The Harmony Project, BREAD and “Imam” Hany Saqr

The Harmony Project of Columbus has chosen Dr. Hany Saqr as a representative of the Muslim community of central Ohio. He will represent the community in an upcoming event “Hope for the Holidays: A partnership of faith benefitting Mid-Ohio Food Bank.” 

Although it is a great initiative for a great cause, the choice of community’s representative must also be made with great care. Events like these are like king makers. The organizers must always make sure that they choose right and genuine people with good reputation and sound legal and ethical backgrounds.

The choice of “Imam” Hany Saqr as a representative of Muslim community in this event is highly questionable and disturbing to many Muslims.  Out of about 70,000 Muslims in greater Columbus area, the Harmony Project has selected the most disputed person of a community as its representative.  Dr. Saqr is not only disputed as an imam in this community, but he is also dealing with a lawsuit filed against him by a community member for misrepresentation in a business deal (case # 10 CV 007164).  Due to his legal baggage and past associations, he has become a liability to this community. 

In fact, there are several misconceptions and misinformation about Dr. Hany Saqr and Noor Islamic Cultural Center within the Columbus interfaith community, and they need to be clarified. This write up intends to address some of them.

Misconception # 1: Dr. Hany Saqr is an Islamic Scholar .

Fact: Dr. Saqr has not gone to any religious school and has no formal degree in Islamic theology or Fiqh (Islamic law). He has a basic medical degree with a PhD in Pathology. 

Misconception # 2: Dr. Hany Saqr is the most influential “Imam” (religious leader) in the central Ohio’s Muslim Community.

Fact: Dr. Saqr is the only “disputed imam” in this community. Several Muslim community leaders have recorded their distrust in his leadership. Their comments and statements can be seen here and here.  He has publically lied on several occasions and has sworn on Quran and then did not fulfill his promises. Due to this reason, several community members, including myself, believe that he should not be leading prayers  anymore. We step outside the congregation, whenever we see him leading a prayer or at the pulpit .

Misconception # 3: Dr. Saqr is chairman or president of Noor Islamic Cultural Center located at Wilcox Rd, Dublin, Ohio.

Fact:  The property of Noor Islamic Cultural Center at Wilcox Rd. is owned by a private trust called American Islamic Waqf (AIW). Dr. Saqr was forced to resign from the chairmanship of AIW after several proofs of violations of organization’s bylaws and mismanagement of funds and operations.  In the midst of the dispute, on August 29, 2009, he registered a new organization “Noor Islamic Cultural Center”  under his name and home address. According to the secretary of state’s website, it has no member other than himself.  Currently he serves as a board member of AIW. Several community members and leaders have publicly recorded their protest to his position in the board. 

This is also important to note that AIW has never been a member organization, and that Saqr was never elected by community members to any position whatsoever.

In short, Dr. Saqr is not an agreed upon and respected leader of Columbus Muslim Community. If he represents Muslim community in the Hope for Holidays event, he will be the only winner. Both Muslim community and Project Harmony will lose. He will legitimize himself by standing next to Rabbi Harold Berman, Rev. Timothy Ahrens and Rev. Dr. Susan Smith on the stage provided by the Harmony Project. Whereas, the project will lose its credibility of presenting the genuine leaders only; and the Muslim community will be once again stuck with a forced upon corrupted leader as its representative. 

It’s about time for central Ohio’s interfaith community to educate themselves. They need to reach beyond Dr. Saqr. There are several Muslim activists volunteering in various community and interfaith projects, it won’t be hard to find right Muslim guest and speaker for any program, let alone a charity concert. 

If it is about community service and taking care of needy families, I would suggest any of the following:

•    Mubushra Shaheen, who has been tirelessly organizing “Feed the Needy Events” on monthly basis for several years.
•     Dr. Malka Haque, who has been putting immense effort in running free Noor Clinic for needy people in the community.
•    Anas Deifallah, who has been taking care of torn refugee families, orphans  and battered sisters through the platform of Muslim Family Services for years. 

If it is about the religious leadership and speaking skills, we have several well reputed and well received imams and speakers including Br. Alauddin Alauddin, Br. Abukar Arman, Dr. M.N. Tarazi, and Br. John Kashubeck among us. 

I hope that the Harmony Project will take heed and will do the right thing at this point. If there is a will; there is a way.  And, it’s never too late to correct any mistake.

Dr. Hany Saqr becomes Vice President of BREAD

Update on November 17, 2010:

Within the hours of posting this post on November 15, I was contacted by few interfaith leaders in the community, who informed me that Dr. Saqr’s was about to be elected as a Vice President of BREAD (Building Responsibility, Equity and Dignity) that evening. BREAD is a multi-racial, multi-ethnic social justice organization comprised of over 50 different religious denominations in the city of Columbus.

They were shocked to learn about Saqr’s details in my writing and through the links provided in this post.  His nomination for VP post was based on the above-mentioned misconceptions about him and lack of any vetting by BREAD’s officials. Since it was too late, they were not able to take him off the roster that night. He brought five adults and three children with him to represent Noor community. Of course, none of them objected about his nomination. Hence, he became the first Muslim Vice President of BREAD.

My advice to BREAD is the same as it is to the Harmony Project. I hope and pray that the BREAD will also take heed and will do the right thing from this point on.  If it does not, according to its by-laws, this man will become the organization’s president next year.  The officials and members of BREAD should be smart enough to sort and straight this out before then for the sake of their organization and the reputations of other ministers, leaders and member organizations. 
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Related Links:
1. Where is the Noor Community?
2. Noor Saga-Introduction
3. Noor Saga-Complaint and TRO
4. Noor Saga-Court Hearings
5. Noor Saga- $50K For No Court Decision
6. Noor Islamic Cultural Center: Legal Status and the Fundraiser
7. Hany Saqr's lying 
8. Lawsuit against Hany Saqr   (Enter case # 10 CV 007164)