"Buy a brick for $1,000 which can go toward your home in Paradise, Inshallah." Sounds like a strange suggestion but behind it is a commitment from Al-Huda School in the American state of Maryland. It is part of a project to raise $784,000 by the end of this month to pay off what remains of $1.75 million owed to the United Bank of Kuwait. The Islamic Development Bank of Jeddah, among others, has given help. The project is based on a concept of interest to the Muslim community everywhere. It demonstrates how Muslims can raise their children in an Islamic environment and, at the same time, strive for educational and economic development. In propagating its message, the project also seeks to be sustainable. The project includes a school, sales of halal food, Islamic books, tapes and gifts, a state-of-the-art computer training institute, a pre-school day-care center; and the "Muslim Link" newspaper.
"We want to bring the message of Islam to America through the example of a living model Islamic community," says Shaikh Safi Khan, director of the Al-Huda School and Dar-us-Salam Center, two non-profit projects within the framework of the whole. The idea, is to create an Islamic community that will help Muslims in the United States in education, counseling, job placement, financial assistance and community service. The project is also intended to be a haven for new Muslims.
The Dar-us-Salam Center will seek to influence the US government’s social, local, national and international policies, besides striving for justice to Muslims. As part of its attempt at self-sufficiency, the center has been able to generate business worth more than $60,000 annually by selling halal meat, Islamic tapes and publications, clothing and gift items and school stationery.
Al-Huda School has played an important role in all of this. Established in 1995 with 26 students, it has a current enrollment of 270 through the seventh grade with separate facilities for boys and girls.
"We have a state-of-the-art computer training institute with computer labs, for which approval by the Maryland Higher Education Commission is still pending," Shaikh Safi Khan notes.
On the Islamic side, the students benefit from Dr. Salah Alsawy, an Islamic scholar. Under his supervision, a fatwa line has been opened that enables Muslims to seek a fatwa by phone or e-mail.
The management has also set up a Dar-ul-Qur’an School for memorizing the Qur’an within two to three years. And at the Al-Maghrib Institute, seminars target high school and college students to help them develop Islamic identities. Plans are under way for the construction of housing close to a mosque. Shariah-compatible investment opportunities will also be available.
And to bring these activities to public notice, Dar-us-Salaam has "Muslim Link", a monthly newspaper edited by Minhaj Hasan, a former director of the World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY) branch in the US.