Knowledge and Action!

Across the United States and Canada, AlMaghrib Institute is conducting social service initiatives to help people in need. 

Since its start locally in 2001 as a part of the Dar-us-Salaam community, North America’s largest Islamic education project with a growing student body of 9,000 has challenged its students to embrace their identity as Muslim citizens.  How so? Not just by seeking Islamic knowledge in preparation for the Hereafter, but by giving back to their local communities to improve the societies in which they live. The results have been felt coast to coast, as students in 16 cities hosting AlMaghrib seminars have galvanized to perform collective Sadaqa or “acts of giving”.  These acts of charity include feeding the poor, volunteering in homeless shelters, and providing assistance to children in need.

Why the emphasis on social services? The enhancement of humanity’s welfare is intrinsic to Islam.  Allaah (subhanahu wa ta’ala) is The Merciful and All-Compassionate, and the Qur’an and Sunnah are replete with guidance to help the less fortunate.  “(Charity is) for those in need, who, in Allaah’s cause, are restricted (from travel) and cannot move about in the land, seeking (trade or work).  The ignorant man thinks that because of their modesty that they are free from want.  Thou shall know them by their unfailing mark: they beg not importunely from all and sundry.  And whatever of good ye give, be assured Allaah knows it well.”  (Al Baqarah, Verse 273)

Some AlMaghrib tribes have turned their efforts to feeding the homeless.  In the Greater Washington DC area, Nurayn (Light of the Eye) Tribe volunteers have hooked up with The Dinner Program, to provide a healthy supper to women every night. In New Jersey, the Durbah (Pursuit of Excellence) Tribe volunteers at Elijah’s Promise Soup.  One student referred to his experience as “eye opening and humbling” as he sees the response of gratitude in the eyes of the people he served. In San Francisco, the Haadi (Pacific) Tribe conducts a large-scale feed the homeless campaign. In Atlanta, the Salaam (Peace) Tribe works with the Muslim organization “Giving Back to Humanity” every Sunday to provide nourishment to the needy in the impoverished inner city.

In New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles, the thrust is initiatives to help children. New York’s Tayybah (Madina) Tribe teamed up with the Al Yateem Foundation to sponsor an Orphan Walk to raise money for local orphans, and the Zakat Foundation to provide backpacks and toy to needy children. Maryam Sultan, who has taken five seminars, says she participated in these projects because “They foster a sense of community. We take our friendships outside the classroom to help people we normally wouldn’t interact with…It’s one thing to take a class and gain knowledge, but it’s much better to take this knowledge to the next level by acting on it, getting a good feeling, and gaining Hassanaat.”  In Chicago, the Wasat (Middle) Tribe collaborates with ZAM’s Hope to provide big brother and big sisterly companionship, advice and homework assistance; while the Haqq Tribe in Los Angeles has hooked up with Stand Up for Kids, an organization that aids children who are homeless, runaways or sleeping in the streets.

Other tribes conduct multiple social service programs.  Hosna (The Best) in Houston organizes food drives and distributions, gathers to cook food and distribute it to the needy, and passes out toys and goody bags to children. Moreover, when not attending classes, it maximizes opportunities to practice the Hadeeth of the Prophet Muhammad, sal Allaahu alayhi wa salam, which states that one may earn Jannah by attending a funeral procession, visiting the sick, feeding the poor, and fasting all on the same day.   To alert students of these quadruple opportunities, volunteers text message each other with details and logistics.

How did AlMaghib’s social services initiatives start? Mostafa Khalifa, of the Durbah Tribe, credits one the Institute’s seminars as getting the ball rolling.   He describes “Rules of Engagement: The Islamic Code of Ethics” as a course that emphasizes community service and “generates positive energy encouraging us to elevate our consciousness and make the world better, rather than complain about what’s wrong or unfair. The more good we do, the more we increase our Eman (faith) and there is a huge ripple effect.  I’ve seen this reflected in the student body with family, friends, neighbors, their Masjids and communities.  We take what we learn in class and integrate it into our daily living and, as a result, our relationships and everything we do – our knowledge, faith, spirituality, and effort to do good deeds – improves.”

Since Toronto, after the Majd (Glory) Tribe hosted the “Rules of Engagement” seminar in 2006, it started feeding the homeless on a monthly basis, and has prepared and distributed more than 1500 meals thus far.

Munazzah Shirwani, a mother of four of Qabeelat Majd Tribe in Toronto, describes a sense of personal responsibility fostered by AlMaghrib.   This commitment to serving the underserved is contagious as volunteers solicit generous donations from local mosques, businesses and families reinforcing charity as an Islamic pillar.  In Ottawa, the Ansar (Supporters) Tribe has partnered with the Ottawa Muslim Association to conduct the “Our Neighborhood Food Drive” to collect food for individuals in need during Ramadan, in an initiative that brings the whole community together.

And the list of AlMaghrib social service initiatives in cities across North America goes on. Recently, in a unified effort, students from all 16 AlMaghib tribes supported the “Save Baby Aariz” fund, and helped raise $325,000 to provide medical services to an immigrant child fighting cancer with no health insurance.

Muhammad Alshareef the President and founder of AlMaghrib says this voluntary spirit and sense of pleasing Allaah, subhanahu wa ta’ala, reinforces enrollment in the Institute’s seminars. “Our students aren’t attending classes because parents make them.  They’re saving their allowances; they’re begging their parents ‘Please can I go?!?’ with an enjoyment and passion not found with the typical university student who attends classes as an unpleasant means to the end of getting a good job.  Students studying to be doctors or engineers and taking AlMaghrib classes actually become better professionals because of their higher purpose. They are not motivated by money but by higher goals that will gain them the pleasure of Allah.”

It is this overriding principal of doing good works in the hope of “gaining the pleasure of Allah” that generates contagious enthusiasm about AlMaghrib classes, which include: “The Light of Guidance: Fundamentals of Faith 101,” “Route 114: Sciences of the Qur’an,” “The Chain of Command: Sciences of Hadeeth,” and “Fiqh of Love: Marriage in Islam”.

As a result, enrollment in AlMaghrib continues to grow as students who take seminars are provided opportunities to gain knowledge and increase their scales with good deeds in the hope of gaining the pleasure of Allaah (Subhanahu wa ta’ala). Furthermore, says a female student from New York “contact with those less fortunate instills a sense of thankfulness for all of the blessings we have that we take for granted. It is an excellent way to give Dawa to non-Muslims, who learn of the benevolence of Islam as a social system and come to appreciate Muslims as caring and compassionate individuals.”