2nd Shura Council

State of the Foundation by Dr. Imad Benjelloun, President of NAFIS

Apex Mosque, Apex, NC

Saturday, August 30, 2014

In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful. May God shower peace and blessings upon our Master Muḥammad, his family, his companions, his brothers, and his party.

All praise is due to God for being able to organize our 2nd Shura Council meeting. It is a positive sign of NAFIS growth and development and may it be primarily for the sake of pleasing
God the Most High. It is the first Shura Council meeting after the passing of our Imam Abdessalam Yassine, may God have mercy on him, who taught us that Islam is a message to all
creation; a message of mercy, peace, non-violence, love, kindness, hope, dignity, and freedom. He taught us to love for our American fellow citizens that which we love for ourselves. He
taught us that our ultimate goal is God; contemplating His countenance, attaining His pleasure and entering His Firdaws (the highest level of paradise.) He taught us that the only best way to
highly achieve such matchless goal is to revive, live by, and promote the prophetic method [al-minhāj an-nabawī]. NAFIS strives to do just that.

In these two years since our first historical Shura council meeting back in August of 2012, our focus has been on building a new system, structure, and strategy with a stronger bond with God
and with each other, all within an environment of suḥba and mutual love for the sake of God, as was envisioned and designed by NAFIS founders, may God reward them. During this new building process, alḥamdulillāh, we, together, have been able to make the following ten major accomplishments:

TEN MAJOR ACCOMPLISHMENTS

  1. Developed a strategic plan that is already being executed. It includes the mission, the vision, the method, the motto, the ten core tenets, the seven keys to success, the seven strategic objectives, the organizational planners, and the ten key performance indicators and targets.
  2. Implemented the new bylaws and structure, gradually and with flexibility.
  3. Completed elections across the organization for the first time in the history of NAFIS.
  4. Increased engagement through election and empowerment of members, and decentralization of decision making; alḥamdulillāh, more than 1/4 of our members are now actively engaged in leading and advancing NAFIS to fulfilling its mission and achieving its vision.
  5. Designed an educational, spiritual, and training program that is comprehensive and relevant to the US.
  6. Developed a plan and program for the Quran School, which has already started.
  7. Developed a da’wa plan with a dual goal of quality and diversity. Such plan is already being executed and alḥamdulillāh, we have achieved a 17% increase in membership growth.
  8. Developed plans for media and communications, civic engagement, and family and childhood.
  9. Launched an annual fundraising campaign with a goal of $100,000 in order to build a financially self-sustained organization; alḥamdulillāh, this year we have exceeded that goal.
  10. Signed the initial contract for NAFIS second home, inchā’Allah, Chicago Mosque, with a price of $730,000.

FIVE MAJOR CHALLENGES
With the above ten accomplishments, there are five major challenges that we need to focus on:

  1. Sustain and advance our successes and execute our new plans and programs to strengthen our building of an organization, NAFIS, that pleases God and serves the American people.
  2. Make NAFIS well known and significantly relevant to the American people.
  3. Grow a membership that reflects diversity in the US; right now the diversity of our membership is still low at 2%.
  4. Build strong partnerships to have a significant positive impact in our society and the world.
  5. Improve our time and resource management.

SIDQ IN ACTION
How to overcome such major challenges? “Translating our Sidq into Action in an Environment of Mutual Love for the Sake of God,” which is the theme of this Shura Council meeting, based on the verse: “As for those who strive for our sake, We will surely guide them to our paths, and verily God is with the muḥsinīn [those who act well]‎” Qur’an 29:69‎. This verse shows that group action with a pure intention result in God’s guidance and support, without which we cannot promote justice and advance to iḥsān.

TEN RECOMMENDATIONS
In order to make such theme and verse a reality, we need to implement the following ten recommendations:

  1. Unshakable belief in God’s absolute power to empower us to make a significant and relevant impact in the US and so the world. [yaqīn fīllāh]
  2. Daily supplication of the spiritual bond to get the necessary guidance and support we continuously very much need. [du’ā’ ar-rābiṭa]
  3. Pure intention to please God and conformance to Qur’an and Sunna. [ikhlās and ṣawāb]
  4. Ensuring harmony while transforming our multiple and different individual ideas into a one best possible TEAM’s idea and course of action. [insijām]
  5. Patience and perseverance; we don’t give up no matter what! [ṣabr and thabāt]
  6. Positive thinking and attitude towards God the Most High, and towards each other to make our teamwork most successful. [ḥusnudhdhan]
  7. Continuous learning and building of expertise; knowledge is light and practice makes perfect.
  8. Continual assessment, improvement, and innovation; excellence is a dimension of iḥsān.
  9. Humbleness before each other, active listening, respect, help, and forgiveness of each other.
  10. Time management and balancing our priorities; life is very short.

May God the Most Gracious help us complete the foundations of a strong organization, NAFIS, that is based on suḥba and mutual love for the sake of God, āmīn! All praise is due to God the Lord of all creation.