Community News (V12-I4)

Shama Qureshi: Volunteerism and Faith

TUCSON, AZ–For many people retirement means relaxation. Not so for Tucson’s Shama Qureshi. The 73 year old retired school teacher has been working tirelessly as an advocate and tutor children and refugees in the area.

She told the the Arizona Daily Star that she does the volunteer work but she loves it and not because she feels obligated to do it.  Besides as a Muslim she feels that it is her duty to help those in need in whatever way one can.

Her husband of fifty years the Pakistani born Mohsin Qureshi passed away last October. Shama Qureshi, known to some as Sandy, had converted to Islam after meeting her husband at the University of Michigan half a century ago.

Qureshi had helped start Tucson’s Noor Women’s Association more than a decade ahgo. The interfaith organization helps refugees. Qureshi visits several refugee families each week to provide tutoring and support.During the last year the group has helped more than 250 people with rent, food, tutoring and medical expenses.

Muslim physicians offer free medical care

COLUMBUS, OH–A free medical clinic for economically challenged families opens Jan. 20, 2010, at The Ohio State University. The clinic, operated by Muslim physicians and health care professionals, is open to all faiths from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. each Wednesday evening on the university campus in the Rardin Family Practice Center, 2231 N. High St.

The clinic is staffed by physicians, health care professionals, and medical students from The Ohio State University College of Medicine and is affiliated with the Muslim Clinic of Ohio, which also has free clinics in Cincinnati and Dayton.

The university also provides space and other resources at the Rardin location for three additional free clinics: the Ohio Latino Health Clinic, the Asian Health Initiative, and the Columbus Free Clinic meet on alternating days.

Appointments to the Muslim clinic can be made by calling 614-516-3075.

Anti-Muslim flyer denounced

BROOKLYN, NY (News Agencies)–The story repeats itself almost every week. As soon as proposals for a mosque are announced, a malicious campaign is started to malign the Muslim community. This week it is in Sheepshead Bay where an anonymous flyer is being circulated claiming that a Muslim organization behind a proposed mosque supports terrorist acts.

Responding to such vilification the owner of the property, the Muslim American Society, and the Community Board Chair Theresa Scavo, called the people behind the flyer as ignorant who do not understand the spirit and letter of American law guaranteeing freedom of religion.

The latest bout of controversy is the proposed construction of a four-story mosque and community center. The property was bought by a Allowey Ahmed, a Yemeni immigrant, who has been living in Brooklyn for over 40 years. He is in the process of gaining affiliation with the Muslim American Society.

As soon as the word got out the flyer was circulated within several blocks of the property asking residents, “Say no to mosque at 2812 Voorhies Avenue.”

Mahdi Bray, executive director of the MAS, characterized the perpetrators of the flyers as bigots.

“The world doesn’t disintegrate because Muslims come into the neighborhood. It’s not earth shattering to accommodate the First Amendment of the Constitution calling for freedom of religion and the building of mosques reflect the growing demographics of Brooklyn,” he told the Yournabe.com news portal.

Bray said the MAS renounces violence and that Islam, like all other major faiths in the world, is a religion of moderation.

“The whole claim by some that there’s a fifth column trying to destroy the country from within is a rallying call for the bigots and Islamaphobes who like to frighten other Americans about Muslims,” he added.

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