The Muslim Community of Clinton, Iowa

The Clinton, Iowa is a sleepy town 40 miles north of the Quad Cities and 150 miles west of Chicago, two large metropolitan areas. It is an immigrant town on the bank of Mississippi river mostly inhabited by people of European origin, for example, German, Dutch, English, and Irish men for a long period of time. Who would have predicted that this place would become Mecca for Muslim doctors for a time to come? A few years ago, Muslim doctors had accounted for almost 20% of all physicians practising here in this small town of 27,000 people. In some of the areas, they are the only ones, for example including all three Cardiologists, only Nephrologist, both Gastroenterologists, only Rheumatologist and 1of 4 gynaecologists in the town. Because of the broad vision of the Muslims in town and our Islamic activities, Islam has made a permanent foothold for all times to come especially after purchase of a church recently.

The Muslims started to come to the US in the mid-1960s but in Clinton the earliest person to arrive was Mohammad Asaadi who came to study at Clinton Community College in 1972. He came back after few years’ hiatus in 1986 and established Restaurant as well as Pizza business. One of the earliest arrivals and now one of the founders, Dr. Saadi Albaghdadi, Cardiologist joined Medical Associates (a multi-speciality group consisting of 36 physicians now) in July of 1979. Some Macedonian families with a large number of family members established their Restaurants on either side of the river in the middle 1980s and early 1990s. Large numbers of Albanian families have settled down in Morrison, IL area and have their own mosque in that town, 20 mile east of Clinton.

 
ISLAMIC ACTIVITIES

Islamic activities started when two physicians got together and decided to establish Friday Prayer in May, 1999. Before this event, Muslims had to travel 40 miles to the Quad cities to say their Salat-ul-Juma. The Prayer was moved to a public place after praying in the basement of one of the brothers. The Muslims felt a need to organise themselves in order to carry out their duties for a long time to come. Keeping the long term goal in mind, a constitution was written and the Islamic Society of Clinton County was formed. The organisation was registered in the State of Iowa in 2000. Some of our activities were really energised with the arrival of a Kashmiri doctor, Dr. M. Yahya Alvi from Malaysia. Due to his advanced knowledge and leadership, the community activities started to increase especially in the area of Qur’anic Tafseer and Dawah among non-Muslims. After 9/11, Muslims strongly condemned the attack when other Muslims were shy about involving the media. This bold action gave encouragement to other communities to confront the issue head on. The Muslim response was well appreciated and publicised. The Muslims organised an interfaith event during Ramadhan where Christians and Hindus were also invited and given chance to be heard about their concept of fasting in their religions. This event was attended by a large number of church peoples from the local areas.

The Muslims continued to look for a place which we could call home. There were many possibilities for house or apartment but nothing materialised until August, 2005 when the Church of Atonement went on sale as part of two churches consolidation. Even before the property went on sale, three of the physicians got together and provided complete financing to purchase the 7-acre property consisting of brick building later to be called Clinton Islamic Centre. Property was formally signed on Aug.28, 2005. Because of our activities and mere presence, the Islamic Centre has been profiled by the media several times in the last few years. For example, the Quad City Times, which has wide based circulation, ran an article on our Islamic Centre in their headline “Communities of Faith“, where a positive image of Islam was presented. On September 16, 2006, Clinton Herald, local newspaper, devoted the entire page on Islam and Muslims, and the heading read “Islamic Society Has a Mosque in Clinton”. Due to the good interaction with the media, our activities continue to be well covered.

Inspired by Dr. Ahmadullah Siddiqi’s book, Islam, Muslim and Media in which many pointers were given of how to interact with media, I took initiatives to bring Islamic point of view on a variety of subjects to the public. By writing in the opinion section of several newspapers, these opinions were highlighted. Some of the chosen topics were importance of thanksgiving in Islam reported with “Tradition of Thanksgiving Not Unknown to Muslims”; Qur’anic teachings about Mary and Jesus (peace be to them); “Do Muslims Celebrate Christmas”; and “Religions Have More In Common than You Think”. All the articles were well appreciated by a large number of Christians. In fact, the newspaper liked the last two articles so much that they have placed them in their permanent archives which can be retrieved from its website.

The other community issue-related articles published were, “Pilgrimage to Mecca, an Abrahamic Tradition,” “Life and Times of Prophet Abraham,” and “Muslims Commemorate the Life of Prophet Mohammed.” etc. During Ramadhan, Iftaar and dinner was shared with specially invited neighbours, friends, politicians and activists every Wednesday and Sunday. Talk or power point presentation on Islam was organised ahead of time.

Muslims have joined the local community in events of common interest, for example, the annual march to stop hate and violence. In fact, the churches have invited us many times to speak about Islam in their gathering and on other occasion to give prayer from an Islamic perspective in their peace conference several years in a row. Our organisation has stepped in whenever request was made for charitable events whether it was for Habitat for Humanity or buying furniture for the homeless. One Brother has made a point of donating entire cost of Thanksgiving Day dinner for the homeless several years in row. In order to serve the local community, I have written several articles which will benefit the community at large e.g. “Living related Kidney Transplant: A gift of Life” and “Chronic Kidney Disease on the rise”. After interaction with non-Muslims, I have discovered their desire to learn more about our custom, behaviour, faith and thoughts. Any article or event that increases their knowledge about our faith is appreciated.

In order for any community to prosper, there has to be some people who will continue to invite people to good things and share the large burden of the task. Every community has problem with personalities, different schools of thought and culture. But we must respect each other’s points of view and accommodate them as much as possible. Having like-minded people who will have broad vision of carrying the message of Islam and contribute generously to further the cause of Islam in any community is of utmost importance. We are fortunate to have those kinds of Muslims among us.