Sara Nasir Zara Aslam Nadine Talaat Ahmad Fayad MOSQUE PROJECT INTERVIEW We interviewed Mohammad Seddique Zarabi,

the president of Ibrahim Khalilullah Islamic Center (IKIC)

When was your site founded? o IKIC was established in 1996, however the current location (building) of the mosque has been in use since 2006 Who was/were the founder(s)? o Elders of the Afghan community came together in Fremont and decided to build a mosque that served a center for the community and a place for them to reach one another and practice together. Any people of importance? o The board of directors are important because they are the ones involving the community and holding all the events ! Mohammad Seddique Zarabi is the president ! Arshad Ershad, Mir Malik Naseri, Farid Zazai, Abdul Wahab Shekib, Akbar Afzali, Farhad Shafaq, Abdul Rashid Benish, Maasoom Ramzi, Rona Rashid, Nasrin Shuja, Fareed Wardak are the board members How did the mosque derive its name? o Ibrahim Khalil-ullah Islamic Center: Ibrahim was derived from the Prophet Ibrahim/ Abrahams name. What demographic do they serve? (a mix of different backgrounds, primarily ethnic such as Arab/Pakistani/Fijian, African-American, convert, youth?) o Majority of the members is afghan but since the past two years there has been a small number of Pakistani and Africans who have been attending this mosque. The main reason why the Majority of the members are Afghan because Fremont has a lot of afghan residents. What size is the community, how active is it? What is unique about the community? (Is it immigrant, new, established, refugee, alternative?) o There is approx. 600 members who pay their monthly dues but does not include family members. There is also people who come to the mosque who are no necessarily members and dont pay the dues but still participate in the mosque activities. Up until recently the mosque was not very active with the community but since Mohammad S Zarabi became the president of the mosque they have been more active. Every month they try to host family dinner night at the mosque and Muslim speakers are invited to speak at different events. They have khatams in the month of Ramadan and recently started hosting nightly iftaars at the mosque. It is unique because it is refugee established. Is your site affiliated or partners with any other mosques? o They do not have any partnerships with any other mosques. Are there any articles or press from outside sources regarding your mosque, hyperlink out to those articles as you speak about them. You can ask your mosque directly, but you should also search online as the mosque may not be aware. Maybe an event was covered in the news, a grand opening with the mayor, maybe and incident of hate etc.

In December of 2012 a Caucasian man walked in to the mosque and said that he will kill 4 people, no one was actually hurt or injured and no real threat was imposed on anyone. According to the president of the mosque it was not such a big deal because no one was hurt. This was covered by local bay area news and was linked to 9/11 somehow. Here is the link to the news that was covered: http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Threat-at-Fremont-Mosque-has-SomeWorried-183464221.html o Just recently, in September of 2013, the Fremont trustees approve Farsi for high school language credit. Because of the hard work provided through the board of directors and members of IKIC and the vast population of Afghans living in Fremont, they were able to get it approved. This was covered by the Mercury News and here is the link of the article: http://www.mercurynews.com/fremont/ci_24183459/fremont-trustees-approvefarsi-credits What kind of structure is your mosque (a storefront, converted house or building, corporate space, strip mall, former church, built from the ground up)? Is their any information they can offer about the location and prior occupants? Is their historical information you can research on the address? What is the area like (residential, commercial. etc?) o Its a corporate space; its located in a commercial area with some nearby residences. Its close to a freeway. It was a corporate building but the Mosque did not want to disclose their personal information. Find out about any projects your mosque is involved in (feeding the homeless, literacy, women's shelter, voting poll site etc) o Currently they are not involved in any projects but they did just get approved to provide kids with high school language credit through Farsi so they are implementing that, but hopefully in the future they will branch out to more projects What events do they have or have participated in? o Fateha and Mass Condolences for 5000 peopleSunday, October 13, 2013 o There are Family Nights, Iftar Nights, Khatem nights, Youth Empowerment discussions, College Preparation seminars, Community nights and marjaan sister group. What services do they offer? (is their an onsite Islamic school, do they offer health, legal, marriage, death, services, counseling, Boy Scouts, youth programs etc?) o Then have youth cultural and language classes, they offer various services such as death services for members who pay their dues. Members are guaranteed a spot on the cemetery and the khatem is held there. Have their been any significant milestones (purchase of a bigger building, zoning permit anything else?) o The mosque used to be in a smaller area (in a little store) by Alvarado Niles but they were able to make this purchase for this building and this was a big achievement because they were able to get a bigger space and although it was a corporate building, it took them a few years to make it look like a mosque. Have they published any materials? Find out title, obtain some. o Every week they publish newsletters for the members and the non-members can get it from the mosque if they want. Do they have an documents to share? Maybe they have proposed building plans, or architectural works, photos of construction from beginning to end, any historical items that you can scan, copy or photograph as part of your community narrative
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o No they did not want to disclose this information. Have they been involved in any important legal cases? o No they have not. Have they as a mosque/community experience discrimination? Hate crimes? o Besides the gunman they have not. What kind of community engagement do they have? (Interfaith, community outreach, open house?) o They mostly do community outreach through word of mouth and through a lot of the Islamic events. Be sure to record their web address, Twitter,Facebook, Youtube, Vimeo if they have one o http://www.ikicenter.org/ o https://www.facebook.com/pages/Ibrahim-Khalilullah-Islamic-CenterIKIC/230268763680651?ref=br_tf Seek interviews additional people on their experience with the mosque (how long they have been a member, where they are from, what they like best about the mosque, what is their involvement in the mosque? Hopes for the future of the mosque? o Farah Shahid: She has been a member at this mosque for 3-4 years now. She came from Lahore, Pakistan after gaining citizenship through marriage. She likes the warm welcoming of everyone here. She enjoys reading Taraweeh here during Ramadan as everyone is so friendly and light-hearted. She hasnt done much except donate money to the mosque but she hopes that time will permit her to do so in the future. She hopes that the mosque will still continue to run and that she will be able to see more women rights and workshops done in the future.