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Our
Efforts
The idea of GROUNDED began as a seed planted in the hearts and minds of its organizers by the pioneers who came before them. Having watched their elders toil the fields of this land both metaphorically and physically in many cases, inspired them to roll up their sleeves and carry on the legacy of community building. In 2022 a young couple approached the leadership of Masjidullah: The Center of Human Excellence, in West Oak Lane Philadelphia, with the idea of developing programming for young people to revitalize the energy of the community and establish lifelong ties of brotherhood and sisterhood for their new family. Bringing with them many years of organizing experience respectively and under the leadership and guidance of Imam Idris Abdul Zahir and team, they were able to establish several bi-monthly programs and yearly programs that still carry on today with unwavering energy. After almost 100 programs held, it became clear that these efforts were needed not just at Masjidullah but all over the city of Philadelphia and beyond.
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Grounded is an effort dedicated to fostering a welcoming, God conscious, and Prophetic environment rooted in community, service, and knowledge. Our mission is to create a space for individuals to connect with their faith and build meaningful relationships with others in the community. We offer a variety of programs and services to help our community grow spiritually and socially.
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Our vision is to become a transformative force in our communities by establishing social service centers, offering culturally relevant programming, providing charitable support, and fostering collaboration to strengthen and enhance community resilience and well-being. We envision utilizing traditional knowledge as a foundation for innovation, driving positive social change and empowerment within our communities, thereby enabling individuals to transform themselves and contribute to the betterment of society.
Our community efforts started in 2022 with the establishment of several programs such as Cool Beans, Game Night, Mic Drop, Diaka's Book Club, and more at Masjidullah: The Center for Human Excellence. The fruits of these efforts can be seen in the faces of the youth that regularly attend the Masjid now and by the grace of Allah, a few new members to the greatest community of Islam. Our team hopes to turn these existing successful programs into developed curricula that can be shared with any community in need of programmatic resources.
The Grounded team hopes to establish days of service while upholding the dignity and honor of the community members we serve by removing the feeling of "being served". Rather we are simply neighbors helping neighbors with their needs and having a little fun while we are at it. We learned how to do this by trying it for the first time in the winter of 2022 at Masjidullah: The Center for Human Excellence in Philadelphia, under the guidance of Imam Idris Abdul Zahir and Brother Salim Wilson. We were able to bring together the local community by providing food, entertainment, and social services such as free haircuts, health screenings, connections to government aid, and even voting registration.
This year, 2024, the Grounded team will be offering our first series of monthly knowledge intensives we call "Planting Seeds" in Philadelphia, PA. We will be covering topics such as, what is a madhab, Islam in context, purification of the heart, the history of Islam globally and locally, Creed, and much more. Our primary teacher this year will be Shaykh Yusuf Weltch, faculty at Al-Maqasid Seminary located in Allentown, PA along with other guest scholars from across the country.
