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Page 3 The Islamic Bulletin Issue 21
U.S. Postal Service Unveils 2001 E id Stamp
The Islamic Bulletin is proud to an-
nounce that the United States Postal
Service unveiled the 2001 Eid stamp
on Monday, November 13th, 2000.
This achievement marks the end of
a successful campaign by American
Muslim Council to encourage the
issuance of a Ramadan stamp. AMC
also played a role in the issuance of
the Malcolm X stamp in 1999.
We are also grateful to our readers
who participated in this effort by
flooding the Post Office with expres-
sions of support.
Tom Davis (R-VA) and Dana Rorhrabacher (R-CA) introduced and
passed legislation in 1999 expressing that Congress supports a
postage stamp to be issued recognizing the Muslim holy month of
Ramadan. Tom Davis was honored for his efforts in this legislation
with an award at AMC’s National Convention this past June.
The resolution (Res. 220) stated that Jewish and Christian holidays
have been recognized on US postage stamps, but no Muslim ob-
servance is similarly commemorated. The stamp commemorating
Eid Al Fitr will be available in October 2001 just before the start of
the month of Ramadan, 1422 Hijri.
We encourage the community to contact the U.S. Postal Service in
Washington and thank them for making a statement of recognition
of the American Muslim community by issuing the Eid stamp.
Mr. William J. Henderson
Postmaster General/CEO USPS
475 L’Enfant Plaza
Washington, DC 20260
E-mail:
Fax: 202-268-5211
A Clinic in Critical Condition
By Teresa Watanabe, LA Times
It began as an audacious vision by a handful of idealistic Muslim
medical students: move Islam out of the insular immigrant com-
munities and take the religion’s charitable ideals into the streets.
Four years and 14,000 patients later, the UMMA clinic on Florence
Avenue has drawn widespread attention as the only free medical
clinic in South-Central Los Angeles and the nation’s first major
Muslim foray into health care for the poor.
In this spotless clinic festooned with Koranic sayings and children’s
colorings of Winnie the Pooh, toddlers such as 3-year-old Anthony
Jones sit happily through exams because of what his mother calls the
staff’s welcoming nature. Vandals and gang members have shown
respect by leaving the building largely untouched.
But now the clinic is threatened with closure as its federal and city
funds, provided in the aftermath of the 1992 Los Angeles riots, run
out this year. To fill the gap, clinic founders are appealing to Mus-
lims in a major fund-raiser aimed at raising the $240,000 needed
to keep the doors open another year.
Clinic director Yasser Aman, 25, and clinic co-founder Mansur Khan,
32, a doctor of internal medicine, represent a new breed of younger
Muslims who are diverging from their parents’ more insular form to
take Islamic social activism to the broader community.
The Muslims met at UCLAs Muslim Student Assn. where it had
started programs to tutor youths at juvenile detention camps and
inner-city schools. To Aman and Khan, social activism is not an op-
tion but an obligation under Islam. Citing the Prophet Muhammad’s
counsel to fix whatever you see wrong.
The UMMA clinic is a case in
point. As much of South Los
Angeles lay in disarray after the
1992 riots, Khan and a group of
about six Muslim students felt
moved to reach out. They initially
envisioned sponsoring a medical
trailer to drive through the city
offering blood pressure exams and
other services.
The students unabashedly made
cold calls to dozens of medical sup-
ply companies and, in a year’s time, collected $150,000 worth of
donate equipment and supplies: state-of-the-art microscopes, com-
puters, exam tables and EKG machines. As the students searched
for a trailer parking site, however Los Angeles City Councilwoman
Rita Walters encouraged them to consider a standing clinic instead.
Walters helped the group obtain a $700,000 grant from federal
housing authorities, which it used to renovate an abandoned auto
repair shop. Then occupied by homeless people and drug addicts,
the slate-gray office now boasts a lab, a cheerful lobby and six
examination rooms.
The city kicked in a two-year operating grant of $680,000, which the
bare-bones staff has managed to stretch out over four years. UCLA
agreed to make the clinic an official teaching site and now sends
dozens of medical students to volunteer as part of their training.
A pool of 20 physicians - both Muslim and non-Muslim - regularly
volunteer, treating ailments that are key problems in the surround-
ing community hypertension, diabetes and sexually transmitted
diseases. The clinic serves an annual patient load of 5,000.
“We wanted to show people that Muslims care about the rest of the
community at large,” Khan said. He added that the venture appears
to be inspiring Muslims nationwide. Not only, have donations come
in from across the country, but Muslims elsewhere have started
three other free medical clinics and have called with questions on
how to start homeless shelters and other projects.
For the mostly non-Muslim patients, the UMMA clinic appears to
be living up to its name. Although the acronym stands for University
MuslimMedical Assn., the Arabic word ummah means community.
Tasha Jones, a 27-year-old food-service worker who wears an “I love
Jesus” key chain around her neck, says the clinic indeed bridges
religious and racial divides.
She could take her three children elsewhere, under their govern-
ment health coverage, but chooses to go to the UMMA clinic be-
cause of the time and care the staff gives. “It don’t matter if they’re
Muslim or Christian,” Jones said. “They’re good people.”
U.S. State Department Launches Site on
I slam in America
(Washington D.C. Nov. 28) - The U.S. State Department has a new
section in its website which focusing on Islam. The new site provides
information about the vitality and diversity of the Muslim experience
in the United States. American Muslim contributions to every aspect
of American life are outlined in addition to sections describing how
American Muslims live, work and worship in our country.
The website, entitled, “Islam in the United States,” features a fact
sheet of facts and figures on the American Muslim population,
official speeches from U.S. President Clinton and U.S. Secretary of
State Madeline Albright, as well as other government officials. Ms.
Albright introduces the website with a personal message.
The site also features articles of relevance to the American Muslim
community as well as selected readings, academic programs, related
sites and a gallery of pictures of American Mosques.
Visit the website at