Setting Our Priorities Right
By Habib Malik
CA
I agree with most of the points raised by Mr Parwaiz Ahmad in his opinion piece in your issue of June 6, 2008.
Most Muslim communities have their priorities wrong. We are eager to build mosques but we seem to conveniently forget that feeding the hungry, widows and orphans is emphasized more (than buildings) in Islam and every other religion.
Instead of feeding the hungry, most Muslims keep spending millions in building within a few blocks more masajids while most of the time not even 5% of the space is occupied by worshippers on everyday basis in the already built mosques.
I have been on the board of directors of the Garden Grove mosque (ISOC) for the last 35 years and have been involved in the buying and construction of most of the phases of the present ISOC. The irony is that most of the time we wanted to buy more land to expand but encountered stiff resistance from people who preferred construction to buying more land for the future needs of our kids: when we wanted to buy the two-acre parcel now called back parking lot about 25 years ago, the nay sayers laughed and called it a million dollar parking lot. Without this parking lot, we would not have today the Orange Crescent School, mortuary, and the big mosque where one thousand people can pray. We should be seized of the fact that our community is growing fast as many Muslims do not believe in family planning and like to have many kids.
Thus instead of wasting $100,000 on a cosmetic fence, we should keep the money in a fund to buy the half acre piece of land that is available for sale across the street (Kerry St.) whenever we are ready and the price is right. We should not wait too long. The Mosque Board says the asking price is too high. They may be right but it is still advisable to pay $100,000 more for a piece of land which would be for our kids’ future rather than wasting it on the cosmetics under progress at this time. Once this piece of land is gone, it would be gone for ever because condos are planned on this site.
I conveyed my opinion in person to the Chairman of the Shura, Mr. Javaid Nawaz and President Mr. Monjo. I am conveying this message to the community at large to solicit their support.
