Who Should YOU Vote For?
December 5, 2009 by Zeeshan Rahman · 45 Comments
Why are the Islamic Society of Greater Houston’s elections so important? I am told they will directly impact the future of all Muslims in ISGH and thereby, all Muslims in Houston.
Do you have a hard time swallowing that because, I do.
Each time these masjid elders come to me they provide a rant of one of the following: we want the youth to take over, this masjid is built for the youth or the youth are our future.
I am positive that a few of the elders such as, Mahmood Marfani, an active ISGH member at Masjid at-Taqwa, believe in the youth and are truly working towards such a goal, but I would write off such statements for the majority of the elders who hold ISGH positions.
So let’s ask the question again: Why are these elections so important?
We are all tired of the silly politics that happen in ISGH. The situation of the Imams is not stable, and the majority of them still speak very limited English. The khutbahs are still terrible. Many of the masajid are in poor condition, and the wudhu areas still smell like sewers. The schools are third class, the teachers are underpaid, the educational facilities are poor, and they still have issues with mice and cockroaches. Eid is still disorganized and this year’s Eid khutbah was one of the all-time worst, ever. The quality of the sports facilities at the masajid continue to be poor, and any space for women is very limited.
It’s gotten beyond annoying to a level of absurdity, and it’s high time, we as young people, do something about it.
The elders have done a great job at building masajid, and establishing zakat services, low-grade schools, and community clinics. However, it is now our time to directly influence what happens in these elections, and it is time these elders stand up and listen to what we have to say.
These administrators work for us and they need to be reminded of it.
For this year’s election we tried our utmost best to interview every candidate running for a Director or an at-large position in ISGH. Unfortunately, we were not able to get a hold of every candidate despite repeated attempts. We waited until today to publish these profiles, to give all candidates an opportunity to be interviewed and to provide fair and accurate coverage.
Please read through the candidate profiles below and make the selection for who you are going to vote for, based on their responses and their track record.
Do not be swayed by other elders at the Main Center tomorrow with their promises and their rhetoric.
Do not be swayed by an imam who endorses a candidate.
Do not be swayed by anyone or anything, EXCEPT by looking at the track record and speaking to other young persons involved at the masjid.
The question you have to ask is: who will be the best for your community and who will be the best for the youth?
When: Sunday, December 6th, 2009
Time: 9am – 4pm
Where: ISGH Main Center, 3110 Eastside map it
Editor’s note: Shabab ul-Haq and Crescent Youth do not endorse any candidates running for ISGH elections. There are several more people running for ISGH elections, and we would encourage you to visit the ISGH website for further information. The list below reflects the people we were able to get a hold of and interview.
Candidates for Vice-President
Rashid Bokhari
Farooq Malik
Candidates for Treasurer
Aftab Silat
Fayez Ghwari
Candidate for South Zone Director
Fuad Cochinwala
Candidate for Northwest Zonal Director
Muhammad Yusuf
Candidate for Southeast Zonal Director
Ziauddin Yousuf
Altaf Awan
I wish there were more college grads running for ISGH elections. It’s sad to see old guys like farooq malik running over and over again. These people are tyrants and should just stay home. They have done their part for ISGH and we recognize that, but now it’s time for them to go. They are hurting our community more than helping.
bro,
do you even know the definition of a tyrant? lol.
farooq malik has done more for isgh than anyone running. just because he is an uncle doesnt mean you have to lump him in with the rest of the unqualified uncles. he is an educated, noble, respected man with pure intentions.
so if you wanna trash someone thats running, then by all means, do it. but make sure your criticism is legit and not the result of some hearsay or lack of awareness. and learn when to use the word “tyrant.” he is not an african despot.
you couldnt even hold the excess spit dripping from his miswak.
Do you have to be a member of ISGH to vote?
Yes, you have to be a member.
Is the list of candidates incomplete?
See – http://www.isgh.org/Candidates_2009_NonAreaReps_ver1115.pdf
Also, Ziauddin Yousuf is running for southeast director
The article says they weren’t able to get a hold of everyone.
ISGH elections are a joke. Has anyone seen the resumes on their website? How sad.
We must all come out and vote according to what Allah subhanahuwatala says. We need the youngster to come out and help us elders so we can make this community better. Allah hafiz.
Assalamoalaikom warahmatollah,
ISGH is against Shaykh Zoubir. We need leaders in ISGH who will help our noble and beloved Shaykh. This community is nothing without our great leader.
This community is not all about Imam Zoubir. There is zakat, refugees, eid salat, jumah, janazahs, schools, sunday schools, youth issues, etc. etc. that have to be tended to as well. We can’t vote for people who will vainly try to talk to the INS out of prosecuting Imam Zoubir for violating his own Visa at the expense of a community of almost 200,000 Muslims. We have to find the people who are RIGHT for the job, NOT right for your groupie fascination.
Vote for the community and not for an individual. May Allah grant our community success!
people like you (blindly follow sh. zoubir and think there is a massive organization conspiracy against him) are fools.
OUR noble and beloved shaykh didnt help his own cause. blame isgh if you want. but know that sh zoubair was just as much responsible.
isgh isnt the one that broke american immigration laws. sh zoubair was.
“masjid bathroom”… why do you have to hide? It’s obvious you don’t like our shaykh. You are blindly supporting those would assisted the FBI and the CIA to put him in jail. He is our shaykh and we should always support him.
bruzzer ahmed (posting below this)
i dont like your shaykh?
see, thats the problem. youre creating this “us and them” divide. since when did you claim him? you know, i referred to him as “our” shaykh but just because you cannot tolerate anything critical being said of the infallible (infallible because you said ‘he is our sh and we should ALWAYS support him) shaykh al islam zoubair, you resort to your typical cries of “you dont like our shaykh!” please, try something new for a change. im sorry for saying the truth.
and i think the CIA has better things to do than worry about shaykh zoubair lol.
lastly, i am not hiding. i am the masjid bathoom. you visited me before jumah salah yesterday. and you forgot to wash yourself after urinating.
Why is Br. Farooq allowed to run again? Hasn’t he held every position in ISGH? Doesn’t he already lead IAK? How is this halal?
thank you for your query. your question regarding how farooq malik is running is not only haram, but also stupid.
in islam, everything is halal until proven haram. nothing indicates that running for the election is haram.
now run along and clean the masjid bathroom.
Dear masjid bathroom: Do you think it is a good idea for Br. Farouk Malik to run for office again? I know for a fact that with his Family (masha allah over 100 members) he will get the vote, but he has held every single position in ISGH and I think it is about time he retires from politics and continue the good work he is doing as the Head of IAK..
Salam, I understand the point of this article was to move the youth to take an active part in ISGH elections, but I must speak up about certain comments which were unneccesary.
I resent the fact that you’ve referred to the Houston Islamic schools as “third class” and low grade. This is offensive to any person who has passed through the system and minimalizes the accomplishments of the various dedicated families that have worked for over a decade to provide an alternative to public schooling. As a graduate of one of these schools, I can say I was in no way at a disadvantage when I entered college and the “real world”.
There is always room for improvement, but even though the facilities might not look as nice as some government funded school, the education standard is in no way subpar. So in the spirit of fair journalism, I encourage you to rethink your choice of words when describing our Houston Islamic schools.
JazakAllahu Khair.
Walaikumsalam,
Sister Norma, I am deeply apologetic for the way my writing came off. I should have clarified what I meant. IF you are from Dar ul-Arqam at Masjid Bilal, I know the High school over there is pretty good. However, at Masjid at-Taqwa and at Masjid Abu Bakr, the teachers are not only underpaid, but sometimes they don’t receive their paychecks for two pay periods (I’m writing an article on this very subject which will be released soon iA).
So to further clarify: when I said “third class” and “low grade” schools, I meant the schools at Masjid at-Taqwa and Masjid Abu Bakr.
Again, I’m deeply sorry for any offense.
Oh, it’s okay. Thank you for the clarification. It’s just there’s alot of stigma associated with Islamic schools and their standards and it’s difficult to dispell these mistakened notions. I guess like most graduates, just looking out for my alma mater.
As you said the Management South Zone @ Hwy 3 school is so bad they did not pay the Teachers on a regular basis and I know of a close friend who works as a teacher in a School District earning 36K and wanted to teach at a Islamic School but when offered a position at the South Zone, was offered $10 per hour !!!! to be teacher. How can you get good teachers if you offer such low wages, even day care workers make that much without any education. This is the sad state of our schools. Yes Dar ul Arqm North is very good as I am sure they take better care of their teachers, when we start taking good care of our teachers in The South Zone our schools will improve and we have to have better management/Pricipal, not the Old School Indian/Pakistani Style Bosses with a Chaiwala in tow…
It’s about time someone said something about these khutbahs. It’s good to see younger guys in the rotation now, but for SOME of the older khateebs (definitely not all) here are some tips:
1) If you can’t speak English, be humble enough to say you can’t give the khutbah.
2) Take a toastmasters course. Learn to organize a speech and how to deliver.
3) Every other sentence should not be a hadith or an ayat.
4) Sending salam’s upon the Prophet (saw) should not take up half of the khutbah.
5) The dua doesn’t really need to be 5-8 minutes.
6) Find ONE FOCUSED THEME for your khutbah.
JazakAllahukhair
Asalaam Alaikom: I support you 100% on your comments and just to add some more items. I was at Northwest – Bear Creek masajid and the Imam, in a Khutbah said, in every other word – “Like, You Know” this was repeated 14 times in the Khutbah, I am sorry this Brother is a Good Hafiz and but he has to learn to speak English first, just the same goes for the Leader of the Houston Imams, Sheikh Mustafa of Adel Rd, “liek the Beeble” what he means is The People, he also has to learn English and The Main Problem with him is to keep his time, Khutbas and Duas Must End at 2 PM and NOT AT 2:14 P.M. and salaat should start @ 2:01, so “The Beeble” can go back to work or else the will be in trouble th their bosses for being late…
yo, masjid bathroom…
chill out w/ the harsh comments plz. i understand responding to questions and all…but there’s no need to call others stupid and tell em to go clean bathrooms. i mean no offense by this…just kindly reminding u as a bro in islam to not put others down.
JazakAllah Khair
whats offensive about about telling someone to clean the masjid bathroom?
i clean the masjid bathroom myself.
ALLAHUAKBAR! I was just debating with my friends on who we should vote for.
JazakAllahukhair shabab ul-haq!
I understand that you “were not able to get a hold of every candidate despite repeated attempts,” but you can at least refer us to their resumes, which were gathered on the ISGH site. Those are also their words, so I dont see why you must limit our judgement by presenting us with an incomplete list of candidates, when the others have made personal statements that could influence us too.
Also, you pose a question, “who will be the best for your community and who will be the best for the youth?” that we can not really know the answer to yet… so I would have appreciated it if you told us what TO DO, instead of only what NOT to do. And we CAN do something if we’re sincere about uplifting our community; it’s called du’a. This is a reminder for us that Allah is the only One we need and the ONLY One that can get us past these perils, past/present/future tense inshAllah.
Be there tomorrow inshAllah, but before then… turn to ALLAH!
Assalam Walaykum
All praises are to Allah for granting us, the Houston community, with a unifying Houston organization like ISGH. ISGH is an organization which many other cities wish they had and envy Houston for. Most of us take it for granted that we have a large Islamic body founded in our city many years ago by a group of Muslims before the current “youth” were even born.
My respected shaykh (hafidhullah) told us, do not think this is good or bad, but approach it optimistically that there is always a “better”. ISGH is not a perfected organization, but it has had some major improvements since the past. Thank Allah we even have masjids(which for most people are less than 10 min from their homes), Islamic schools, Qur’an classes, knowledgeable Imams, city-wide congregated Eid prayers, and many other projects that are continuously growing.
After saying that, I remind myself and others that no human being is perfect. So if we wish to find faults in someone, we will find them. And if we wish to find good in someone, we will find that as well. So rather than bad-mouthing some of our brothers in faith and insh’Allah neighbors in jannah, who by the way have done more for the community than some of us may ever live to do, remember that we have our own faults to correct.
The ulema are the inheritors of the Prophets. When we approach them we should approach them with respect, when we mention them we should make dua that Allah preserve them, when they make error then we cover their faults more than we cover our own nakedness on a cold, windy day, and when we need advise with take consultation from them. I very much agree that many of the ISGH Imams do not speak proper english and nor do many of them understand the customs and culture of the western society. The few who have excellent speaking power and very well understanding of the customs and culture of the west, such as Shaykh Zoubir (hafidhullah), are facing federal immigration issues. Such issues many of us do not have clear knowledge of, rather we know what we know through little knowledge that comes mostly from one-sided sources, Shabab being one of them.
I conclude with a 5 major reminders:
1. Intentions, remember before we speak or take actions, question the heart and ask yourself, “will this be pleasing towrards my Lord?”
2. Action, rather than acting with emotion, act with the intellect and logic Allah gave you.
3. Knowledge, instead of wasting most of the precious time you have, use it to advance in knowledge of the religion. Recite as much of the Qur’an on a DAILY basis, read some tafseer, read one hadith a day from Riyad-us-Saliheen, and dedicate yourself to learn the Arabic language if you do not already know it.
4. Love your brother, “you will not enter jannah til you believe, and you have not believed till you love your brother, and you do not love your brother until you give salams”.
5. Fear Allah in everything you do!
JazakomAllahu Khayran
Your entire spiel about the ulema are holier than thou and they are the best of creation blah blah……….. can you please provide some reference to that? Sounds like something the Catholics say about the Pope so it would surprise me if there was daleel to that.
Please also remind yourself that one of the things the Prophet (saw) was afraid of was excessive praise and adoration.
“the ulema are holier than thou and they are the best of creation blah blah………can you please provide some reference to that?
^- I never said all that akhee, so I’m not sure how I can provide reference for something I never said.
“Sounds like something the Catholics say about the Pope so it would surprise me if there was daleel to that.”
^- Many among the People of the Book turn to their priests and popes as awliyya besides Allah. They seek Allah through their priests, and that is a form of Shirk ad Du’a. While they accept tawheed-ruboobiyyah, they reject tawheed-ulooliyyah.
This is not the same in Islam. We do not invoke our Imams, others from among mankind, or anything other than Allah. However, we must respect the torch-bearers of the Anbiyah who have knowledge that we do not possess. Allah says in Surah Anbiyah verse 7, “fas aloo ahla-dhikri in kuntum la ta’la moon [ask the people of the Reminder(aka scholars) if you do not know]“.
We do not have to agree with them on every issue, not at all, but it is apparent most people today have lost respect of our righteous scholars. And if we did not have them, then how then would we learn our deen?
As regards to what you mention about the “Prophet (saw) was afraid of was excessive praise and adoration” – first let us remind ourselves that the science of hadith is a very complicated study and not just any ordinary person can examine a single hadith and make his own fatwa. The hadith that I believe you are referring to is found is Saheeh Muslim if I am not mistaken, I do not see how this applies to my earlier post.
May Allah forgive us and grant us guidance, ameen! =)
Hamza, jazakAllahukhair for your essay. Could you please provide a synopsis?
To clarify: This article didn’t mentioned anything about Shaykh Zoubir…. so your statement, “Such issues many of us do not have clear knowledge of, rather we know what we know through little knowledge that comes mostly from one-sided sources, Shabab being one of them” is incorrect. It would probably be wise to fact-check yourself before you write something so sensitive and damaging.
Sorry Shariq if you took it the wrong way.
When I said, “Such issues many of us do not have clear knowledge of, rather we know what we know through little knowledge that comes mostly from one-sided sources, Shabab being one of them”, I was referring to some of the comments where some people were mentioning “one-sided” statements about the immigration issue with Shaykh Zoubir (hafidhahullah), though they do not have clear knowledge about his case.
When I added, “Shabab being one of them”, I was acknowledging the fact that Shabab, though is a wonderful project mash’Allah, it may also contain “one-sided” opinions. =)
Jazak for the gentle reminders. We should always consider our intentions.
I would also like to see some reference about ‘covering the faults of the ulemah’ and so on. It doesn’t seem as if the Prophet (pbuh) would say something like this.
Ya akhi, it may not seem offensive to u but it’s a matter of adaab n treating ur bro w respect and not saying things like ” and you forgot to wash yourself after urinating.” There r better ways of getting ur point across then demeaning…
Its seriously like picking the lesser evil on most of these positions.
Good Comments everyone, Now Just Go and VOTE TODAY for a New Comer whose name you have never heard Before..They will be The Lesser of The EVILS..Do NOT VOTE for The Profesional Polititian who been in there for more that 2 terms…Get Fresh new Blood in the Shura..May Allah HELP US ALL from these Polititians…
you spelled your name wrong.
As salaamu alaikum:
While I have to agree with most of what has been said with respect to other matters, I want to respond to this characterization of Darul Arqam schools. Its a shame to see how so many of our youth have been brought to this country reaping the benefits of the struggles made by those African-Americans and immigrants who came before them only to display such arrogance in their character. I thought these Wahhabis were teaching our youth to have a better disposition than this? I thought the weakest believer was better than the strongest non-believer….and that the believer makes excuses for/covers the fault of his brother. Does this mean that we turn the other cheek and be content with mediocrity? Of course not! The believer is commanded to strive for ihsaan (excellence) in every endeavor, big or small. Surely our Islamic schools have much room for improvement. But how many parents and how many youth come out to support the schools? How many of them are on school improvement committees?
And what exactly makes our Islamic schools “3rd class”? What is the basis of comparison? It certainly can’t be test scores, or achievement levels, or college matriculation rates, or accreditation standards. The public schools have the gymnasiums, swimming pools, athletic fields, fully-stocked and staffed science labs, and fully-accredited faculty and they are STILL doing a poor job educating our youth. I’m not just someone collecting a paycheck who is speaking up in defense of his paymaster. I know what I’m talking about. I see the grades and test scores of students who come to our Islamic school from the public school. I make the charts and tables comparing our Islamic school achievement standards to those of the area public schools. Sadly to say, I also see the deteriorating impact on achievement levels that many of the public school transfer students have had on our school. Inshallah the hiring of experienced, accredited teachers will help us meet the challenge of educating these students and bringing them up to the high-achievement level that has been the tradition at Darul Arqam North.
For quite some time now, I’ve been very concerned about the polarizing attitudes from the youth today. Unfortunately they tend to be aligned with one of two extremes. They are either non-religious and have no interest in developing a strong, viable Islamic community and institutions, or they are psuedo-religious and arrogantly dismiss the sincere efforts of others until it fits their idea of what a community and its institutions should look like. Whatever happened to looking at the glass half-full, rolling up your sleeves and getting involved in the effort, shoulder to shoulder to uplift our institutions and build upon what others have labored so long to establish.
Fi-Aman’Allah,
Jamaaluddin al-Haidar
Webmaster, Faculty Member
Darul Arqam North
whats a wahabi?
Assalamolikum,
JazakAllah for all the efforts in writing this story but I do think you went a little overboard with ridiculing our masjids. I usually go to Masid Attaqwa – and beyond love this masjid, regardless of all the problems. Yes, it can be better but Alhumdulillah.
Most problems can be solved with ordinary people like us anyway and should not be dependant on community leaders…if only we take care of our masjids like we take care of our homes.
I COMPLETELY agree.
It is very very easy to blame ISGH and not so much fun to say that we left a mess ourselves. Not saying ISGH is void of any responsibility, but neither are we. It’s our job to take care of the masjid in any way we can.
Assalaamualaiukum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh,
I haven’t read through all the comments, so I’m sure someone probably already mentioned it, but I’ll say it again
Thank you for writing this article, and I greatly appreciate the fact that Shabab is expressing the opinion of many in the community.
However, I think if the youth want to be heard by the elders, we still have to be respectful and cool-headed. The bathrooms are dirty, we are disorganized, etc, but everyone knows this. It’s no secret. I think these elections are a wonderful opportunity to improve our community, but I’d rather not do it in a manner that angers people.
Just my opinion, and Allah knows best.
ISGH matters decreases my Emaan….. I dont think it was meant to do that .. but people have a very unique way of acting like rivals and hate each other over stupid positions and status…
sigh
Agreed.
Minorities in the Muslim community are against ISGH. The majority (desis) are split up about it. What does that tell us about ISGH?
yet, two years in a row of voting and campaigning and nothing has changed, perhaps even gotten worse.
Just voting is not going to help. Campaigning is not going to help. Two years has finally gotten that into my brain.
may Allah keep us on His path and guide us towards what is right.
@Hamza JazakAllahukhair for your clarification.