Azher Quader, President, CBC
Remarks at the CBC Banquet 2013
From the very beginning the idea of Community Builders has existed on the belief that for us to matter in life, there is much more needed and required for us to give and to build than to give for or to build up our mosques and Islamic Centers alone. As important as those institutions are in the religious life of our community they cannot fulfill the larger ambitions and aspirations of those individuals who desire to do more and serve the needs of the greater society.
With the passage of time we are today more convinced than ever before of the validity of this belief; that the scope of worship goes far beyond the walls of any mosque. That the purpose of our life is to serve the other and in so doing to serve our Creator.
On the surface this idea of service seems quite simple and easy to accept, but in practice we have found it loses both its simplicity and its attraction. We are inclined by our nature to serve ourselves than to serve the other, to accumulate than to disseminate, to consume than to contribute, to collect than to dispense.
We live in a world of competing interests and conflicting wants. A world that is more connected by technology than any time in our history yet appears to be increasingly isolated from itself and unfamiliar with the warmth of the human touch.
When we embarked upon this exciting journey of building community over a decade ago, we wanted thru our networking forums to help our businesses in the community grow, we wanted to promote the work of our nonprofit organizations by giving them a platform to speak from, and hold some thought provoking discussions on various issues of community interest, in order to have an open discussion with no fear of reprimand from any religious or secular authority. We wrote extensively on these issues as well and circulated them thru emails. Many of you are victims of this abuse from us. More recently our ways have turned digital, we now record all the discussions and post them as audio clips on our emails. Someday soon we hope to post them as videos as well.
Our idea of building an empowered community thru this process was obviously very naive. Change in human behavior is not easy, tends to be unpredictable and often slow. Yet we had dreamers among us that gave us hope and inspiration that someday more will follow their footsteps. Such were our heroes, Rami at IMAN, Wasiullah Khan at East West, AliNiazee at Northwest Suburban, Ashfaq at UMMA, Ahmed Rehab at CAIR, Munir Chaudry at IFANCA, Malik Mujahid at Radio Islam, Itedal Shalabi & Nariman Taha at Arab American , Anisha Patel at MWA, Naazish at Refugees Assistance, Ayesha & Gafoor at CCN, all provided awesome examples of the power of vision and the phenomenal possibilities and influence one person can have.
As our favorite poet philosopher Iqbal would declare:
“Zara nam ho tho ye mitti bahut zarqaize hai saaqi”
This soil is full of productive capacity if it just gets some water to nourish it.
Community Building we have always believed is a multi-dimensional task, which requires careful attention to at least in our opinion, seven key areas of personal and interpersonal living.
1.Faith,
2.Family,
3.Finance,
4.Education,
5.Health Care,
6.Civic Engagement and
7.Culture.
Leadership naturally belongs to that community which excels in all or most of these important dimensions of societal life.
We believe it starts from faith, which builds character and ends with civic engagement, a pre requisite for political empowerment, the final frontier. We also believe that when family values decay then communities destruct. It is the slow undoing of family values that worries us the most in our nation today. While some may negate the importance of culture, we have never hesitated from embracing it. Our language, our music, our traditions and our literary heritage are elements of great emotional and intellectual significance that can neither be ignored nor denied. Indeed they need to be nurtured and celebrated. Furthermore, no community can exist without attending to the health care needs of its members, providing them with access and quality care therefore is on our mind as well. Finally the puzzle of community building will remain unsolved without emphasis on education as a gateway for economic and financial prosperity, for which we have continuously advocated.
So that is the big picture we see. We are fully aware that not everyone sees this picture the same as we do. We certainly have no illusions of representing the vast number of Muslims in Chicago but we hope that some of you here tonight at least see this picture as we do. Ultimately as we throw deeper roots in America we will build community. The question for us to ask is how strong and how successful will that community be. There is a lot of good in America to adopt, its freedoms and its opportunities to be sure. But there are concerns as well. We need to offer alternatives when we can, creative solutions from the richness of our traditions we possess.
The work of community building is a collective endeavor and requires the help of powerful networks. Our monthly Networking Forums which are copied on the model of the Rotary Clubs and Lions Clubs are designed to give people an opportunity to build such networks. Our topic centered Educational Workshops have provided education on issues of family and finance. Prior to elections they have provided information on such contested issues of the day as immigration, economy, health care and gun control to name a few. Our program of Community Blood Drives we initiated last summer, which netted over 200 units of blood, is meant to encourage a spirit of giving and community engagement. Our Career Mentoring Program is meant to provide opportunities for our youth to experience the daily grind of professions they are considering to pursue.
Our advocacy in the area of civic engagement is enormously needed and extremely important. If we are to overcome Islamophobia, protect our youth from radicalization and gain political empowerment this path has to be pursued.
All these ideas to be promoted and accepted within our community require resources both human and financial. So in the end I would appeal for your help. If you have the time and the talent to offer, offer your services for this work. If not consider donating whatever you can so we may hire the help that we need, that can get the job done.
Thank you for your support. May Allah bless you and reward you all.
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