ANNOUNCEMENTS

(notes provided by the erudite Mary Hodson)

Bowl for Kids Sake, an annual fundraiser for Big Brothers/Big Sisters, will be held at 7PM, March 6th at Western Bowl in Champaign.   The practice will be 4:30 March 5th at Old Orchard Lanes in Savoy.  Please see Dave Krchak for details.

Our regular CUSR meeting on March 13 will be cancelled in favor of the March 12 All Area Club Rotary meeting celebrating the 109th anniversary of RI.  The event will be held at Noon on March 12 at Round Barn.  Please see Chuck Reifsteck for details.

There will be an EIFB food repack 5:30 to 7:30 on Tuesday, March 4.  The address  is 2405 N Shore Dr., Urbana.  Please see Phillip Holthaus for details.

PROGRAM

Mary introduced Dr. Irfan Ahmad.  Dr. Ahmad is the Executive Director of the Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology at the University of Illinois.   He is also a founding member of the Avicenna Clinic which is housed in the Frances Nelson Health Care Center.   The title of Dr. Ahmad’s presentation was “14 Centuries in 20 minutes:  Societal and Intellectual Contributions of Muslims.”

Dr. Ahmad explained that there are five pillars of Islam:   Testimony of Faith (Shahadah), Prayer (Salaat), Fasting (Sawm) during Ramadhan, Alms Giving (Zakaat) and Pilgrimage (Hajj).    Muslim holidays include Eid ul Fitr at the end of Ramadhan and Eid ul Adha, the three day festival of sacrifice.

Islam is a universal religion that believes in the equality of all peoples.  Muslims strive to live according to the Qur’an and the example of the Prophet as recorded in the Hadith, which says, “He is not a Muslim who fills his stomach while his neighbors go hungry”.   Muslims are required to give 2.5% of their wealth above the poverty line to charity.  

What Western Europeans called the “Dark Ages” were really the “Golden Ages” for Islam.   Two Muslim women founded the first university in Morocco in 859 AD.   The concept of awarding degrees spread from there throughout Europe.     Andalucía was a center for education and knowledge.  Muslim universities in Cordoba, Granada and Seville had Christian and Jewish students.

Dr. Ahmad said in Spain, Muslims, Jews and Catholics worked together toward innovation and building a better society.   He likened it to the America of today.

Today, Muslims make up about 20% of the world’s population.  Indonesia, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Egypt, in that order, have the largest Muslim populations.  Muslims have been in America since the days of the slave trade.  Today there are 7-9 million.    The University of Illinois was the site of the first Muslim student associations.   Dr. Ahmad pointed out that the University of Illinois was also the site of the first Jewish and Christian student associations.

The efforts of students led to the establishment of the Central Illinois Mosque and Islamic Center, CIMIC.   Prayer services are held there five times per day.   On Fridays from 12:30 to 2:30, there is a prayer service and sermon in English.   Visitors are encouraged to attend.

In 872, Muslims founded the Tulum Hospital in Cairo.  it provided free care for anyone who needed it.   The Avicenna Health Care Clinic, founded in 2009, is based on the philosophy that health care is a basic human right.   It is an interfaith partnership that provides high quality preventative and curative health care to uninsured residents of Champaign County.    The clinic is open on Saturday afternoons in the Frances Nelson Health Care Center.

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Upcoming Schedule

March 6th – Rotarian Lin Warfel will discuss 21st century farming and his newly released book of poetry

Wednesday, March 12th – All Club meeting at the Round Barn Conference Center

March 20th – Jim Dey, Opinions Editors at the News-Gazette

March 27th – Bruce Hannon, President and Director of the Land Conservation Foundation

April 3rd – TBD

April 10th – TBD

April 17th – TBD

April 24th – Dr. Stephen Boppart