CHICAGO (FinalCall.com) – Dr. Ibrahim Rabu, Deputy Assistant to Dr. Mohammed Sharif, General Secretary of the World Islamic People’s Leadership, and head of the World Islamic Call Society (WICS) of Libya visited the United States and took a tour of the Nation of Islam’s properties on December 4, 2009.
Founded in 1970 by Libyan leader Muammar al-Gadhafi, the WICS is comprised of more than 250 Islamic organizations from around the world who are members of the General Congress of the organization. A general conference is held once every four years, in which religious, cultural, social and economic initiatives are formed and acted upon and a summary and status update is delivered regarding previous outreach and development programming.
Dr. Rabu was present for the Jumu’ah prayer service at Mosque Maryam at which A. Akbar Muhammad, international representative of the Nation of Islam delivered the khutbah (sermon). Afterwards, Dr. Rabu spoke to those assembled for the congregational prayer and greeted Nation of Islam officials, including Ishmael R. Muhammad, Minister Farrakhan’s assistant at Mosque Maryam and son of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad.
›Accompanied by A. Akbar Muhammad and the NOI Supreme Captain Mustapha Farrakhan, Dr. Rabu, was taken on a tour of the Muhammad University of Islam by its director Dr. Larry Muhammad. After visiting the MUI computer lab, their news center and several of the classes, he was then taken to the offices of Haki Mahdubhuti’s Third World Press, a consistent and reliable outlet for Black literature for over 40 years.
After some meetings, and viewing some of the historical artwork and artifacts amassed by Mr. Mahdhubuti over the decades, Dr. Rabu visited the Final Call Administration Building to take a tour of the property and to meet the staff responsible for the production and distribution of The Final Call Newspaper and the Nation of Islam’s religious materials which are sent all over the world.
Dr. Rabu’s evening was capped off with dinner at The National House of the Nation of Islam hosted by the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan.
An outreach mission: The World Islamic Call Society
Ashahed M. Muhammad (The Final Call🙂 Dr. Rabu, can you tell our readers about the World Islamic Call Society and their outreach programs?
Dr. Ibrahim Rabu (IR:) Of course. The World Islamic Call Society is a religious organization concerned about educational programs, cultural programs and humanitarian issues as well. It has a college called Islamic Call College. We have five branches of that college and at the main college in Tripoli, we have about 1,500 students studying there, mainly from Africa–sixty-five percent of them from Africa–and the rest from South-East Asia and some European countries and Latin America. We have five branches of that college; in Damascus, Syria, another one in Beirut, Lebanon, N’Djamena, Chad, one in Cotonou, Benin and in Dakar, Senegal. We also have the college for higher studies in London. That is the educational side.
And of course we have the cultural side, we have cooperation with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO). We organize conferences, training courses for the teachers, and publishing books on Islamic studies and Islamic culture, sending teachers to teach Arabic language and Islamic studies especially in the African countries. On the humanitarian side, we have three hospitals in Africa–three main hospitals and about fifteen clinics all over the world–but mainly in Africa where we have doctors, nurses and medical teams working and from time to time you’ll see the medical caravans sent to some African countries. Every caravan consists of doctors, nurses, some medicine and food stuffs. We serve certain countries, in some areas, especially remote areas to give medical services directly to their citizens and to the needy there.
FC: And the World Islamic People’s Leadership recently held their 5th General Conference. Please tell us about that organization.
(IR:) The World Islamic People’s Leadership is a political organization where we have some Muslim organizations, some Muslim political parties and they’re really concerned about how to improve the situation of Muslims all over the world. Minister Farrakhan is–of course–the World Islamic People’s Leadership is headed by leader Muammar al-Gadhafi, and the Brother Farrakhan is assisting the leader in this regard. We have about 250 organizations under the umbrella of the World Islamic People’s Leadership from different parts of the world and they meet at a general conference once every four years. A little over three weeks ago, Minister Farrakhan was there attending the 5th general conference of World Islamic People’s Leadership.
There is a yearly agenda of how to serve the Muslim communities; how to defend the rights of the Muslims all over the world, how to bring the Muslim Ummah together; how to deal with some political and social crises happening either in the Muslim world or where there is a Muslim minority, especially in Europe.
(To find out more about the World Islamic Call Society and their outreach programs, visit their website at http://www.islamic-call.net/english/.)
