President's Eid Message - 1423 AH

“Transforming Vision to reality"

In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful.

"O Allah ! Bless us in the day of our Eid and our fast breaking and let it be the best day that has passed over us"  - Imam Ali Zainul Abedeen (A.S.)- Sahifa Al-Sajjadiyya

It is with these inspired words of our Imam, on behalf of all of us here at the World Federation Secretariat, that I wish you all a happy and a joyous Eid ul Fitr.  At this juncture I would like to share some thoughts about the direction of our sojourn in the service of the community.

Let me begin with the promise of Almighty Allah in Surah Al-Ankabut (69):

Wallazina Jaahadu Fiina Lanahdiyannhum Subulana ;

And as for those who strive hard for Us, We will certainly guide them in Our ways;  

We are indeed thankful to Allah, for His Guidance through the school of Ahlul Bait (as).   Striving for excellence, serving with sincerity and simplicity, enabling and facilitating all community endeavors, are all very much part of the culture at the World Federation Secretariat. My colleagues and I consider that our measure of success lies in how far we have been effective in engaging the grassroots, empowering frontline workers and supporting jamaats and regional efforts and projects. Over the past two years your secretariat has been working towards a document titled "Transforming Vision to Reality" which has been a template used by the office bearers and other team members to achieve the short term objectives defined at  Conference 2000.

Those present at Conference 2000 will recall that this was an invigoratingly engaging exercise demonstrating clearly that the community leadership across the globe not only expected the World Federation to deliver the highest level of services but was also committed to participating in that delivery process.   As we approach the next conference, I invite community leaders, frontline workers and intellectuals to revisit the vision espoused by our founders and reiterated at Conference 2000.  That vision is  

·                     Education for all

·                     Health care for all

·                     Self sufficiency for all

·                     Representation for all

·                     Effective leadership at all levels

Much more can be achieved in the realization of the noble vision if we engender team spirit, cultivate consensus and enhance coordination amongst all our institutions across the globe.  For the community to optimize its resources the need of time is to ensure that we have a strategic plan of the next decade that provides a roadmap for the entire Community to realise the above vision.   

Simply put, a strategic plan will determine where the community is going over the next decade, how it is going to get there and how it will know if it got there or not. It can help an organization to focus its energy, to ensure that members of the organization are working toward the same goals, to assess and adjust the organization's direction in response to a changing environment. In short, strategic planning is a disciplined effort to produce fundamental decisions and actions that shape and guide what an organization is, what it does, and why it does it, with a focus on the future.  

I have therefore asked the Vice President, Dr Ahmed Hassam to lead a team that produces a Strategic Planning document by the Triennial Conference 2003 addressing major societal transformations: emerging social issues representing a global multiplicity, not just of cultures but also of perspectives, ideas and demands. It is the need of time that we must ourselves take charge of change. We must revisit the mode and methods of how we address the needs of the community. We must adopt strategies where we can all interact more and more with all our organizations around the globe; identify and nurture new coalitions to leverage our resources as we serve the Community.  We need to define new strategies to actualize the potential of the younger members of our community to serve and eventually prepare for leadership roles for the challenges to come.   

I appeal to you all to come forward and contribute by way of your input at various stages in the preparation of this definitive document. Your input and participation will greatly enhance the diversity and depth of this exercise to engage the great minds of the community towards a global strategy for the enhancement of our Community.  

As the Community moves towards the horizons of progress, let us also not loose sight of Marhum Mulla’s vision of the Community he envisaged in 1990.

“A united community where every act of good will is propelled and driven by sincere intention to please Allah and none else. We need a society where Taqwa is way of life, where Amrbil Maruf and Nahi Anil Munkar is the norm and practice. We need a society where the youths are saved from the rising tide of Kufr and its influence, where our men and women follow Shariah with pride and without apology. And rise above the mean and the mediocre to that which is high and sublime”

Let us continually bring these values to the fore as we chart out future strategies.  May I also ask you to remember Marhum Mulla Asghar, who will always be missed, and all the Marhumeen with a sura-e-Fateha.

May Allah accept our efforts and give us Tawfeeq to serve Him with Ikhlas

Wassalamu Alaykum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatu.

Hasnain Walji                                                                                  
Dallas , TX . Shavval 1 1423 Dec 6 2001