Details

Islamic Center Northridge (ICN) is a non-profit organization operating and managing the affairs of two Masajid in San Fernando Valley, California which is in Los Angeles County. One of the Masjid is in the town of Northridge and is known as Tampa Masjid while the second Masjid is in the town of Granada Hills and is known as Granada Hills Masjid.

ICN has been serving the community regarding its religious activities and affairs for more than two decades. At present ICN uses the services of 2 Imam’s for its Masajid. Qazi Fazlullah provides services as the Imam of Granada Hills Masjid and is also the religious leader of the organization. Qari Yousuf provides religious services for the Tampa Masjid under the guidance and leadership of Qazi Fazlullah.

Alhamdulillah, and thanks to the Muslim community, ICN owns the properties of both the Masajid free and clear of any liens and loans. In addition ICN owns three houses, two of which are used to provide housing for its full time Imam’s and the third one is rented to Muslim family. All three houses are in close proximity to the Masjid with two houses sharing the common walls with Masajid providing easy access for the Imam’s to the Masajid and their community.

ICN has a very diverse community. Since the community has people from different cultural backgrounds it makes it a very delicate environment to serve all. As community members engage with each other outside the Masjid, in some cases due to personal issues, they create hostilities against each other which in some cases are unfortunately carried in the affairs of ICN.

ICN has been usually managed by an elected board of individuals who serve on a volunteer basis with no pay. These board members are citizens of the community and come from all backgrounds. Most have other businesses and jobs as their main professions and are not religious scholars.

For a long time the community had no proper religious scholar and most of the Prayers and Khutba’s and speeches were given by people from non-scholarly background.

About 15 to 20 years ago there were two groups who alternately managed the affairs of ICN. As the organization used to hold General Body meetings these groups will yell and scream at each other, blaming each other of fraud, violation of bylaws and mistrust including embezzlement of funds etc. The community witnessed these unpleasant events year after year and even after the construction of the beautiful Granada Hills Masjid, these fights continued until one of the groups brought a very highly educated Islamic scholar, Mr. Qazi Fazlullah to serve as Imam of the Masjid and head of religious affairs for ICN.

As Qazi Fazlullah was extremely knowledgeable in Islamic affairs and well-spoken, it gave the extra edge to this group in power at the time and they were ultimately successful in defeating the other group year after year and finally they left for good. Allegations of illegal construction contracts, misappropriation of Masjid funds and other similar fraudulent acts were made against the outgoing group.

Some allegations were made about faulty Air conditioning units installed in the new Masjid in Granada Hills while other allegations were made regarding a faulty used sound system sold to the Masjid as new. In additions allegations were made against some people in the opposition group that some of them want to use the Masjid for social events including mixed gatherings of men and women. Some were alleged to try to use the Masjid as Marriage center while others were blamed to try to make Masjid into a club.

To help their elections and to remain in power the elected group changed the bylaws for elected members to serve for 2 years instead of 1 year. After careful evaluation of the list of members this group even changed the qualification of voting members and increased the term of the qualifying term from 1 year to 2 years for members to be qualified to vote. This made it difficult for the other group to compete as they were on a membership drive to help get more members enlisted who will vote in their favor.

As a protest to this change one of the ex-presidents of ICN who was in the board and belonged to the opposing party resigned from ICN as board member. Other high profile members were forced to resign by intimidation and humiliation tactics.

For a few years this group continued to win elections and run the affairs of ICN. During this time and according to some sources a feud began between some members of this group and the owners of a private Islamic school as a school was also established in Granada hills Masjid. Some sources allege that some board members used their positions for financial gains by selling their used furniture for high prices to the institution while some provided jobs to their wives and family members through the school. Some even provided contracts for repairs and maintenance to their family members.

During this groups administration few people acting as practicing Muslims, one even acting as regular Muazzan, defrauded other Muslims in business dealings for millions of dollars. Even some board members claimed to have fallen victims of fraud and bad business deals.

According to reliable sources some board members including Presidents of the board during this group’s administration used their positions to get into big business deals with huge financial gains. In most cases these deals went sour after a while resulting in Muslims fighting with Muslims.

On or about 2002 and 2003 and after several fights at the General body meetings the final remnants of this group were voted out during elections and finally an era of decade of control and management from this group was over.

Unfortunately the new voted members came with even more heinous agendas than their predecessors. Sources say that some of these board members sold used copiers to the Masjid while the President (an Insurance agent) got on the podium and slandered the two Imam’s of both Masajid including the honorable Qazi Fazlullah. Some alleged that he had intentions to become Imam of the Masjid. Due to their actions the community members intervened and these board members resigned.

Since 2004 and for a period of six years the affairs of ICN has been run very smoothly by duly elected board members. These board members have rightfully decided to operate under the guidance of the religious Imam who happens to be one of the most highly educated and knowledgeable scholar of Islam in United States.

The community has not witnessed any slandering, fighting or unpleasant activities in the annual meetings. Both Masajid have increased religious activities by providing more Islamic education than ever before. A schedule of activities can be reviewed by visiting the ICN website www.goicn.com

Recently, a group of people have sued the ICN, its board members and some other active volunteer workers of the Masajid to gain control of the affairs of ICN. They have even stooped so low that they have sued both the Imam’s including Qazi Fazlullah. They have formed a website and listed their lawsuit on the site to raise funds to continue with their efforts to gain control.

In addition to this they have started propaganda of lies against Qazi Fazlullah spreading rumors to hurt his image in hopes of causing him humiliation to force him to leave.

There are 28 to 29 plaintiffs and most of the people listed as plaintiffs belong to previous administrations. Some are from the two opposition groups who fought with each other for years to be in power in ICN while others have been alleged to defraud Muslims in business dealings. Some have no jobs and are interested in financial gains while some want to use the two Masajid for their personal agendas including marriages, public relations, business contacts, etc.

According to sources there are also some people who are behind this lawsuit even though they are not listed as plaintiffs. Their motives are also the same. All these people are involved in what is mentioned above the tainted history of ICN.

None of these people are religious scholars. Most of them have little to no knowledge of Islam. Some of them do not even attend regular prayers in the Masajid even though they live close. They want to remove Qazi Fazlullah from the religious leadership of ICN so they can come back and start running the affairs of ICN in the same manner as before and that fits them best.

Majority of the community believes in the religious sanctity of ICN and its Masajid. The community believes that they need the presence and services of scholars like Qazi Fazlullah who is conducting classes 7 days a week for Tafseer in 4 languages, Fiqh, Sunnah, Arabic language, Recitations for children and adults.

Just as the case of Muslims worldwide majority is silent here while minority is very vocal and active.

The members of this community want your support to prevent such people from hurting our Masajid by forcefully removing religious scholars and Imams who are providing knowledge, education, information and guidance to the community with total dedication and sincerity.