Dr. Raffas , Dr. Bassen , Dr. Bassam Alzain , Director Khalid Marzouki , with Khalid Ahmed
Twenty One American Sisters made this historical trip to Al AIN , UAE to attend this program,of leadership and cultural exchange thanks to Brother Khalid Ahmed and also to Khalid Marsouki the director of the program, they were so impress by how the brothers program went so well last year that they wanted to see how the American sisters would take advantage of this program,we had sisters from all corners of America and little by little they came to Washington D.C. ,Abimbola Bishi , Intisar Rashid , Lola Al-Uqdah , Michaela Elizabeth Corning , Anton Patricia , Shaakira Raheem , Erica Charves , Khadijah Shareef , Tahanie Aboushi , Vita Milagros Rivera , Zarinah Zakiyyah Shakir , Joann Skinner , Angelique Lynn Godley , Loretta Al-Uqdah , Shirley Cooper , Shelia Watson , Maryam Rashid Washington , Malika Rushdan , Shinoa Matos , Aseelah Rashid and Khadijah Rashid.
We visited while in Washington D.C. with the second Muslim Congressman Andre Carson of Indianapolis and with members of the ACMY American Congress of Muslim Youth and were able to share some good points of being involved in the American Process of changing for the better and getting to know a little about the Political vision that America is going. Our stay in Washington D.C. was very short as we got ready to depart to the UAE. We departed Thursday Dec. 11 at 10:00pm we flew Qatar Air Lines , the economy class felt like first class beautiful Airline its was a 12 hour flight to Doha, Qatar and another 55 minutes to Abu Dhabi, UAE, they were waiting on our arrival and they welcome the sisters like Queens , no waiting on lines all passports taken care of baggage everything, they just had to drive to AL AIN about an hour away, on arrival to AL AIN the sisters just had to decide who was going to be their room mates in Villas to accommodate 3 sister per Villa everything that they will need for the next 30 days was provided. The next morning after an Emirate style breakfast they were taken to Oasis Hospital for check ups and to issue them insurance cards for any medical needs that they would experience while attending the School. The United Arab Emirates was founded in 1971 by the late Shaykh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan( may his soul rest in peace). The Eastern Arabia peninsula has been predominately Muslim since the time of the Prophet Muhammed(peace be upon him)there are over 170 nationalities in the Emirates population.
Zayed House of Islamic Culture was reestablished by presidential decree in 2005 as center for Islamic culture a place for exchange and promotion of the values and ideas of Islamic culture, Zayed house is an independent government entity funded by the Crown Prince. And their goal is to teach moderate Islam to the American Muslims and to have an intercultural exchange with their friends and brothers and sisters in America. The visits that they have graciously attended have served to strengthens the friendship that these two countries share for the world (Peace). The sisters represented all aspects of Islam in America Latinos , Caucasian , Africans and Afro American sisters and myself that attended the Imam Training Program have to give it up for the sisters , they are learning all the knowledge they can get , and as Khalid Ahmed says we have to continue to educate our brothers and sisters in the United States Of America to make this world a better place for our children.
Imam Yusef Maisonet
