Oct 27 Letter to BOD: Call for SGBM

October 27, 2019
Subject: General Body Call for October 27, 2019 SGBM
To: Fasahat Malik, Rehmat Awan, Majeed Bhatti

Assalaamu ‘alaykum,

This is official notice that the IAGD GB (General Body) petitioners do not recognize the IAGD BOD (Board of Directors) sham of a petition validation, we will not accept its results and condemn all efforts to date to thwart a valid call for a SGBM (Special General Body Meeting). The purpose for the called October 27, 2019 SGBM was to allow the IAGD GB to vote for Imam Ali Leyla’s reinstatement.

Reinstatement is being requested as the BOD unilaterally decided to not renew Imam Ali Leyla’s contract and the IAGD Constitution provides no process for raising grievances or conflict resolution. Thus, the SGBM is the only remedy available for the GB under the IAGD constitution.

You will recall that the request for SGBM was made on October 2, 2019 when the petition was delivered to you containing 380 GB signatures. 380 signatures represent roughly 38% of the GB which is more than the IAGD constitutional requirement of 33%. The methods used to gather petition signatures far exceed common norms in place today for gathering petition signatures. In addition, petitioner methods far exceed the integrity of the methods currently employed at the IAGD. The petition and call for SGBM are valid. Attendance at the SGBM whereby a 1/3 quorum of the GB must physically present to proceed with a simple vote to reinstate the Imam, is the next step. To a reasonable person, the ability of the GB petitioners to meet the 1/3 quorum requirement at a SGBM is the validation to the broader GB and BOD that the petition signatures were valid.

To date the BOD has stonewalled, questioned the validity of the GB’s ability to call a SGBM and questioned the validity of the online petitioners. The BOD has and continues to assert itself as champions to validate the GB’s petition. The IAGD Vice President, who happens to be the head of the Membership Committee, wants to count the ballots, which demonstrates bad faith because it is riddled with Conflict of Interest.

To remind the BOD a conflict of interest (COI) is a situation in which a person or organization is involved in multiple interests, financial or otherwise, and serving one interest could involve working against another. Typically, this relates to situations in which the personal interest of an individual or organization might adversely affect a duty owed to make decisions for the benefit of a third party.  [Wikipedia].

Not only does the BOD not have any ethical standards to avoid the appearance of a COI, you insist on actively engaging in COI!

As it stands today a paid membership to the IAGD only allows one to participate in a flawed election process and provides no real means to overturn decisions of the Board. The IAGD Board has demonstrated no integrity to date and should resign as they have failed to meet the basic responsibilities of an Officer in a non-Profit, much less an Islamic religious organization.

Dr. Jukaku Tayeb & Anver Aftab, IAGD members