoods to the suffering refugees, the victims of warmongering and terrorism in Africa and Middle East specially women and children in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, Libya and Bahrain and Nigeria.
Tonight we ask You to Bless NAACP dinner, bless our community, our country and our humanity, Amen!
PS
I invited some of those officials to Islamic House of Wisdom Dinner for this coming Sunday at 2:00pm.
Check your chance, you may win ziyarat of Imam Hussein, Imam Reda and other holy shrines in Iraq and Iraq during this dinner. The raffle is just for $10 and you may win more than $4000 for all the trip expenses.