Sabreen Tuku
Why is service sacred to you?
I believe service is being selfless, and being selfless for the sake of others to please God is one of the most sacred acts. Service is actively creating, facilitating and participating in programs that benefit the community even when doing so doesn’t always benefit myself.
There is no one way I can serve, each of us have skills and resources that are unique to us. You may be able to handle finances while I would run away from it. You might be able to create graphics slogans, while another’s strength may lay in public speaking or networking.
Regardless of the gifts you or I hold, islam teaches us to organizer and stand up against the unjust and we must use these tools to do just that. The Quran states “ O you who believe! Stand out firmly for justice, as witnesses to Allah, even as against yourselves, or your parents, or your kin, and whether it be (against) rich or poor”(4:135). That is service, that is love, that is Islam and all of those are what make service sacred to me. I do it because God has asked it of us. I do it because we have grown to love what has been asked of me by God Almighty.
Why is this area of service sacred to you?
I started organizing in the seventh grade and as I have grown, so has my organizing. I’ve learned that people will take advantage of your voice to push forward their agenda and finding your voice is central to discovering what service means to you.
To be honest, I do not know where service will take me, I might end up in research or follow the path of community organizing. But my rule of thumb is put your efforts into an issue that pisses you off, and right know its environmental and good old Uncle Tom racism.
We are living in a country and time where profit is valued more than people, environmental racism is a prime example of that. Increasing evidence shows that people of color and poor people are exposed to higher levels of environmental pollutants compared to their white and wealthy counterparts because most fossil fuel and other big corporations hold their factories in low income, immigrant, and colored communities where land is cheaper. A good example of this A good example of this is the Dakota access pipeline which activists like Rev. Jesse Jackson called “the ripest case of environmental racism I’d seen in a long time.” The pipeline which was initially meant to run through suburban neighborhoods was later moved into indigenous land because the voices of white people were heard over those of native people in town halls and the media. This is only one example but it sheds light on what communities of color are facing, and it boils my blood. It makes me want to scream at the top of the Statue of Liberty and call out all the hypocrisy because I know that none of it is just or sacred. So I work to raise the silenced voices and amplify solutions to ensure that all people are granted the same sustainable quality of life, regardless of their race or income.
What does Wasat mean to you and how do you feel Wasat embodies sacred service?
Wasat is a community that takes various forms of service and turns it into a community. A space where you can learn the sacred characteristics of the prophet Mohammed (PBUH) and implement those practices implement in service. A safe haven to donate, share, listen and provide the necessary resources to those less fortunate.
Wasat is the middle ground, Wasat is love, Wasat is a place to call home. Because, regardless of your religiosity, background or matheb, you are welcomed to partake in service and encouraged to embrace Islam.
