Black History Month Program February 21, 2010 from 3:00 PM to 7:00 PM Location: DAH

ALIM Convention 2010: Immigration PanelDate: July 10, 2010 from 11:15 AM to 12:15 PMLocation: Capital Hilton

Badr ConferenceDate: for July 23, 2010Location: Washington, DCMuslim Family DayDate: September 12, 2010Location: Six Flags

Hispanic Heritage DayDate: October 16, 2010Location: Dar Al-Hijrah

Evening of InspirationDate: October 31, 2010Location: Lisner Aud 730-21st NW 20052

AIDS-HIV Stigma ConferenceDate: December 1, 2010Location: Howard University Cramton Auditorium

Masjid Tour Date: May 2, 2010 from 12:45 PM to 2:00 PM

Intro to Islam: Class visitDate: May 4, 2010 from 3:30 PM to 6:00 PMLocation: Dar Al-Hijrah

Tour of WIA School June 10, 2010 from 1:30 PM to 2:30 PMSchool Board Delegate: Sandy Evans

Masjid Tour: Student visit from Warrenton VADate: July 27, 2010 from 12:00 PM to 1:45 PM

Masjid TourDate: August 26, 2010 from 12:00 PM to 3:00 PMLocation: DAH

Masjid TourDate: October 24, 2010 from 12:30 PM to 1:30 PMLocation: DAH

Masjid TourDate: October 31, 2010 from 11:30 AM to 1:00 PMLocation: DAH

Time: Saturday, March 12 · 5:30pm – 9:00pm

Location: Dar Al Hijrah Islamic Center

3159 Row St Falls Church, VA

Come join MAS Youth @ DAH as we have brother Ossama Elshamy come speak to us about the “3d Muslim”. To be a true Muslim you should realize that you have three dimensions … if you work to nourish each one, you will become happy in this world and the next beithnAllah … what these three dimensions are is what the brothers and sisters will find out when they attend insha’Allah.

The lecture will be open to brothers, sisters, and parents. Ages 12 and up are welcomed to attend. Refreshments will be served after the event.

Hope to see you all on Saturday, March 12, 2011 @ 5:30 pm.

This winter, beginning December 2^nd 2008, The Dar Al Hijrah Islamic Center is partnering with Volunteers for America and the Fairfax County Government to provide a warm, safe and caring place for the homeless in Northern Virginia. After searching for a house of worship to cover the missing nights in the schedule, Sandra (Sandy) S. Chisholm, Community Interfaith Liaison, Fairfax County Department of Systems Management for Human Services, came to Dar Al-Hijrah’s Mohamed Abdelillah, Social Service chairman, and asked him to join the participating area churches in providing temporary overnight shelter for the homeless in Falls Church. Dar Al-Hijrah was quick to take up the call.

“The overnight shelter will be open every night during the winter months and members of our congregation will be providing breakfast for our homeless neighbors each morning, Islam teaches us that it is our duty to care for our neighbors” said Imam Johari Abdul-Malik, who serves as Director of Outreach for the center.

Thornell Hancock, Volunteers for America’s Development Specialist/Hypothermia Program Co-coordinator for the Bailey’s Crossroads Community Shelter and his team will staff the area shelters with the help of community volunteers. Some of the homeless are “the working poor, they may be under-employed or just can’t afford the rent in this area and wind-up homeless”. says Mr. Hancock, “Some of just made the unfortunate ‘life choices’ “.

Those in need of shelter must register at Bailey’s Crossroads Community Shelter, there they have dinner and then are taken the short van ride to the mosque or other sites. An array of social services, comprehensive health and employment services are provided throughout the night’s program. “This program is designed to help people transition from homelessness into permanent housing” says Imam Johari. The program will run until the spring.

“There is something more fundamental about good environmentalism that if one fails to do it one has failed the test of serving their God,” said Imam Johari Abdul-Malik of the Dar Al Hijrah Islamic Center in Falls Church, Va. “This is not new. That message in the scriptures as they were written thousands of years ago.”

Some came for the spicy chicken, others for the twisty balloons. But Maura Yasin came to send a message to the public officials and political candidates who turned out to mingle with members of Northern Virginia’s Muslim community yesterday.

“I came to be part of the crowd, to show local Virginia politicians that we are here and want to be taken seriously for the issues that affect us,” said Yasin, 46, of Falls Church, who was wearing an American flag head scarf held in place with a “We the People” pin.

“We don’t want to be swept under the rug,” she said.

Yasin was among about 500 Muslims who gathered at a Fairfax County park for the eighth annual “civic picnic” organized by a group of Northern Virginia mosques and Muslim associations.

The event enables Muslims to meet candidates interested in courting votes in the fast-growing community. Organizers said the picnic was the first of several events planned to encourage Muslim participation in the upcoming elections.

About a dozen state and local officials and candidates attended the picnic. Representatives from the presidential campaigns of Sens. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) provided information about the candidates.

[...]Virginia has about 71,000 Muslim voters, about 85 percent of them in Northern Virginia, said Mukit Hossain, president of the Virginia Muslim Political Action Committee, which tracks trends and candidates in local elections. Hossain said Muslims could play an important role in the state’s congressional races, as well as in the presidential election.

“This year, there is a high likelihood a small number of voters in Northern Virginia will elect the next president,” Hossain said. “Given that scenario, I think 71,000 voters is a substantial bloc that could swing things in one direction or the other.”

Robert Marro, government relations chairman for the All Dulles Area Muslim Society, said that as Muslims settle into the region, they are interested in being more politically active.

“These people, they may look a little different, they may talk a little different, but they want a better America, and they have the same concerns as other Americans,” he said, citing the economy, the housing crisis and gas prices.

But many are concerned, he said, about a “general anti-Muslim outlook” at the national level. “We really want to stand up for people who are going to support the community,” he said.

Many at the picnic were interested in what the candidates had to say, but others said they expected little change in U.S. foreign policy toward the Middle East, or even in how Muslims are viewed inside the country.