ICSGV Makes its Mark
By Rafique S M Ahmed

Tuesday, April 19, 2011 brought a pleasant surprise to the Muslim community of the San Gabriel Valley in California when the picture of their Islamic Center appeared prominently on the front page of the Los Angeles Times.

The picture below is worth a thousand words and says quite a bit about the ICSGV. It not only reflects on the warm and cordial welcome normally extended to the respected non-Muslim visitors by the Islamic Center, but also shows two law enforcing officers of the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department offering prayers side by side with the President of ICSGV, Dr. Arif Rizvi and others present at that time inside the Islamic Center.

The picture also speaks volumes about and serves as a great testimony to the personal commitment of Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca who strongly believes in outreach, providing protection and maintaining law and order through mutual understanding and cooperation as a result of direct a dialogue rather than confrontation in the Los Angeles county area. Sheriff Baca has frequently visited the Islamic Center of San Gabriel Valley and is highly respected in the Muslim community of Southern California.

The Islamic Center of San Gabriel Valley was established in 1982 and has since become one of the leading Islamic centers in Southern California. The Center has been consistently providing excellent services to its large and diverse Muslim community. It has been active not only in promoting harmony, peace, unity, brotherhood and sisterhood among all Muslims, but also fostering peaceful and harmonious relations with their neighbors and people of other faiths.

Unfortunately, some of the founding members of the Center have since passed away, especially the visionary Sister Sardar Sultana who thirty years ago had laid the foundation of the Center by offering prayers and providing Islamic education at her son’s home, and finally, convincing the growing Muslim community to establish a separate Islamic Center. If all the deceased founding members namely Sister Sardar Sultana, Brother Mohammed Ghousuddin, Brother Shabbir Khan and Dr. Rafique Rangoonwala were alive today, this historic occasion would have undoubtedly made them extremely proud.

In fact, the seeds they planted twenty-nine years ago for the love and cause of Allah with the help of other dedicated brothers and sisters have over the years blossomed into a beautiful tree standing tall and high in the middle of San Gabriel Valley spreading the aroma of Islam all over California. May Allah accept good deeds of everyone involved in turning ICSGV into a great Islamic Center and bless them all.

Syed Arif Rizvi, left, president of the Islamic Center of the San Gabriel Valley, joins
Deputy Sheriff Morsi and Sgt. Mike Abdeen in prayers. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles
Times)

The construction of a new and much bigger Islamic Center is underway and is expected to be completed in the next few months. The new three- storey facility comprising 43,000 sq ft will make the Islamic Center of San Gabriel Valley one of the largest Islamic centers of America. Please click www.icsgv.com to get up-to-date details about the construction of the new Islamic Center.

To commemorate twenty-nine years of excellent service to the Muslim community and to raise the much needed funds to complete the construction as early as possible, the Islamic Center of San Gabriel Valley has decided to organize a fundraising dinner on Sunday, the 8th of May, 2011 at 7PM at the Hyatt Regency located at 11999 Harbor Blvd, Garden Grove, California 92840. Prominent and well-respected scholars Dr. Robert “Farook” Crane, Dr. Jamal Badawi, Qari Syed Sadaqat Ali and Sheikh Alaadin Bakri will be the main speakers. Please click the following for more details:

icsgv-fundraiser_portrait final.jpg (173KB) View Image

Kindly make concerted efforts to attend this function with your entire family and make it a big success. Please also remember the following hadith:

Allah will build a beautiful house for you in Jannah if you build a new Masjid only for the sake of Allah.

All those brothers and sisters living away from Southern California can also participate in this Sadaqa Jaria by mailing their generous donations to:

Islamic Center of San Gabriel Valley 19164 E Walnut Drive South Rowland Heights, California 91748

Your generous donations will Inshah’Allah be richly rewarded and greatly appreciated. May Allah bless you all.

 

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