The 21st Annual Convention of the North American Bangladeshi Islamic Community (NABIC) was held on Saturday, May 21, 2011 at the Hyatt Regency North Dallas in Richardson, TX. The event was organized by the NABIC Board members and few dedicated volunteers from the Dallas area. The theme of this year’s convention was “Upholding Islam Maintaining Heritage”, which reflects NABIC’s mission.
The 1st session of the convention started at 9:30 AM, with recitation of the Holy Qur’an by Hafez Yasin Ahmad. The session was moderated by Dr. Sadrul Ula, Past President of NABIC. . Dr. Hafizur Rahman gave a welcome speech on behalf of the Dallas Convention Committee. He conveyed his gratitude and appreciation to the volunteers and NABIC board members, who worked together to organize this event. In this session Sheikh Zia ul Haq, Imam of Islamic Center of Irving, TX gave a talk on “Applying Traditional Values to Modern Needs”, followed by the presentation of Dr. Abu Bakar Ahmed, Executive Director of NABIC. His presentation highlighted the history of NABIC, its current projects and transition it’s going through during the past year. This session was also enriched by the Mayor of the Richardson City, Gary Slagel, who gave a speech on “Working Together to Build a Better America”.
Like previous years, 2nd Session focused on Bangladesh. This session started at 11:15 AM and was moderated by Dr. Rashed Nizam, President of NABIC. The first presentation was on traffic and transportation problems in Bangladesh presented by Dr. Musharraf Zaman, Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Program College of Engineering at the University of Oklahoma, Norman. Dr. Zaman’s presentation focused on the defects in the structural design of roads and highways in Bangladesh and discussed some of the traffic issues. Then Dr. Mohammad A. Karim, Past president of NABIC presented on the topic “Structuring Research-Intensive Universities: A Transformative Road Model”. Dr. Karim discussed the present status of the research and publication conditions at different Universities in Bangladesh. This session concluded with the presentation given by Dr. Parvez Ahmed, Associate professor of finance at the University of North Florida and past chairman of the Council of American-Islamic Relations. Dr. Ahmed presentation was on “Reducing Corruption through Ethics Education”.
The break for lunch and Duhr prayer followed by two parallel sessions: Session IIII A on “American Muslim Issues” and Session III B “Youth Session”. Session IIII A was moderated by Dr. Mohammad A Karim past President of NABIC. In this session Br. Safaa Zarzour, Secretary General of ISNA spoke on how to communicate with our youth in America. Dr. Zulfiqar Ali Shah, Executive Director, Fiqh Council of North America discussed the Anti-Sharia Legislations: How to Respond. Dr. Shah also spoke on the history of American constitution and Sharia law. Session III B moderated by Br. Haseeb Akhtar on the topic named, “In the footsteps of the Prophet”. The speaker for this Session was Dr. Altaf Husain, a Member of ISNA Majlis Ash-Shura, which was a very interactive session with the youth. After the parallel session this year’s NABIC convention had a new session called Talent show/Entertainment presented by youth members. At the talent show many young presenters presented on different topics that could lead to some potential future projects for NABIC. Some of the youth made documentary film on some of the critical issues in Bangladesh and entertained the audience. At the end of the session the presenters was awarded. This session was highly praised by the NABIC board members and was very much appreciated by the audience. The young volunteers for this convention were also awarded by certificates of appreciation by NABIC President.
The annual NABIC General Body Meeting held following the talent show and was presided by NABIC outgoing President Dr. Rashed Nizam. Everyone was invited to the meeting. Attendees had the opportunity to meet the NABIC leadership and learnt about NABIC activities. The meeting was very lively and interactive. At the General Body Meeting, Dr. Abu Bakar Ahmed, Executive Director of NABIC presented 2010 Annual and Financial Reports. Dr. Ahmed also informed the audience about the recent NABIC board election and the change in the board. Dr. Rashed Nizam announced the newly elected NABIC board and introduced President elect Dr. Muhammad K Zaman as well as other board members. Dr. Nizam then introduced NABIC’s new Interim Executive Director Mr. Fazle Elahi Chowdhury to the audience.
After the break for Asr Prayer at 6:30 PM NABIC held its annual convention fundraising banquet. The banquet session was moderated by Dr.Muhammad Zaman, Vice President of NABIC. Sheikh Yasir Qadhi, resident Scholar at Memphis Islamic Center and Professor at Rhodes College, Memphis was invited as keynote speaker at the banquet. Sheikh Qadhi’s speech was on “Toward an Authentic Muslim-American Identity”. Afterwards a beautiful short film documenting NABIC’s main projects was shown to the audience. The ISNA Vice President Br. Azhar Azeez conducted the fundraising for NABIC and raised about $80,000 in cash and pledges for its projects during the banquet. The fundraising event was also enlightened by the presence of famous singer/reciter Br. Alamgir who recited the beautiful poem “On Giving” by Khalil Gibran.
The event was concluded successfully with the presentation of a beautiful crest with NABIC logo to outgoing Executive Director Dr. Abu Baker Ahmed for his long 20 years of service to NABIC.