ISNA MATTERS
NORTH TEXAS CELEBRATES ISNA
More than 350 people attended a May 9 ISNA banquet in Dallas. For the past 14 years, the Dallas-Fort Worth Muslim community has been hosting ISNA regional conferences and banquets. This year, ISNA held two specialized events, including a matrimonial luncheon attended by more than 125 people. ISNA Majlis ash-Shura member Zia ul Haq, imam at the Islamic Center of Irving, gave a spiritual talk at the luncheon. He is a founding member and board member of the North Texas Islamic Council, an umbrella organization representing Islamic organizations in North Texas, and also an instructor at Bayyinah Academy in Irving, Texas. The celebration banquet was held later that evening under the theme, “American Muslims: Civic Responsibility and Active Engagement.” Renowned Qari Mohammed Abdullah Khan began the event with recitation of the Quran followed by the Pledge of Allegiance led by 9-year-old Rania Azeez. Speakers included Imam Siraj Wahaj and Jamal Badawi, former professor at Saint Mary’s University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, who gave the keynote address. ISNA President Azhar Azeez, a long-time resident of the Dallas Muslim community, encouraged the audience to invest in ISNA. The highlight of the evening was the community service recognition award given to Moujahed Bakach, a long-time spiritual, community and interfaith leader. A special video was shown highlighting his lifelong accomplishments. Currently director of the Mediation Institute of North Texas, Bakach has served as imam of the Islamic Association of Tarrant County, and was founder of al-Hedayah Academy school, Fort Worth (1992). Nasheed artist Raef Hagag gave a performance at both events.
■
ISNA SUPPORTS HUMANITARIAN AID ADVOCACY ISNA participated in a CEO advocacy day on humanitarian and poverty-focused foreign assistance on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., March 25. This was a crucial time for budget and appropriations decisions, especially about the amount of funds the State and Foreign Operations Subcommittee will have for its accounts, including the accounts prioritized by the Interfaith Working Group on Foreign Assistance. Participants included Sayyid M. Syeed, national director of the ISNA Office for Interfaith & Community Alliances, the Rev. John L. McCullough, president and CEO of Church World Service, the Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World, Bishop Peter Weaver, executive secretary of the Council of Bishops, United Methodist Church, Martin Shupack, Church World Service, on behalf of the Interfaith Working Group on Foreign Assistance, and Garrett Grigsby, executive director of the Christian Connections for International Health. Faith leaders argued the total portion of U.S. aid, in terms of food and health care given to the world, is less than one percent of our annual budget and attempts to reduce it further will have negative repercussions for the country. They did not single out any particular amendment, however, Kentucky Republican Senator Ron Paul’s amendment was not approved.
■
10
OBITUARY
Mohammed Ali al-Hanooti A Scholar of Islam 1937 – 2015
M
ohammed al-Hanooti, who was born in Haifa, Palestine, during the British occupation, learned sharia from his father, Sheikh Ali Hanooti, and at AlAzhar, he studied hadith with Sheikh Muhammad Said Azzawi from 1953-58. Al-Hanooti, who obtained a master’s degree in Islamic law from Punjab University, Lahore, Pakistan, was affiliated with several prominent Islamic organizations in the United States and in the Middle East. He acted as a mufti and legal advisor in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area, and also held the following positions: 2001-02, imam of Islamic Center of Capital District, Albany, New York; 19992001, mufti and fiqh scholar, research and counseling, Islam on Line; 1995-99, imam of Dar al Hijrah Islamic Center of Northern Virginia; 1990-95, imam of Islamic Center of Passaic; and 1978-90, director of Islamic Center of Jersey City, New Jersey. In 1978, he became a member of the ISNA Fiqh Committee; 1965-78, he served as imam of Friday prayer in Kuwait; 1962-65, he was a member of Sharia Scholars of Baghdad, Iraq. After the occupation of Palestine, al-Hanooti’s family was forced into exile. They immigrated to Iraq in 1948. Eventually, he settled in Kuwait, where he worked as an English teacher and an Islamic preacher. He moved to the United States in 1978. Al-Hanooti served for two years as the first president of the Islamic Association for Palestine. He had decades of experience in marriage and family counseling. He also conducted the “Ask the Mutfi” sessions at Darul Hijra. He continued to serve the community, deliver sermons, and teach his weekly lessons to the end. In 2005, he issued a fatwa against terrorism, and against the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. “The people who attacked the World Trade Center and Pentagon, and hijacked the fourth plane that crashed in Pennsylvania, are criminals who deserve the severest punishment the Quran elaborates. They are murderers and terrorists,” he wrote. In his “The Ruling on Apostasy,” al-Hanooti wrote: “In conclusion, the Quran is the definitive, clear authority for protecting the rights of an individual in expressing himself in faith and supersedes any of the distorted interpretations of the hadiths in question. Executing a person because of conversion to another faith contradicts the Quran, the ultimate source of sharia.” Council on American-Islamic Relations National Executive Director Nihad Awad said al-Hanooti “was a mentor to many leaders in our community.” Imam Mohamed Magid of All-Dulles Area Muslim Society and a former ISNA president, described al-Hanooti a father figure to many imams. Al-Hanooti is survived by his wife, Iman, sons, Muthanna, Tariq, Ziad, Ali, Isa; daughters, Bushra, Suhaila, Tasneem and Shaimaa.
■
ISLAMIC HORIZONS JULY/AUGUST 2015