As-salamu Alaikum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuhu / Peace and blessings of God be upon you all,
As we approach the last few nights of Ramadan, I want to reflect on the past 4 weeks and what they meant for me and the community. Ramadan is a time of spiritual revival. At a personal level, Ramadan resets, reenergizes and relaunches our faith. At a community level, Ramadan strengthens our collective bonds as we come together every night to break our daylong fast and to offer prayers in devotion to worship Allah The Glorious (Al-Maajid). We started Ramadan with the beautiful recitation of Qari Aslam (starts at 23:00) during Taraweeh (or nightly prayers). Qari Aslam came to Redmond all the way from Myanmar to lead us in the Taraweeh prayers. Qari Aslam is also an imam in Bangkok, Thailand. In the past few days, we have enjoyed listening to Qari AbdelKarim (starts at 21:00) from Dallas. Qari AbdelKarim, who was born in Morroco, is an internationally reknown reciter of the holy Qur’an, having won awards in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Turkey, Iran and other places. The masjid has been bustling with activity by day and night for the entire month of Ramadan with nearly 1000 people attending nightly prayers. We started the last 10 nights on Sat May 25th. We have had over 500 people praying Qiyam (mid-night prayers) for the last 10 nights of Ramadan. To see 500+ people praying and listening to Quran at 1:15AM in the mosque is a memorable and beautiful sight indeed. Last night (Friday) was the night of 27th (one of the nights of Layla-ul-Qadr or the night of Power) and we saw a packed masjid for Taraweeh. We had to make places in the hallways and outside in the grounds to accommodate everybody for the prayers. Over 1000 people prayed Qiyam at 1:15AM and stayed on for the pre-dwan meal (Suhur). Ramadan truly brings MAPS alive!
Here are some highlights from this Ramadan:
- Around 200 persons broke fast at MAPS every day during the week day Iftars (breaking of fast)
- Between 800-1000 people broke fast during our weekend Iftars
- On the 27th night, over 1500 people came to MAPS to break their fast
We had a full house of 600 guests attending the Inter-Faith Iftar dinner on May 15th
- During the last 10 nights we provided pre-dawn meals (Suhur) to 500+ worshippers at 3AM to start their fast
- We supported over 8 different humanitarian organizations and local masajids with our fundraisers
- We raised money for MAPS operations on the night of 27th of Ramadan; we kept the total number of fundraisers in Ramadan to only 3 to keep the focus on prayers
- We delivered Ramadan Care Packages to over 1000 families that contained food staples for a family for a full month
- We delivered toys/gifts to 500 needy families including the kids at Seattle Childrens’ Hospital
- On Sunday, IA we will be distributing Zakat and Fitra to an estimated 1000 families so they can have a joyful Eid with their families
- Over 200 kids and adults participated in Quran competition for all ages supported 30 volunteers
- In addition, we have already distributed over $57K in Zakat via MAPS Al-Sadaqa projects to needy families
- Our full-time staff, part-time staff and security staff work extra hours during Ramadan to make our experience a smooth one
- Our 32 strong Ramadan volunteers worked tirelessly every single day to make Ramadan a great experience for the community
- We have an Eid Fest plan at Vasa Park to bring the community to celebrate the blessed day in joy and happiness
- Insha-Allah, Eid will be on June 4th with 4 scheduled prayers. Please check out our website for the details.
Before the start of Ramadan, we hosted our annual Banquet with the theme to “Serve, Lead and Inspire”. This annual event is our marquee event where we present our progress, publish our Annual Report and unveil our upcoming plans to the community. We also unveiled our 2019 MAPS Highlights video. It is a night when we solicit your continued support to help sustain and grow the masjid. It was a wonderful evening filled with the energy, passion, and faith and I am always re-energized after the event! If you missed the event, you can catch the highlights in this short video and the photo gallery. Please take the time to read the breadth of activities presented in the Annual Report that were written by 12 MAPS Groups and 500+ volunteers.
We could have not done any of these activities without your prayers (duas), financial support and your volunteer time. For all of these blessings and more, I raise my hands in total thankfulness to Allah The Appreciative (As-Shakoor) and in immense gratitude to all of you in the community. You inspire me and the Board every day with praise and advice that makes us a better community. In the last few remaining days of Ramadan, I ask you to continue to remember us and the community in your prayers and ask Allah The Provider (Ar-Razzaq) to make us the best of communities – a community that is spiritually enlightened, that is wise in its decision making, that is compassionate to the need of every human being, irrespective of faith, color or creed and that is a model to generations to come.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the dozens of volunteers, the staff and the board for their incredible hard work in making this Ramadan so successful! I personally witness many of them spending long hours away from their families to serve the community. Please join me in making dua for them and ask Allah The Bestower (Al Wahhaab) to reward them with a beautiful reward!
I close with a request for you to support your masjid by making a donation, fulfilling your pledge, giving your Zakat so that we can continue to serve the community and become the model of what it means to be Muslim Community in our country and in the world. You can make your donation online today, by texting “Give” to 1-425-654-2989, by using one of the kiosks at the masjid or mailing your check to the address below.
MAPS P.O.BOX 2976 Redmond WA 98073
Jazakum Allah khairan / Thank youHyder Ali
MAPS President