These were the words of Dr. Meher F. Tabatabai, a renowned physician in the US and a well-known philanthropist.
Tabatabai, who along with her husband Syed Q. Madad, was here to perform Umrah, said once she is back in the US she would mobilize the Pakistani community there, especially in Los Angeles where she lives.
Tabatabai and her husband, along with some like-minded individuals, are currently engaged in philanthropic work in America and Pakistan.
They run nearly 300 schools for underprivileged children in Pakistan.
Though focused mainly on education, they have also been doing humanitarian work in times of emergencies. She donated $25,000 to the victims of the 2005 earthquake in Pakistan and generated funds and collecting relief material from the Pakistani community.
Tabatabai and her husband were one of the 100 families from all over the US who were invited to have dinner with President Barak Obama after his inauguration in 2009. They were the only Pakistanis among the honored guests.
In her dinner meeting with Obama, which took place just before the US president’s historic visit to Cairo from where he called for bridging gap between the US and the Muslim world, Tabatabai presented him the Muslim World Almanac.
Obama liked the book and reportedly said that it would be his guide on his voyage to the Middle East.
The almanac is a source book on Islam and Muslims published by Makkah-based Dr. Jawaid Anwar Al-Hasan and his team that includes Saudi as well as American scholars.
Speaking at a reception hosted by Al-Hasan, Tabatabai said that a gradual shift in the US government’s approach to the Muslim world was apparent.
The Obama administration was more receptive to Muslims but “it would take some time to undo the damage done during the eight years of George Bush’s rule,” she maintained.
She agreed with the audience, a select group of Asian expatriates in Jeddah, that Americans’ perception of Muslims was generally wrong.
“They are generally viewed as terrorists and extremists. But the Americans have not seen the true face of Muslims who are peace-loving, progressive and have a positive outlook. Muslims of Los Angeles where I belong to are trying to change that perception through personal contacts and all other means at their hands. And I believe that’s what Muslims elsewhere are trying to do,” she added.
