DAR AL HARB - U.S.A. - MICHIGAN: A MOSQUE TO RAISE AWARENESS OF RACISM & BROKEN FAMILIES

Muslim House looks at raising kids, funds
By George Jaksa

FLINT - Seizing on a well-known African proverb, a local mosque hopes to raise awareness of broken families and racism in the Flint area at an annual event on Memorial Day.

"The African proverb says it takes a village to raise a child, but immorality has gotten in the way of the good," said Hanafi Abdul-Malik, head of Muslim House of Flint, which is planning a 4 p.m. program Monday at Village Market Place, 5262 N. Saginaw St. in Genesee Township.

The sixth annual public fundraiser will include speakers, an Islamic radio station poet and local comedians and amateur rap artists.

Abdul-Malik said the site was chosen purposely because the name of the building reflects the event theme.

"We have racism and economic disparity locally, and we have to ask the question: What happened to the village?" said Abdul-Malik. "Something had to happen to take away the village we had in the past."

Sheikh Rashid Raji, a Nigerian university professor who will be among speakers at the event, blames the situation on the deterioration of the family.

"We have broken homes, broken marriages," said Raji, who was at Muslim House this week in preparation for the fundraising event where donations will be accepted. "How can we expect children to do well?"

"We need unity to raise children," he added. "We need two-parent families with good values."
Raji, currently a visiting scholar at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, will be among speakers on Memorial Day.

He received a doctorate at UM in 1982 in Near Eastern studies and is on a nine-month tenure at the university on classical Arabic-Islamic studies before returning to Nigeria to teach at the University of Ilorin.

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The 'racism' that will be discussed will be the racism of whites against everyone else, never ever reverse racism, because see that just doesn't exist...I am also sure that the 'racism' against moslems will also be on the agenda, though I don't quite understand how moslem is a race since moslems can be found amongst every single variety of human...

Oooops, too politically incorrect with that statement...

Ohh well, such is life...



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1) Muslim House looks at raising kids, funds