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PIIN Training Leaders for tomorrow!
Education of Military Families
Islamic Center of Pittsburgh hosts a PIIN Meeting
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180 Christian Youth
Alhamdulillah, this week, our Outreach program welcomed to the ICP a group 180 Christians form across the United States. The group was led by Mr. Jay Bell, the Director of the group called Internationals, USA, a ministry of Grace Brethren International Missions.
During the educational visit to our Center Imam 'AbduSemi'h A. Tadese presented a PowerPoint presentation entitled: "Islam in America Today”. Please see the attached photos. This pedagogy was used to educate the group in an organized fashion. We had the honor of having Imam Muhammad Hilal – our new incoming President and Imam Atef Hamed who participated in the program, answering the questions from the audience.
Website for the group: |
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PIIN Training Leaders for tomorrow!
Saturday, May 30 a group from the ICP attended a
leadership conference organized by PIIN. This conference was part
of PIIN's Operation Holy Ground Project, which is a project designed
to enable us as congregations to come together and be agents of
change in our communities by spreading values of respect,
understanding, and peace. The leadership training began with an
introduction to faith and value based organizing. Then, everyone
discussed as a group the importance of building relationships
through one-on-one conversations. We practiced having one-on-one
conversations with one another, trying to listen to each other and
build relationships within and among our congregations. The goal of
this exercise is that in the future, by having more of these
conversations, we will be able to determine what motivates each of
us, to find other leaders like us, and join together in pursuit of a
common goal.
Around 2:30, we met together as an ICP team to make some decisions
about how our congregation will begin to take action on this
project. We discussed a few issues like immigration and health care
that concern the Muslim community as a whole--but the most important
issue we discussed is how we can show people the true nature
of our community and our religion, and this will be the
subject of our first planning meeting, which we will have as an ICP
congregation. This meeting will take place on June 20th at 6:00 in
the ICP. Finally, the leadership training concluded with some
reports and closing remarks.
PIIN has drafted a strategic calendar for 2009 with the schedule for
further trainings, meetings, and sessions. The next meeting is
called the AALC June tenth Conference, and it will be taking place
on June 11 and 12 in Kansas City. We were invited, but I told them
that we could not attend since this is the weekend of our ICP Camp.
However, there is another conference from August 9-15 in Chicago, so
I told them that maybe we could attend.
Overall, I think that this particular training was beneficial for
all who attended. It was nice to see a group of truly motivated
people who are tired of just talking and sitting around, and who
have committed themselves to being forces of change in their
community at large.
Atef Mahgoub
Ibnolislam.
In a program organized by Penn State University,
we participated in Educating Iraqi Military Families' Children at
the Science Center about Islam, Arab and Muslim culture.
This event was held at the Science Center even
the children of the American Military family got to dress in Arab
garb.
The event brought the real Islamic knowledge closer to the children
and
families, especially when some of them actually dressed in veils and
tasted some Middle Eastern foods. The children had fun and got
educated at the same time.
Imam Abdusemih
On February 21, 2008, a group
from the East Suburban Unitarian Universalist Church in Murrysville
PA brought a group of Junior High Students to the ICP. These
youth were part of a Religious Education Class. Below are the comments
from the Youth who visited the that day, and attended Imam Abdusemih's
presentation.
"It was very well presented and I got allot of
good information..."
"It really opened my eyes to everything!"
"I am surprised at the thought I have now. I can
appreciate your religion now that I know about it"
---Steven
A professor at
"I
really enjoyed myself ... And Mr. Tadese cleaned
up some myths."
--Tenishia
"Very interesting. I could have listened to you talk for hours,
you have explained many of my misconceptions."
---
"The experience
opened my eyes to many things regarding Islam. It erased a lot of
misconceptions I had. I now have a
totally new outlook
regarding Islam."
"It
was very good. You answered my questions before I asked them."
---Scott
"I
enjoyed the honest and frank discussion about
both the similarities and differences of the Muslim
religion and other religions"
---Anna
A Visit from
On Tuesday February 17th, after Dhuhr prayer between 1:00 and 2:30
PM, a group of eight people from
Before their visit to the ICP, they had already met with several
priests from the
Overall, the group was very impressed with the Islamic Center of
Pittsburgh, our size, and the number of programs we are currently
providing. I hope that they all learned something from our
meeting, and that their visit proved beneficial to them in their
exploration of different faiths.
Atef Mahgoub
Ibnolislam.
Assalaamu alaykum warahmatullah wabarakatuh,
unlimited and from time to time
we interact with Muslims as well as non Muslims. Therefore, as Muslims we ask Allah first and foremost for support.
The Islamic Center of Pittsburgh invited the PIIN
organization to hold their monthly meeting at the center on February
12th. It went outstanding; the members said how much they
loved to come to the center, and seemed to feel very at home in the
ICP. We presented them with a wonderful dinner cooked by one of our
sisters, and also took the opertunity to place some dawa books out
for them, and invite the women to the ladies coffee hour. Thus
giving them the chance to learn and hopefully understand the Islamic
religion a bit more inshallah. Both of the imam’s and the office
manager were present to meet and welcome the 40 women and men that
attended the meeting. Alhumdallah they all seemed to leave with a
smile.
"Inna Allaaha la yughayyiru maa biqaomen hatta yughayyiru maa bi anfusehem" meaning, "Verily, Allah would not change the condition of people until they change that is within their selves." We at the ICP have chosen the policy of engaging those who show no enmity towards us based on Suratul Mumtahinnah, Ayah 8 and 9__.
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The Islamic
"Sanctity of Human Life:
A Shared Covenant Before God"
ered
on the sanctity of human life; a common tenet shared by all
Abrahamic faiths.
5:32 On that account: We ordained for the Children of Israel that if
any one slew a person for no right
or for spreading mischief in the land - it would be as if he
slew all mankind: and if any one saved a life, it would be as if he
saved the life of all mankind….
30:41 Mischief has appeared on land and sea because of (the
injustice) that the hands of men have wrought…
In recent weeks we have been once again reminded of the injustice
and oppression that humans are capable of bringing upon their own
brethren. Images from
At
the same time, we find it an auspicious sign that our President,
himself a representative of a people long oppressed, has started his
tenure with a concerted effort to bring about peace and justice for
a tortured population in the holy land.
In response to the despicable massacres against civilians in Gaza,
in hope for a better future for mankind under the dominion of a Just
and Loving God, in recognition of the struggle of the African
American people and in appreciation of Black History month; ICP in
collaboration with Pittsburgh Interfaith Impact Network, invited our
neighbors, friends and all peace loving people to this interfaith
activity.
Allah subhanahu wata'aala knows the interests of the Muslims
may require that they work with non Muslims who show no enmity
towards them. Therefore, the Islamic Center of Pittsburgh is in a
position to work with Pittsburgh Interfaith
Impact Network in order to foster a cooperation that would engender
an atmosphere for future collaboration in many aspects of life,
specifically in the city of
By Allah's grace, the Islamic Center of Pittsburgh invited PIIN
President, Rev. John Welch to the Center to demonstrate our
commitment to work with all affiliate groups under the umbrella of
PIIN, and the event was indeed a successful one. Our sincere
gratitude goes to PIIN leadership, organizers, and all those who
attended the Panel it was quite memorable events. To all the
Brothers and Sisters, who helped to organize the event, Jazakum
Allahu khayra.
--
Imaam 'AbduSemi'
عبد السّـميع
Imaam and Outreach Coordinator