On this blessed day of Jummah, the ISB community has an urgent goal to achieve: And it’s all up to you, inshaAllah.
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As’salamu Alaikum,
This is your brother, Hasan Hammad. If there is something the past 6 weeks of devastating news of our brothers and sisters in Gaza has taught us – it’s Tawakkul (Trust in Allah ﷻ), strong Eman (Faith in Allah ﷻ), and Resilience. Every day, we see the hardship, unfair treatment, inhumane atrocities committed against our brothers and sisters, but we also see their strength to persevere through it all. In the midst of all the chaos in Gaza, we see our brothers and sisters stand firm. When it’s time for Salah, they pray – even when they are under attack. When they have little food and water, they care about the rights of others and feeding them first before themselves. When they are being pulled from under the rubble, our sisters stand firm and want to come out modest and refuse to come out without their hijab on. Their children, when they are asked how they feel, all they say is “Allah ﷻ is sufficient for us” and they show courage and say they aren’t going anywhere. The elders in Gaza are saying what? “We will rebuild and get stronger” Allahu Akbar. I pray we all can learn from these role model faithful believers in Gaza and that we are able to pass this test that Allah has put on us as a broader community.
Our brothers and sisters are being challenged day by day in practicing their Deen and are meeting those challenges with honor and strength. We pray Allah ﷻ make it easy on our brothers and sisters in Gaza. We pray Allah ﷻ give them success and grant them all Jannah without Hisab, for what they are going through. We pray Allah forgive us for our shortcomings and allow the struggles of our brothers and sisters serve as a reminder to us to wake up and get our affairs in order. Ameen.
The Muslims around the world must learn from their resilience and stand firm as well. We must continue to grow, get stronger, become better worshipers, and correct our wrongs while we still have the chance to do so.
Here at home, at ISB, we have been doing what we can as a community to prioritize our efforts, our duas, our programs, our khutbahs, and our free time on whatever little we can do to support our brothers and sisters in Gaza. Make no mistake, we will not stop doing so. Whatever is in our power, insha’Allah our community will step up and do. We will continue to support them, through our donations, our duas, and our efforts to organize and speak truth to power.
We will also learn from our brothers and sisters in Gaza and continue to educate our community and strive to be a prophetic one inshallah. We will continue to give dawah and be exemplar citizens of this country who act as faithful ambassadors of Islam in America. We will continue to grow in our Deen, and teach our families our Deen, and strengthen our Eman. We will continue to practice the Sunnah and build prophetic character. We will continue to grow inshallah as a Muslim Community in America.
Now, I know our hearts are set and focused on our brothers and sisters in Gaza, as our hearts should be. But we must continue to take care of our community as well, and take care of it, and strengthen it, so that we can be strong for them when they need us.
ISB has an opportunity to purchase another parcel of land adjacent to what it owns today. This property is nearly two acres of land and sits only a few doors down from our Community Health Clinic. Alhamdulillah, over the years, our footprint on Johnnycake Road has been growing, and our path to the future has been slowly becoming clearer with each property we acquire. Alhamdulillah, this growth has been made possible of course through the help and will of Allah ﷻ , and through the help of our generous community members like yourselves. This land may one day be a home of great programs, activities, functions, schools, clinics, senior’s facilities, and much more in the future. What exactly will it be in the future? Allah ﷻ knows – and He is the best of planners. But one thing is for sure – If we don’t buy this land – then there is no future for it.
Anas ibn Malik reported: A man said, “O Messenger of Allah, should I tie my camel and trust in Allah, or should I leave her untied and trust in Allah?” The Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ), peace and blessings be upon him, said, “Tie her and trust in Allah.”
Today – we need to tie our camel – and put our trust in Allah ﷻ that we will reap the rewards of this land purchase in our future.
We have until December 8th to close on this property, and we need your help. We have 1 chance to get this right. Give what you can and help us continue on the growth of ISB for our future generations.
We pray Allah ﷻ blesses you and your families immensely and rewards you with the best of this world, and the next. Ameen
Jazakallahu Khairan,
Hasan Hammad
ISB President
Give now, or share the cause at isb.org/NewLand
