 I'm here to talk to you on why we should be aware of people with disabilities in our community. Masin is, first of all, an organization that stands for Muslims' understanding and helping special education needs. It is an organization that was formed two years ago, just over two years ago, founded by Shia Omar Suleiman. And as Brother Munir was saying, we are working with Masajid across the country, and we are aiming to basically foster a more welcoming environment into the Muslims. First of all, who in the room knows somebody with a disability? A show of hands. That's a large majority. And then there are probably some people who know people who don't want to raise their hands, which is also okay. Disability is really a term for any kind of a condition that affects the way a person functions, whether it's the way they function physically, whether it's the way they think they're processing, neurological, the way they perceive their environment. These are all disabilities. And they can be physical, they can be mental, they can be neurological. They can be visible, and they can be invisible disabilities. However, there are so many people impacted by disability. It's all around us. And I always like to give a visual up here on the screen of people with disabilities so that we can get a better feeling of who are these people. They're young, they're old, they're children, they're adults. Disability does not discriminate. They're Muslim, they're non-Muslim. And what it's important to share is that disability can impact any of us at any time in our lives. So there are people that are born with disability. There are people that get injured and that causes a disability. There are also people who have an illness. And that illness leads to a disability. So no matter whether you're young or old, at some point in your life, may Allah protect us all, we could be, in fact, impacted by disability. So it's something that really concerns all of us. And I think that's important, that today, if you're not dealing with any kind of challenge, it's still important that we discuss it as a community and that we know about it. Let's talk about the types of disabilities really quickly. A lot of the things up here you probably have heard of, whether it's autism, whether it's being blind, deaf, I'm sure you've heard of Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, things like bipolar disorder, that's a mental disability. Certain types of learning disabilities exist. The list goes on and on and on, but the prevalence or the numbers are increasing in our communities. So what, if I told you the statistics that one in 600 births are Down syndrome births today. That's Muslims too. You know, one in 55 children are on the autism spectrum. That's Muslims too. These are impacting us greatly, our community. So it's really important that we understand how to deal with these numbers and how to embrace these members of our communities. Our organization once said we did a survey and we asked people, what are the different types of disability that are affecting you? And these are responses up on the screen by Muslims. And as you can see, a large prevalence of autism, a large prevalence of just general developmental delays. Every one of us knows someone in the community dealing with this. And it's important to acknowledge that it is happening with us. When we think about disabilities, I want us to understand that these people are individuals first. They are not and should not be defined by their disability. They're members of our community. So, you know, they're no less Muslim. They deserve a place in our in our communities and our mosjids. And we want to work harder to make them, you know, more welcome and not ostracize them, not exclude them from activities. Every individual, whether they have a disability or not, they have strengths. They have, you know, parts of them that we can celebrate. They have skills, things that we can develop. It's exceptionally important that we keep this in mind. Don't judge a book by its cover. If I sat here today and I said, I am an executive director of Muslim and I run an organization, but I have a child with a disability. Does that change the way you see me? I have a volunteer who's one of my lead volunteers. He's a grown adult man, yet he's in a wheelchair. Does that impact the way he can add value to our organization? No, we have to give everybody a chance. Some people with disabilities, when they have a cognitive disability, something that's impacting their intellect or their processing, they will remain innocent. These people will be sinless. I'm sure you've heard this before. You know, people like that, they don't even have accountability with Allah swt. He has given them that leave. And to remain sinless, I mean, is that amazing? Who doesn't want to be sinless? That's such a blessing. These are some of the people we're talking about. And everybody is tested in different ways. And at times we can look at disability as a test. And if Allah swt has decreed this test, it's our response to that test that he is looking for. And everybody with special needs and disabilities, they have personality, they have temperament. We all do in our own right. And we need to just address that. And these struggles sometimes draw us closer to Allah swt. Some people become angry. Some people become upset. Some people withdraw. However, our response to this test inevitably does draw us back to the entity that is giving us the test, which is indeed our creator. And people with disabilities have feelings. They have feelings too. I am not going to stress and give everyone a lecture on Islam. I am not an alimah. I'm not a scholar. However, the one thing I can tell you is that there are several hadith and mentions in the Quran and lessons that we can take about our delates and how we should interact with people with disabilities as our responsibility as Muslims. I'd like to read this. His perfect wisdom decrees that he creates opposites. So he has created angels and devils night and day, purity and impurity. He created his slaves with differences in their bodies and minds and in their strengths. He has made some rich and some poor, some healthy and some sickly, some wise and some foolish. By his wisdom, he tests them and he tests some by means of others to show who will be grateful and who will be ungrateful. So when Allah swt is saying he tests some by means of others, that's the rest of us. For those of us who are able-bodied and able-minded, disability around us is a test for us. How are we responding to these community members? How are we treating them? How are we interacting with them? This is extremely important. So whether it's a family member, whether it's a community member or it's someone you just know, what have you done in response to that person and their disability? Allah has put them here as signs for all of us. And one of the hadiths we talk about, I know a lot of you have heard the story of the blind man and our Prophet Salaam was approached by the blind man. However, I want to share another story of another companion. And that companion was named Julea Beb. And Julea Beb was a dear friend of our beloved Prophet Salaam. He was a companion, he was slightly different than everybody else. He had a deformed face. He was about this high. He had no friends. First of all, does anyone here know the story of Julea Beb? Yeah. So some of you have heard. Prophet Salaam realized and took him in as a friend. He not only took him in as a friend, he included him in everything. He invited him to everything. He even realized that he needed more companionship and he took his side and he helped him to get married. This is the prophetic example. This is the sunnah of what we should be doing with community members like this. He also, Julea Beb asked our Prophet Salaam, can I go to battle just like everybody else? And he knew Salaam that this was not a good idea because this companion was not physically fit or strong to be able to go and fight. However, he saw his urge, his need to want to go and belong and be like, you know, of help as everybody else was. He allowed him. And again, he joined with everyone else. He was included and he became martyred in that battle. Prophet Salaam took his body. He carried him. He buried him. He prayed over him. He gave him that dignity in his death and he gave that example for everybody else to see that he is of me and I am of him is what was said about Julea Beb. And I think it's a very, very powerful example today to teach us about how our interactions should be with people who have any kind of a special need, even though they may be outcast or they may be different. Where are these people that I'm speaking of in our communities? Well, again, like I said, we've been doing some surveys across the community. I believe there's even a survey link on your website. If you know anybody who has a disability or a family member who has a disability, please refer them to the MCC East Bay website because what you'll be able to do is direct them to take a little short survey. If they can take that survey, it's anonymous, but it'll tell a lot of people in the community and it's totally anonymous. The results come to us. We will then tell the Masajid, you need to do more of this program. Our community members here, they need this from you. They need sign language. They need childcare for people with disabilities. So we will advocate on their behalf. And the survey responses show that obviously these are some of the states, well, Chicago is where we are based, I've had quartered, but we're nationwide. But essentially all over the country, we have people with disabilities. And there are about 600,000 Muslims with disabilities in America. 600,000. That's a really large number. And that is verified by the FYI, the Family Youth Institute. These are clusters across the country of people who have registered with Muslim who have disabilities. And these are the areas we are working in also. When it comes to the Masjid, all our Masjids, masha'Allah, they have different programs and different committees. This is just a brief listing of some of the common committees that you'll see. They'll be as a God committee. There's always some sort of a counseling committee. I know, masha'Allah, you're blessed to have Khalil Center here. They run food collections. You get some sort of youth committee. You have probably a women's committee, a Dawa committee, all very important committees, and they all need to be a part of a thriving community. What's missing from here happens to be a special needs services committee. And when we hear the numbers are staggering and the incidence is growing, let's all think about joining, volunteering, and having this type of committee. How do disabilities affect us all? They're obviously going to affect the individual who is impacted by the disability. In addition, they're going to affect the family. So, since I have a child with a disability, it has a huge impact on my life. Who's missing in that box? It affects the individual. It affects the family. And who else does it impact? Exactly. It impacts the community. It impacts all of us. So, my point is that person is not in the community. It's having an impact because they're missing or they're having a challenge. So, look inside our communities and see where are these people and why aren't they there? Maybe they don't have caregiver support. Maybe they're giving care to a stroke patient. Maybe they're giving care to somebody who is exceptionally elderly and has become disabled. Maybe they have a young child with a disability who can't sit and attend in a Masjid program and they need support. These people are all at home and they're missing from these gatherings. And I can honestly say I was one of those people for many years because we didn't have that kind of support. When we asked in our survey how accessible is your Masjid, one of the things was we asked people specifically about programs and a large majority of the respondents came back and said, not very accessible. Sorry. And they gave us what they wanted. And that's why when we formed Masjid, there's so much being done that the community is asking for. Alhamdulillah, because nobody needs to guess. We're asking on that survey and people are telling us what the programs are. Of course here, I don't think Sheikh Omar Suleiman needs any introduction, but he is the founder of Masjid. He had this idea many, many years ago and he wanted to form an organization that would be a very, very structured way of working with Masjids around the country. We are a fully registered 501c3 non-profit organization. And the whole goal is to make our communities more welcoming for people with disabilities. Sheikh Omar's mother herself faced some disabilities when she was later in her life and had some illness. And he saw the type of treatment that she received as someone who lived with a disability. And it was something that actually propelled him to think about the idea for Masjid. Next, we're going to see a quick video. Assalamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh. This is Omar Suleiman. You know, this is truly a dream come true just to be a part of a promo about after all these years of planning and getting it together and, you know, just envisioning, subhanallah, what it would be like for the Muslim community to have an effort, an initiative that goes out there and remosks, you know, an often forgotten group of unmasked individuals, and unmasked families, in fact, that have people in their, that have, you know, children that have people in their families that have these special needs and that have these disabilities. Assalamu alaikum. My name is Arshay Ali Khan and today I'm here to talk to you a little bit about my brother. I want to take this time to talk to you about my daughter Serena, who is much less six and a half now and she's a bright, loving, kind, fun child who has this great toothless smile right now that she lost her tooth and she also has cerebral palsy. Assalamu alaikum. My name is Feryal Tahir and I'm 15 years old and I have a sister named Mehreen and she's great at basketball. She's a Liz at the computers. She loves to eat and she has autism spectrum disorder. When I was 19 years old, my brother was diagnosed with a mental illness, an invisible disability. At the time there was no community support or religious outlets that we could turn to for help. So instead of being supported, we felt alienated and shamed. There are so many families that are affected by this in our community and we just don't see them. SubhanAllah because they're buried away while we're enjoying our khultabahs and we're enjoying our halakas and we're enjoying all the great activities in the masjid. These families have been completely barred from the masjid and when they set foot in the masjid, it's the most uncomfortable feeling in the world. So for many families, we're not just talking about those that have needs and disabilities, many families, the masjid has become a place to resent because when they walk in there, all they get are the dirty looks, all they get are the you know, go home sentiments rather than this is your home because the masjid is the home of every believer as the Prophet's life and I'm sad. We just need a little extra help. We need a little extra support. We need a little understanding but inshallah we can get there. There's no reason not to. It's not asking for a lot. It's just asking for a little bit of a little bit of acceptance, a little bit of sensitivity and I think an organization like Mosin is the perfect vehicle to do that inshallah. I pray for the success of Mosin because had there been an organization that was around for us to connect to, that provided awareness, acceptance and guidance, perhaps my brother wouldn't have been left alone. Perhaps my mom wouldn't have put herself to bed crying day in and day out. Perhaps families like ours would have had a place to go and people to support them through it. What helps me get through everything when we're going through a struggle with Mahreen is that thinking that Mahreen is an angel and if we hold on to a sinless angel like Mahreen inshallah she will help us on the day of judgment and she will take us to Jannah inshallah and I would like other people to feel the same way. Inshallah ta'ala through this through Mosin we can begin to show ihsan to them and hopefully we can make the Masjid more comfortable for them and they can make our day of judgment more comfortable for us by testifying on our behalf that we truly did ease the way for them. One of the things that I like to think is when people see us outside as a family, don't look away from us and ignore us. Even a smile is charity. Smile at us. There is a lot of families like us out there. We all need to support each other and the families who are not like us need to step up and help us out. I have been blessed and honored to develop and work for the Umma Center, a non-profit dedicated to empowering the lies of the underserved, the alienated, the disenfranchised, the poor. We provide education empowerment programs and basic need programs and with every person that I have fed, educated, clothed and served, I pray deep down that there is someone out there doing the same for my brother. These are real people and it's people like that that exist in every community. They're not here today. Maybe very few of them, maybe very few of them have entered, have even entered this Muslim, but we know because they reach out to us. So with that said, what are we doing about these families? Muslim has created programs and services, so we are really trying to make this very simple. We create community-wide awareness events like this event that you have here. We do this around the country. We try to create awareness. The number one thing is awareness, which leads to accommodation, which then leads to acceptance. If we are not aware of these individuals, how will we ever be able to serve them? So that's the first step is awareness. Then we build accommodations into the masajid that will help them. So let me give you an example. Family support groups is listed. This is something we're doing around the country now where on a regular basis, perhaps monthly, we'll create a family support group, whether it's for the actual caregivers or whether it's even for siblings or even the person themselves who's living with disability. There's always a professional licensed counselor that Muslim provides, and then this is a safe place that these families can get together and connect on a monthly basis. It takes place in the masjid usually, but we are providing that opportunity for if there is a father of someone with a disability and they meet their brothers in the masjid for Salah every day, maybe they can't talk to everyone about the challenges that they have in their home with their family because that's something everybody doesn't understand. However, in a support group, this is an opportunity where people who are facing similar challenges can connect. You can get advice from one another. You can vent about your challenges. We actually have weekend school programs, so specialized programs in Islamic education. We have seven programs running across the country where children with disabilities can learn about the theme. So we have teachers who are trained who will work one-on-one. So maybe this child can't sit in a typical Sunday school class, but they can be taught. We are not going to give up on this individual just because they have a disability. Instead, we're going to customize the way we teach these children. So with our trained professionals, they can be taught, whether it's at Doha, whether it's Arabic letters, whether it's how to pray, they will be included in the weekend school programs, and these programs are already up and running. We have the lesson plans, we have the materials, the volunteers, we have the know-how, and Mashallah, it's a great program. We provide rail grounds, we provide sign language interpreters, we provide care for families who need to take a break. We do youth workshops, which we'll be doing one here tomorrow. I encourage each and every one of you, anybody who has someone who's like 15 and up, it's a great program to get trained, sensitivity training. This is not something that even in public school, it's even talked about, because everybody already knows how to interact with people with disabilities. Somehow we get to the Muslim community and we forget. So it's really important that we do this type of training workshop and we do do those for the youth. Like I said, please encourage people to attend tomorrow at noon here today, tomorrow at noon in this masjid. And we also have a matrimonial service for people with disabilities. We also are working towards a residential facility. Down the road, these Muslims with disabilities may need to have support in a residential setting. Their caregivers are aging. What happens after I can no longer take care of my child? Who will take care of her when she has to live if she cannot live independently? This is a concern of a lot of our families. So masjid is working towards regional homes where they will have a halal safe Muslim setting where these individuals can live and have access to their dean. Nobody wants to think about that, but we have to think about that. We have to sow the seeds now for what the future holds for these individuals who are growing up. Those 600,000 Muslims with disabilities, who will be taking care of them? These are some of our programs. The events that we've run, they range. These are some of the pictures from our conventions where we've provided like these fast-passed lines to go and skip the lines at a convention. If you don't want to wait for registration, Muslim has taken care of some of those supports and childcare at conventions and preferred seating. We do advocacy. We do some walks and some marches and we show our unity. This happens to be a picture of the autism walk where Muslim, our team, had the number one team at the entire walk at Soldier Field in Chicago. These have been done in Dallas. They've been done in New York. They've been done in Chicago. They can be done out here in the West Coast. If there is a particular cause that's important to your community out here, it could be the Down Syndrome Guild. It can be the autism walk. It could be Muscular Dystrophy Association. Started Team Muslim out here from MCC East Bay. We'd be happy to support. We'll do fun t-shirts. You walk together as a team. You show the world and the families that we unite for this cause. When Muslim got named the number one team in Chicago, people couldn't believe Muslims who have so much stigma about disability got named the number one team. We had 300 team members registered to walk. It's a huge form of drama, too, if you think about it. People see that we care about universal causes. It's an absolutely beautiful way to show your support to these families. Whether you have someone with a disability or not, it would be great to show up. As I wrap up education, I talked about the weekend school program. These are some of the photos of some of our students. They've all been put up here with permission, working hand in hand with them, hands on. Different strategies work for different students, but these children can indeed learn. The inclusion part of it is so powerful. Our typical Muslim children should be exposed to children with special needs because indeed they are blessed souls. They are absolutely special individuals who bring so much to our community. And to know them, to serve them, to empower them, that should be our goal and include them in the community. And it's really important. I want to share a quote from an article called Embracing Special Children. Islam is a religion of one community and one ummah, undivided. As such, the community shares responsibility in providing the religious needs of our children as well. And that includes all children that Allah has sent upon us as a trust. It is our duty as a community to include such children actively, accept them lovingly, and teach all of our children to respect and love each other for the sake of Allah. So that means a no-bullying policy. That means you make friends with children with special needs. That means learn to interact with them. Our volunteers at Muslim are some of the most selfless individuals you will meet. Anybody sitting here can be a volunteer from Muslim. See us at the table at the back when we finish and sign up. Just leave your name and email. If there's an activity that's going to be taking place here, because as Brother Munir mentioned, M.C.C. East Bay is already the first level of certification. They've done some preliminary things to become certified. What does that include? I'm going to be talking about that a little bit tomorrow afternoon. Actually, we'll be having a formal presentation tomorrow afternoon to award M.C.C. East Bay, because MashaAllah, it's a big deal. First Masjid on the west coast, that's a great achievement. We have several across the country now, about 13, but this is the first one here. The team, we couldn't run our programs without volunteers, and so whether it's helping children, whether it's helping adults, whether it's bringing someone to the Masjid for a weekly halacha, whether it's someone who can't drive, whether it's leading someone in who has trouble seeing, whether it's, you know, you know somebody who's in the community who happens to be blind, contact us, we'll provide a braille haran for them. We have it in Arabic, braille. We have it in English braille. No problem. We'll send it to you. We'll mail it right here. If you want to just offer that, or you want to just say, just order it on my behalf, we'll get it. Everyone here can do something. Maybe it's a phone call to someone that they haven't seen in a while in the community. Well, trust me, we'll think of lots of things that people can do. I won't be going through this, but this is the Masjid certification program. The leaders of the Masjid have gone through this. It's a checklist. These are the different levels, silver, gold, and platinum. And when Chef Marcin Amman launched Muslim, he wanted there to be structure, and he wanted it to be something to strive for. So all the Masjids are almost kind of competing to get certified at these different levels. And it can be something as simple as well. Eid Salah is coming up. During Eid, can we have a separate, maybe a room where individuals with special needs may not feel comfortable being in the main Masala or wherever you pray? Maybe we can have a separate area with some trained volunteers to help keep an eye and help them. I want to share quickly that I had the experience of we had helped in one community. There was a mother who actually got to pray Eid Salah after 15 years. She was so moved that someone would help watch her two teenage children who both had severe autism. They were in the separate room. Our trained volunteers helped. They were entertained. There was even a party for Eids for them afterwards with gifts. The mother got to pray Eid Salah and hear the hudba after 15 years. That is the impact you can have on people. And we take it for granted. We don't think that there are people like this. So that's why we're here, is to raise that awareness. These are some of the Masjids that are currently, they've passed the silver level everywhere from the Chicago area to New Jersey to Dallas to Milwaukee Wisconsin and all around and of course MCC East Bay. Some sample programs that we have had throughout the country. We had a mental health panel. Very, very important. Goes along with what I was saying about support. We have the social times that we can do for these families. So maybe you say once a month we'll open up the gymnasium, the gym area and we can have these families come in and socialize. Provide some snacks. Provide some peer buddies and some of these youth who we are going to be training tomorrow. Some of them can actually engage with these families. It means the world to the people who've been excluded to finally be included. And again, whether it's a support group, whether it's just an awareness event like we're doing tonight, these are types of programs that we are able to provide and we help the Masjid all the way through. With that, I'd like to conclude and thank you all for your attention. And I just also, do we have a couple minutes for question and answer questions? And of course, if there are any comments, we'd be more than happy to, you know, hear what you think about this and answer anything that we can see some parents, especially kids in our community. So if they want to say anything about how we as a community at MTCs make work better for you, I'd be really happy to hear. I have a mother of two kids with special needs. One with severe cerebral palsy, one with cerebral palsy, development of delays and seizure disorder. And I've been bringing him to MCC for current classes for the last three years with Pariyama. And he's been, he's just been a blessing and he takes care of him. He comes every Monday night and once a night to a class. He's a fast learner and he treats him with respect. And I mean, I am beyond grateful for the services he's given to my son. And he also goes to Saturday school at S.R.B.I.T. and the teachers there treat him with respect, with the extra hand that he needs. So I am humbled. I am grateful. That's an absolutely beautiful testament. You don't hear that very often. So we commend MCC East Bay, the volunteers, the staff because that shows you that they are in tune with what the community needs. I also encourage you and commend you, sister, for bringing your child. Oftentimes you hear people complain about things, but they don't participate when there is an opportunity. And I know how difficult it is. I, as a parent, have struggled. My daughter is now 17, who has autism, but there have been so many times when I've come to the Mosque that haven't always felt welcome. And it's, it's hard to go back. It's hard to ignore the stairs, but I encourage families to come out because this also is your home. This Mosque belongs to all of you. Thank you for sharing. That's beautiful. Anybody else? Any other, yes, brother? We learn about the diversity, the inclusiveness. And we, from the Prophet Mosul, also a lot from the early days, we learn the diversity and inclusiveness. Yet we don't practice it. It's very unfortunate. And I'm glad to see this now being introduced and the awareness to the general people. It's nice. I'm very happy to see this. Thank you. Jazakallah. Please keep us in your dwellings. And this is a work in progress. It's getting, it's getting there. It's getting better. But we need, we need everybody's support. Thank you for your feedback. Welcome Salam. I just want to say, you're doing a, you're doing a fantastic thing. You're about truly, truly, truly rewarding. I think it's a wonderful thing. And I think all of us, we, it should be our duty to help. You shouldn't be asking us. Thank you for giving us things about we should do this. It's an obligation to help. And I'm not truly rewarding. I think which truly is fantastic. I mean, Jazakallah. Thank you so much for your support. It means a lot. And it's a team. There's a, there's a large team of people who do the work and Masha'Allah they, like I said, they care so much about people. They're so selfless. It should come naturally, but you'll see also, as you work with this population, it becomes addictive. You want to always, you know, help them and be with them because they're truly reminders of Allah, creation and His will. And I think with that, we'll wrap it up and we'll be at the table if people want to meet us afterwards. If you want to ask any questions, Jazakallah. Thank you to MCC East Bay and Brother Munir. Thank you. Jazakallah for giving your time. I unfortunately wasn't able to attend the class, but I am sure that inshallah, the knowledge was a great benefit for all of you, inshallah. And may Allah's will allow us to reach Ramadan and to make it a very productive time for all of us. I know the topic of disability is not something that we talk about very often. One of the reasons why we are working with Masajid across the country with this organization is because it is affecting so many Muslim families. I won't ask anybody to raise their hands. I've done that already in my program last night, but whenever I go to these programs, I ask people who know someone here with disability or special need of any kind. And 95 percent of the room raises their hand. These are Muslim gatherings. My dear brothers and sisters, disability can impact all of us. You can be born with a disability. You can become injured and become disabled. You can have an illness that can cause a disability. It is not discriminatory of any kind of age. So may Allah SWT protect us all, I mean. We do not want to face this, but if Allah wills it for us or our family, we may well be tested in our lifetime with disability. That's why it's an important topic for all of us to know and to understand. There are community members everywhere around this country who live with a loved one, a family member with a disability. There are 600,000 Muslims with disabilities in America. One of the things that we are doing as an organization, our organization is named MUHSEN, M-U-H-S-E-N. Muslims understanding and helping special education needs. Who here has heard of Sheikh Omar Suleiman? Most of us, masha'Allah. He is our scholar. He is our chef. He is also the founder of the organization. So Sheikh Omar Suleiman took this initiative and asked that we work with the communities around the country and work with the masjid and start to make our masjids more accommodating and welcoming for people with disabilities. And that means more than just a parking space. And that means more than just the physical space and accommodation to come in. It means we need to make room in our hearts for these people. It means we need to understand what are their spiritual needs. If someone has a disability, do we exclude them from knowledge or deen? Or do we give them access just like we do everybody else? So in some cases it might just be a ramp or a doorway or an entrance. In some cases it might be a sign language interpreter for somebody who is deaf. In some cases it might be a special kind of class. And MUHSEN is actually a river range weekend school programs where a lot of the staff who is here today, they teach people with disabilities about the deen, how to pray, different wads. I mean it depends on the goals of the families, but we customize the education for them. Why are they any less Muslim or less deserving? They are not. They are our brothers and sisters. And SubhanAllah, if we can't provide it for them, then where do these people go? So Alhamdulillah, there is a need, maybe, of knowledge that there are some masjids who are going to be at the forefront. Mashallah, MCC East Bay. And the tireless efforts, I know there's a team, but I really, really need to mention the brother Munir Safi has been a really, really huge part of this. He is the facilitator at this masjid who we have been working with for months. You may not even know all the efforts and all the emails and all the discussions, Mashallah, going back and forth. So some of the things that MCC East Bay has achieved in Silver Certification, because this certification is made easy for you, it's done in three parts. And we just provide a checklist, which I have up here and we'll have that on our table if anybody wants to look. But the Silver Certification is, first of all, have someone dedicated in your masjid who's going to work on this. Very simple. So brother Munir was that person. Have somebody take a look at accessibility. Like I said, the physical stuff. Can you get in the building? Can you get a wheelchair into the bathroom? Can you get crunches? Can you get a walker? Once that person is in the bathroom, can they make Wadoo? You know, I've been to so many, I travel almost every week across the country and Alhamdulillah, I have the opportunity to see a lot of masjids. And I've even had people ask me, did these people really need to make Wadoo? And what if they want to make Wadoo? We have to make Wadoo when we pray. So let's ease the way for them. Let's make it easy. So we've even looked at that. And Mashallah, you have the foot shower, the foot sprayers, you have stools that are movable in your bathroom. These are things we looked at. I mean, we did it all with emails and pictures, but that's the level of detail. So if someone came in who had a mobility disability, which some of the kids just heard about in the workshop, we could move that stool, we could wheel the person in, they could wheel themselves, and they could have access to making Wadoo properly. So the bathroom accessibility, the entrances, the parking, having somebody put the programs out there on the website, letting the community know. So some of you, and I won't embarrass anyone, some of you may have known before today that MCC East Bay was working with Muslim because there was an announcement on the website that was part of what we did together. There was a survey that was put out. So on your website, if you haven't seen it, there's a link that asks families, what do you need? What are the accommodations? Because we want to give you what you need. And out of those survey results, the Muslim leaders can serve you better. These are the things that were in the certification along with an awareness event, which there was a table set up. I know a couple of months ago, the Brail Quran has been on display. We just did an awareness event last night. So the completion of two awareness events have now put you into the gold category of Hamdallah. Training the youth is part of the certification. And one of the biggest things is, we all know, we say it all the time, the youth are the seeds of the future. Let's teach now because these people are going to become the leaders of the communities. Let's have them understand. We just did a sensitivity training, how to speak to someone with a disability, how to react, how to express. All of these things are important. And now with the youth training done, that's also taken care of in terms of the gold certification. So with all that said, on behalf of Muslim, on behalf of Sheikh Omar Suleiman, on behalf of the entire team, we want to commend the work of MCC Eastway, East Bay. We want to say to all of you for your support, get more involved, offer your help, sign up to volunteer. And it's a community effort. There are many more programs up ahead in the other levels of certification. But once you achieve these levels, you'll see people coming into the community that you've never seen before. I myself have started engaging more in my community because I am a mother of a child with a disability. So when these programs go into place, I can now access the mosjid and I can now make my whole family feel like we can do this. We can attend this event. And there's so many families like that. You probably know them, encourage them to come because this is a loving, welcoming place. And with that, I do want to give the award to brother Asif Muhammad from Zarina. Sister Zarina, could you please come up? And on behalf of MCC East Bay, we would like to award you, you all for the hard work. It is a big honor here because there is no other mosjid in the state of California that has been most certified yet. You are pioneers. This is an innovative new idea for our community, but it is not difficult. Right, brother Zarina? It's not difficult. Alhamdulillah, Alhamdulillah, Allah puts power in this work. This is something that you take a small step and the blessings start pouring. These individuals with disabilities aren't gems in our community. And you are serving them. And in the words of Sheikh Omar, they will intercede for you on the day of judgment, insha'Allah. You will make their life easy here, insha'Allah, they will testify for you then. This is something very important. We are serving people of general. So congratulations, Jazakallah Khair. And we look forward to keep our connections and we keep working together to achieve more and more with Islam. And please spread the word throughout California because people should follow the lead at MCC East Bay. Masha'Allah, we are hearing of a couple of masjids. Thanks to brother Muneer's introductions who are now interested. We can be announced that MCA Santa Clara has just started the certification process with us too, Alhamdulillah. And that's, you know, enjoying good. It's telling other communities we can do this and it's, you know, helping people all over. So with that I will end, but Jazakallah Khair, please see us at the table if there are any questions.