PART III
THE ISLAMIC COMMUNITY/1970'S
CHAPTER 8
Leadership in Cooperation
In the early seventies, the indigenous leadership came under the influence of Dr.M. Dr.M., a student from India, was studying at the Harvard Divinity School in the 60's and was a member of the Harvard Islamic Society. He is currently the Imam at the Islamic Center of Orange County, CA.
Dr.M. came to Quincy in 1962. He served on the Board of Directors from 1973-1976. He was also an assistant to the official imam, Imam Mohamed Omar, from 1974-1977. Under his guidance, the leadership was able to make the Center more attractive to the Muslims. This meant the islamization of the Center. Islamic cultural usages were adopted such as, prayer schedules, proper Islamic dress in the prayer room, men and women's funeral committees and wudu (ablution) rooms, and weekly khutbat (sermons) on Fridays, given by Islamic scholars and students in both English and Arabic.
Through the indigenization activity, the leadership worked to establish a scholarship fund, organize a boyscout troop, hire an office secretary (female), and license Dr.M. (1974) and Imam Omar as Justices of the Peace in accordance with state law.
Expansion
In March 1972, land directly beside the building was purchased from the Ameens, to be used as a parking lot. The secretary's minutes indicate that the Board was also considering a relocation of the mosque. In 1974, the search for a new site was abandoned in favor of a second building expansion.
The expansion added a library, office space, and a multi-colored dome. Money was donated to build a minaret (a tower from which to call the faithful to prayer), but it never was built. A minbar was built (a movable staircase or speaker's podium for the Imam to use during the Friday Khutbah). Efforts were abandoned to add a mihrab (niche in the wall which indicates the prayer direction or qiblah which faces Mecca). The niche, with its protruding wall, would have exceeded the limit of the Building Code of Quincy.
Islamic Sunday School
After numerous attempts to find a format, a suitable curriculum, and capable teachers, the Islamic Sunday School is finally organized under the leadership of Abdul Karim Khudairi. Dr. Khudairi was elected to the Board of Directors in 1970 and served as president of the Board for six years (1984-1989).
A biology professor schooled in this country and originally from Iraq, Dr. Khudairi began his school reform program as a teacher of Arabic. By 1974, there were 75 students and 25 adults enrolled in the school program. Last year, 1990, the school had 140 children registered. In 1991, there were reportedly over 300 students registered. The basic format includes four levels of development (grades) for children in four subjects: Qur'anic Arabic, Qur'an Recitation, History of the Prophet Muhammad, and Religion. There are extra classes for adults in the explanation or interpretation of the Qur'an (tafsir). Classes are held on Sunday mornings.
In 1975, because more space was needed to accommodate the growing student body, the City of Quincy consented to permit the mosque Sunday school to have seven classrooms at the local Elementary School. In 1982, another building expansion added four new classrooms for the weekend school.
The Islamic Cemetery
In September of 1977, the mosque bought land for a Muslim cemetery in Candia, New Hampshire. Due to zoning complications, the project never reached fruition and the land was sold.
In 1988, twelve cemetery plots were purchased in the Knollwood Cemetery in Canton. Today, it is reported that:
"The Center has an agreement with Knollwood for use of 2,000 grave sites during the next 30 years, and it has an option to buy more. The Center also has about 500 grave sites available to it at the Forest Hills Cemetery in Jamaica Plain."
Who is a Member?
Up until the 1970's, to become a member of the Center, a Muslim would pay an annual dues, making him eligible to vote in the election for new Board members. As more Muslims came to the Center, it occurred to the indigenous leadership that the membership/dues could generate an income for the mosque, if it were organized better.
In April of 1977, a Membership Committee was formed with the goals of increasing membership and monitoring community growth. The Committee had to ascertain which members were registered and paid, registered but not paid, or not registered at all. But the biggest problem was communicating to newly arrived Muslims that they had to pay money to become a member of the Center. Paying membership dues is a good example of an indigenization of the Islamic community in America. It makes for a problem with no simple solution.
First, there are conceptual differences for the immigrant to overcome. According to Islamic tradition, every Muslim is automatically a member of the ummah (religious community). The custom in America, however, based on its capitalistic propensities, is to "pay," to be a member in a religious community. There are also important financial matters that the immigrant must be privy to. Churches in America rely primarily on membership contributions for their funding. Recent immigrants are often unaware of the financial source of religious institutions in America.
The problem cannot be solved simply by asking Muslims to become members, because they consider themselves to be "members" already. As Pulcini suggests, the Muslims respond in various ways. For example, the subcultural response is to refuse to pay a membership dues because it is a part of the dreaded influence of a non-Muslim society.
In addition to the indigenization of community membership, the Islamic concept of voluntary giving, or sadaqah (optional donation) has also been indigenized. Passing the plate in the prayer room is an example. The Muslim expects his sadaqah to be voluntary and is offended by being asked for a donation. The issue becomes whether or not to pay, not how much to pay. When sadaqah donations do come in, the Board has to decide if someone's donation could or should be put towards his membership dues, making him eligible to vote. How then would the donation be enumerated or broken down, and how would this alteration be communicated to a sensitive donor? In 1990, it was estimated that the membership dues represented only 6% of the entire mosque income.
Devising Systems of Measurement
The steady growth of the newsletter mailing list was once considered a good index for monitoring community growth. It is impossible, however, to say for certain what the size of this list measures. For example, since the Religious Director began inserting prayer schedules into the newsletter in 1982, the demand for the newsletter increased radically. As of November, 1990, in a concerted effort to keep more accurate records, all mailing lists were entered into a computer system. Currently (as of August 16, 1991), the newsletter mailing list is 862. The Membership List (paid and unpaid registered members) is numbered at 589 families.
Only estimated figures of how many Muslims attend id prayers are available. As an index to community growth, these figures measure only the " id Muslims." They indicate that more and more Muslims are using the mosque on Holidays like the id-ul-Fitr (feast after the month of fasting Ramadan) and id-ul-Adhha (feast of the sacrifice, after the pilgrimage to Mecca). In April, 1990, id-ul-Fitr, the attendance was estimated to be over 4000.
These estimates are based on a system of counting the rows of men and women in each room during each of three prayer sessions. Attention is also paid to the amount collected of the traditional zakat ul-fitr. This is the minimum each family member must pay before the id prayer at the end of the month of Ramadan, if their fast is to be accepted by God. The minimum amount is set by the Religious Director each year. On the id-ul-Fitr (April, 1991), the amount was set at $8.00 per person in a family to be paid by the head of the household.
According to some analysts, Muslims do not register on the membership roster at the mosque in the same way that people of other faiths do. As mentioned earlier, this is a problem which stems from the ongoing indigenization activity in the Muslim community, the dynamics of which the steady stream of new immigrants are unaccustomed to.