Written by Mobeen Vaid
Breaking the Silence- Global Deaf Muslim Fundraiser
Sunday, February 21st, 2010- Global Deaf Muslim (GDM), in conjunction with the ADAMS Center, held its annual fundraiser at the ADAMS Center last Sunday. A crowd of approximately 250 people filed in to hear and watch a night spent raising awareness and funds for Global Deaf Muslim, an organization dedicated to providing services and support for deaf and hard-of-hearing Muslims around the world.
The ADAMS Center Youth Coordinator, Joshua Salaam, began the night by mentioning an incident that happened to him a few months back. A mother had contacted Salaam in regards to services for deaf Muslim youth- her daughter was deaf and had expressed a feeling of estrangement with the broader Muslim community. In response to this request, Salaam searched the web and came across GDM’s website and read about an event at Galludet University. Salaam picked up the mother and daughter and took them to the event. At the fundraiser, Salaam recalled his thoughts when he arrived on Galludet’s Campus, “it was at that point that I realized I was handicapped, not them.” He sat and watched as a room of Muslim youth communicated with each other, joking, telling stories, and enjoying their time together entirely using Sign Language.
After Salaam spoke, Hamza Khan, a local member of the ADAMS Center, spoke about his experiences growing up as someone hard-of-hearing. Khan recalled his days as a child- confused looking at those around him, watching others laughing and speaking to him while he smiled back in ambivalence to what was being said. After this pattern of responses continued for some time, Khan’s parents became concerned and took him to the doctor. At the time Khan was only a year and a half old, and the doctor was unable to find any abnormalities after conducting an evaluation. It was only when Khan entered elementary school that the school administration scheduled him for an audio evaluation test. Eventually, with the help of a speech therapist, hearing aids, and learning American Sign Language, Hamza Khan began speaking by the age of 7. Since then, Khan has dedicated much of his life to helping others undergoing the same difficulties he went through and advancing the cause of deaf and hard-of-hearing muslims globally.
Nashiru Abdulai, president and founder of GDM, took to the front of the room following Hamza Khan and signed a speech that few would forget. Abdulai’s speech was spoken through an interpreter and he told the audience about his goals for GDM. Abdulai introduced the GDM board which is composed of working professionals with degrees in social work, human resource development, chemical engineering, and more. Abdulai mentioned the dire need for facilities that cater to the needs of deaf muslims- he expressed disappointment over the difficulties that deaf muslims have to encounter. “Friday Khutbahs, conferences, and popular community events rarely have deaf interpretation on site,” said Abdulai. Abdulai went on to say that this feeds into a feeling of alienation from the Muslim community and said he hopes to use GDM as an outlet to communicate these needs to Muslim organizations worldwide.
Mobin Tawakkul, a board member and Director of Communications for GDM, furthered Abdulai’s sentiments and spoke of the need to consider the families of Deaf Muslims as well. “Many parents are simply unequipped to deal with the challenge of having a child who is hearing impaired,” Tawakkul said. Tawakkul hopes to develop a program for parents of Deaf Muslims to “acculturate them to the needs of deaf children and connect them with other parents who are dealing with the same challenges as they are.”
The keynote speaker for the fundraiser was Imam Mohamad Magid, Imam and Executive Director of the ADAMS Center as well as the active Vice President of ISNA. Imam Magid provided a thorough analysis of Deaf Muslims and their role in the muslim society according to scholarly tradition. Magid spoke of two approaches that scholars typically took- the first was one of sympathy, where scholars took pity on the deaf and gave them numerous exceptions without highlighting any major role that they could play in society. The second approached called for responsiveness by the community to cater to their needs and implored Deaf Muslims to be ambitious and not allow their hearing impediment to get in the way of accomplishing lofty goals. Magid referred to the first approach as “mistaken” and spoke about how Islam honored the disabled in the Quran. Magid mentioned how Allah referred to Abdullah ibn Umm Maktum, the famous blind companion, as “al-a’maa” or “the blind man” and not with his name. The scholars concluded that one of the reasons this was done was to honor all those who would come after Abdullah ibn Umm Maktum with disabilities and for them to know that their voice should not be suppressed and that even though people might not always pay them attention, God always does.
Magid concluded his speech powerfully by giving his unequivocal support for the work of GDM, and told Abdulai and the other GDM members in attendance, “I want to be your Imam.”
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The Global Deaf Muslims would like to recognize and thank all those who volunteered and assisted with making the event possible. After the blessings and assistance of Allah, volunteers from the ADAMS Youth Group, ADAMS Center Administration, and AlMaghrib Institutes Qabeelat Nurayn all played crucial roles in the formulation of the event. May Allah accept from everyone’s efforts in His path. Ameen.
