MMCC’s 26th Annual Fundraiser

By Adil James, TMO

Dr. Malik Mujahid speaks to the MMCC audience.

Livonia–November 11–CIOM has morphed into MMCC (the Michigan Muslim Community Council), bringing with it the ISCOM.  And so this past weekend the annual gala that is a 26 year tradition had a slightly different name associated with it, however the primary players have continued from the past.

About 400 people came to this event, held once again at the Burton Manor conference center.  The primary speaker was Malik Mujahid, and there was a fundraiser at which roughly $50,000 was collected, much of it contributed by the leaders from within MMCC.

The evening began with recitation of Qur`an, focusing as many of these similar events do, on the verse “wa’tasimu bi habilil Lah” (hold fast to the rope of Allah), emphasizing togetherness and mutual support.

Mouhib Ayas, the co-chair of MMCC, spoke about the recent merger of CIOM with ISCOM, about mutually fighting against Islamophobia, about a huge and ongoing udhiya program which gave 23,000 pounds of udhiya meat.  He said that the emphasis of MMCC is on responding to challenges for the community–saying it’s better to face challenges together.

Dr. Muzammil Ahmed also spoke, a physician at Oakwood, and a cofounder of ISPU, involved in CAIR Michigan, the local MSAs and UMAA, Dr. Ahmed spoke on his recent return from hajj and he spoke at length of his deep appreciation for those who had gone before from the community to build the community organizations that he and others are endeavoring to carry on and build into the future.

Dr. Ahmed emphasized that MMCC would promote unity and cooperation, between sectarian, community and ethnic groups, promote the best values for Michigan, and promote social justice and human dignity.

As one of the most depressed areas in the country, “we need friends,” he said.  Many enemies come here bringing hate speech, and Dr. Ahmed mentioned Terry Jones and his attempted hate speech in this area.  Dr. Ahmed spoke highly of the interfaith leaders who had gathered at the ICA in protest of Terry Jones’ visit to attack the center with hate speech.

Dr. Ahmed also mentioned the coordination among local Sunni and Shi’a imams, the Imams’ Council, coordination with the FBI and other government agencies, frequent meetings with local media to explain who the Muslim community is and what they are doing.  He explained that “we have distributed over 10 tons of food” in the Ramadan fight against hunger.

Another purpose of MMCC is to try to unify the community, to link the different local masajid. Dr. Ahmed spoke about the Metro Detroit bus tour of masajid as well, which visited many local mosques including Masjid Wali Muhammad.

He spoke about the 2nd annual diversity forum coordinated with ISNA, which helped to promote relations between different ethnicities, races, and sects.

Imam Abdul Malik Mujahid also spoke, at length, as the night’s keynote speaker.

Mujahid is an accomplished writer who has written over 400 articles on Islamic living and public policy.

Dr. Mujahid’s speech focused on the level of commitment in the Muslim community–saying that the level of funds and the level of professionalism of volunteers was below what is necessary to help the community. He emphasized creating additional links within the community and outward to other communities in the nation.

He also emphasized the dangerous time that we live in, with burgeoning hate groups and militia movements stockpiling guns.

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