9/30/12: Semi-Annual Fundraising Successfully

Islamic House of Wisdom Celebrates 

Semi-Annual Fundraising Successfully

Sept. 30, 2012

Dearborn Heights-- Islamic House of Wisdom celebrated

Sunday, September 30, its Semi-Annual Fundraising Dinner successfully, attracting  clergy, community and interfaith leaders, professionals and community members. Dignitaries included Members of Shia-Sunni Clergy, Judge David Turfee, Osama Siblini the publisher of Arab American News, Hajj Noha Fakih representing the Lebanese Consulate Bilal Kabbani, Hajji Nawal Hamdeh the founder of Hamedah Educational Services, Father Michael Hovey representing Archbishop Allen Henry Vigneron and Rev. David Kasbow the local leader of Family Federation.

Islamic House of Wisdom is one the largest and most active Muslim institutions in the North America in terms of community services, interfaith dialogue and outreach. In addition to religious and social programs, it hosts Arabic & Islamic schools, Girl Scouts and numerous valuable services.

Dr. Mohammad Ajjour, founding chairman of Islamic House of Wisdom was the first speaker who welcomed the guests of IHW. Dr. Ajjour shared some words about the contributions of Islam to human civilization and admired the leadership of Imam Elahi and sincere services of IHW to the community. Dr. Ajjour emphasized on the importance of supporting IHW in its mission of educating the society against bigotry and hate.

The keynote Speaker of the dinner was the spritual leaader of IHW, Imam Mohammad Ali Elahi who welcomed everyone and dedicated the theme of his talk to Prophet Mohammad's (pbuh) moral character.

Imam stated that all God's Ambassadors on this earth shared the same mission: removal of the darkness of ignorance from human life with the light of logic and love. The Prophets came to revolutionize human minds and hearts with spirit of Divine revelation.

The Messengers of God called for peace, justice, freedom, human rights and dignity. All stood against the evil of arrogance, injustice and oppression!

Imam Elahi spoke about the mission of God's last Messenger saying, Prophet Mohammad (pbuh) was the continuity of God's gift and blessing to humanity. He was sent to complete the moral mission of his brothers with main emphases on education and purification!

The Imam mentioned some examples of the Prophet's (pbuh) moral characteristics. In the battle of Ohod, when he was attacked and some of his teeth were broken and his forehead was bleeding, instead of cursing his enemies, he prayed for them saying " O Lord please forgive them, they are only ignorant". After liberation of Mecca, everyone was expecting him to revenge for being under persecution of the pagans for 20 years, but he made one simple statement. "O people of Mecca, you are forgiven and free".

Imam Elahi said the best way of defending the prophet is to win over our internal jihad and overcome our biggest enemies- our ego, greed, selfishness, jealousy and arrogance.

The best way to defend the Prophet (pbuh) is to do it through our actions, feeding the hungry, contributing to communities, mosques, schools and donating blood to the needy in the hospitals.

Imam Elahi called extremism whether political or religious of any faith a cancer for the body of humanity and said we all need to stand united against this disease which is hurting the whole world.

Imam considers investment on the youth and saving them from the danger of extremism an important challenge for the community.

Imam Elahi admired the young leaders who received the plaques in recognition of their dedication and educational achievements and asked for a new strategy to save the youth who dropout of school and ruin their lives with drugs and alcohol.

He said the current Islamophobia promoted by hate, greed, ignorance and irresponsibility is hurting the entire world and asked the community to show more support for Islamic House of Wisdom and other organizations that are in the front line of fighting this social cancer.

Dr. Ron Pelley representing Boy and Girl Scouts of Michigan participated in the dinner with his wife Faith. He hailed IHW and Imam Elahi's efforts to reach out to the various communities and emphasized the necessity to respect Islam and Muslims.

During the dinner, Islamic House of Wisdom honored several young members of the community for their leadership and community services.

The awardees included Mariam Turfe, who was accepted to Yale and is studying biology; Samer Hijazi, who is a journalist at the American Arab News; Zeinab Hussein, a medical contact worker with the state of Michigan and a candidate for the Dearborn Heights Crestwood School District; Dewnya Bazzi, an attorney with Romanzi Atnip and an activist, Zena Elhassan, who is a Wayne County's Corporation Counsel and a community leader and Hamid Souedan, who is a business owner and serves on the board of the Dearborn Heights Crestwood School District.

Islamic House of Wisdom and its Board of Directors thank all the sponsors, supporters and volunteers for making the fundraiser successful and we look forward to continue this wonderful community in the path of God. May God bless us all.

For more information about Islamic House of Wisdom, please contact us

at 313-359-1221 or at info@islamichouseofwisdom.com. Please send us your thoughts about the dinner!