Outreach

Islam is all about outreach. God has primarily defined Himself by the words رحمن أو رحيم (Rahman and Raheem). The meanings which are given by these words are mercy, compassion, kindness, love, affection and clemency. Similarly the Prophet Muhammad was characterized by this trait. He said,

“I am the Prophet of merciful guidance” (Suyooti Jami’ al-Sagheer)

Islam teaches that we should engage our neighbors and society at large on two main platforms- Presenting our faith and Community service.

As far as presenting our faith, the Muslim American Society is a member of the Mecklenburg Ministries interfaith organization. Our Imam is on the clergy advisory board and is regularly invited to introduce Islam to various congregations across the state. Similarly, periodically we hold “get to know your Muslim neighbor” events where we invite non-Muslims to learn about Islam and Muslims.

In Community Service we have a number of programs that we are engaged in. We are a member of the Shamrock Dr. Directive association and our Imam is an elected board member. The purpose of this membership is to collectively work with other organizations on our same street in order to support each other and maximize the progress of our corridor. One of the projects we have taken up is the adopt a street program in which we are commissioned by the city to keep our street clean by quarterly trash/old sign removal.

We also have a collaborative organization called “Being There” which looks out for the needy of Charlotte both Muslim and non-Muslim. Each Saturday they hand out sandwiches downtown and monthly we pick them up in our bus and have dinner here at MAS.

If you would like to volunteer for any of these projects please click on the link in the upper right hand corner.