Fartun Ahmed

It is that time of year again, to wrap things up and reflect on all that has taken place whether be events, meetings, educational workshops, or just the few construction projects that took place in the center. The Islamic Civic Society of America launched its core projects and events around August 2009, last year. Now that it is again August but 2010, the success of these much-anticipated plans have yet to seize. So, concentrating on this quarter (May-Aug) one can report that the yearly interactive competitions ended in May, with one school taking the final cup. The competition, which occurs every year, creates a wave of competition-ism among Minneapolis and St. Paul public schools as well as a major number of charter schools. Starting out with over twenty schools, the year ended on May 21^st with the final cup going to Roosevelt High School, there rivals Washburn High School had taken the cup and first place home last year, this year Roosevelt seemed to proof them wrong, Following that event different committees within the organization and mosque decided to take on a new project.

Many had not known the name of the organization was changed to “Islamic Civic Society of America” ICSA for short, so that Muslim community in America could have a sustained institution to serve Islam and Muslims for generations to come. With that an event was planned, organized and put together to express this change, that event titled “The Past, Present, and Future of the Muslim Community in Minnesota. So, on June 5^th 2010 a large turnout of the community gathered at South High School to reflect on their accomplishments, hardships, and struggles in order to carry on the next generation of Muslim Minnesotans. Well known speakers including Sh. Abdirahman Sharif, Br. Abdislam Adam,  Br. Roodwan Saleh from Huston Taxes and Br. Abukar Arman, along with political candidates who were seeking elections in the primary election. The letter from the executive director of ICSA, Br. Abdikadir Ibrahim, details the models of ICSA in the years to come; the youth (ICSA Youth Council & its’ younger sister SSU was marvelous from the speeches to performance.  The event also featured the most epic and desirable part of the evening, the Qur’an graduating class of 2010, wearing maroon gowns over a dozen graduates walked the stage that evening in awe of achieving such a high standards. The best and cutest part of the evening took place with another graduating class of “Al-Hikmah” a private Islamic school that the organization housed. With over twenty little kids ranging from two to five, we watched them perform recitation of Qur’an, hadiths, sections from children’s books, personification of the language arts, and a heavy load of history. These kids proofed that institutions like Al-Hikmah serve a greater advantage for future generations not only in the Islamic teachings but a rigorous set of instructions, math’s, English, sciences, history, and arts.

Few days later, as usual, the ICSA Youth Council held its annual Recognition Dinner on June 27^th, 2010. The event sponsored a dinner, modest entertainment, and distinguished awards. On the weekend of Memorial Day, several youth, and committee members including the executive director of ICSA Abdikadir Ibrahim took an insightful trip to the annual ISNA convention. This year being held in Chicago the attendees grasped an opportunity for knowledge, different thoughts, and creative entertainment with popular speakers such as Tariq Ramadan, Hamza Yusuf, Suhaib Webb, Zaid Shakr and Abdikahim Jackson.

On July 20^th, 2010 the imam of Dar Al-Hijrah mosque, Sh. Abdirahman Sharif held a formal dinner for all the twin cities imams and religious leaders, it was the first of its kind. The dinner represented socializing as well as strengthening the connection of the mosques, organizations and leaders. The League of Somali Scholars of North America youth section held its second annual youth conference on July 24^th, 2010. The event commented a day of activities, lectures, and a soccer tournament which ended with the Islamic Civic Society of America’s boys soccer team taking first place.

With so many events and projects taking place in June and July a cool breeze hit through the month of August as a welcome event on Friday August 6^th was done for Ramadan. Imam Abdirahman, and Dr. Ahmed Mohamed from People’s Center clinic instructed the attendees on preparing for as well as health related information for the month of Ramadan. The two months interactive summer programs end and the entire education department, parents, students and teachers went on a picnic on Saturday August 7^th, just a few days before Ramadan. The picnic held at Huset Park in Colombia Heights, symbolized fun, and a time to socialize with friends and classmates. Finally it is the beginning of Ramadan now, and ICSA again is ready to serve the community. The usual Tarweeh prayers, breaking fast at the mosque, a question and answer section on the weekends with the Imam and many other services are already in session. We welcome all Muslims to take full advantage of our services. And on a final note, we wish everyone a blessed and healthy Ramadan.