THE COWARDS OF IAGD

What do you call people who know and see the truth and are blinded by selfishness, self-importance and bigoted self-interest and deny it? Cowards and deniers, of course!

What do you call people who fire a highly respected Imam and do not give him any reasons for their actions when directly asked by him in a face to face meeting and then venture to slowly leak the presumed fabricated reasons for their unjustifiable actions by assassinating his character in public, while making every effort to hide the real reason which was revenge for the positions that Imam Aly Lela took, in the past three to four years, calling them out for their bad behavior when he contradicted and challenged them for their unjustifiable actions? They had no defense for themselves, so they fired him.

What do you call people who do not hesitate to conceal and hide the truth and mislead the community and hide from facing the community, like the BOT, who refuse to face the community and talk to and listen to the community and insist on holding closed door secret meetings and make secret decisions, which are often unknown even to the BOD. Why are they scared to face the IAGD community?

What do you call people who, we definitely believe, understand simple language such as “Special General Body Meetings can be called by the BOD or not less than one-third of regular members”, and yet deny the right of the members when they have faithfully completed all requirements of the IAGD constitution, and even instituted more honest and strict regulations to obtain signatures for the online petition and call for a SGBM at the time and location of their choosing with an agenda that they have determined, that is their constitutional and moral right?  This simple language is clearly understood by even the young children, yet they deliberately misinterpret and misrepresent statutes of the IAGD constitution, by citing unrelated clauses and harass the community to promote a self-serving agenda.

What do you call people who fraudulently amend at least one portion of the constitution, without the due process, and display it on their website, which they have exclusively controlled for many years, and do not have the decency to even remove the fraudulently added clause, when clearly warned in writing?

They promised before the IAGD community on October 13, 2019, they will give to the membership committee the authority to reach a consensus between the BOD and the petitioners, to have an equitable method of verifying and validating the online petitions. When the membership committee by a majority decision, disagrees with the BOD’s insistence to send by mail letters to all online petitioners, which was considered unacceptable to the representatives of the petitioners, they proceed unilaterally to impose their self-serving terms on the petitioners, completely bypassing the membership committee that the BOD themselves appointed. What do you call such people who reject all the fair, equitable, sound and justifiable methods offered by the petitioners, who did everything by the rules truthfully?

What do you call people who repeatedly make promises and commitments and never make any effort to deliver those, leaving the members of this community to indeed doubt and question their intentions?

What do you do when such people impugn the honesty and integrity of law-abiding good Muslims and consider them as liars and fraudsters for signing the petition online, simply because they cannot accept the reality that indeed the community has taken a righteous stand against their arrogance and despicable behavior? They have to know that the reason that some of them are seated in the BOD is purely as a result of buying votes, which is illegal in this country and indeed in any civilized modern society? What do you call such people who think that they are “holier than thou”, yet openly break the laws and all norms of decent Islamic behavior and see all the good people around them in their own reflection as transgressors and dis-obeyers of laws?

What do you call people who harass innocent people and sue them to gratify their own delusions of grandeur, of being rich and powerful? What do you call people who bring in armed security guards into a Masjid in 2016, to evict the youngsters of this community, who decided that they have seen and heard enough and want to put an end to their distasteful methods? They then change the locks and lock up the social hall to stop a perfectly legitimate SGBM that was prearranged to be held there. They sign an MoU and deliberately fail to deliver most major commitments, and show no remorse, 3 ½ years later.

What do you call people who transfer all assets and properties of an Islamic religious association to a foundation that they secretly create and name themselves as its lifetime owners? What do you call people who consider themselves as owners of a Masjid, a house of Allah SWT.

What do you call people who blatantly break the laws that they themselves wrote in the IAGD constitution and do not feel any obligation to abide by the laws that give IAGD the 501(c)(3) nonprofit status that they are required to follow, thereby exposing IAGD, a non-profit religious organization to serious peril? That despite being warned in writing. They certainly consider constitution and all applicable laws as an unnecessary impediment in their most important agenda, which is to keep complete control of IAGD, for the balance of their lives and then pass it on to their hand-picked successors. Do they ever feel the need to tickle their conscience and evaluate themselves and feel accountable for their transgressions and unethical practices?

What do you call people who do not abide by any constitutional mandates and accepted long standing procedures of this organization and create self-serving rules to falsely claim authority to govern a religious Muslim institution, which claims to be guided by the Quran and Sunnah? 

What do you call people who consider themselves as the only people who can do and have done good for IAGD while completely disregarding the services of many sisters and brothers, who quietly served and supported IAGD, “Feesabillah”? These are definitely signs of ungratefulness and self-promotion.

What do you call people who behave like fascists and dictators, and completely disregard the wishes and desires of a community that they claim to represent, trampling on the process of “Shura”, that is required in governance of Muslim societies? What do you call people who are willing to compromise their conscience to please other human beings, who they consider as their mentors, and indeed displease Allah SWT, in that bartering of favors?

The Prophet Mohammad SAS said “When honesty is lost, then wait for the hour”. How will honesty be lost O Allah’s messenger? The Prophet said “When authority is given to those who do not deserve it, then wait for the hour”.

Abusing power and authority is not permissible in Islam. Allah knows all and sees all. Actions speak louder than words. They may think that they are not being observed by other humans or Allah SWT.

Any one that disagrees with them is called a trouble maker, a divider in the community and is creating a “Fitna”. The real Fitna is what they have done for many years. They have treated this organization as their personal enterprise and have bought votes to get elected and evicted our children from the Masjid for peacefully protesting and have harassed and sued people, signed an MoU and disregard it and have deliberately trashed the IAGD constitution, and indulge in self-serving deceitful methods of governance.  They have the audacity to call out people who are tired of their immoral behavior and distasteful actions, as Fitna. This has to end, for the good of IAGD in the long run and for IAGD to be successful and flourish in the future, Insha’Allah.

Such are the leaders of IAGD. They lack courage and integrity and indeed are cowards and deniers and sooner or later will be held accountable for their misdeeds. It is never too late for them to make an effort to seek the right path. May Allah SWT guide them and help them in coming to the realization that Allah SWT indeed forgives those who repent and reform themselves and seek His pleasure and not focus on gaining name or fame or power while harming the very fabric of a civilized Muslim community, that is aspiring for unity and fair Islamic governance. Ameen.

Syed Mahmood Ali Khan
October 31, 2019