ANOTHER OPEN APPEAL TO WALLACE, SHIRLEY, LAILA AND N’GINA MUHAMMAD TO: LEAVE THE COURT AND TRUST THE QUR’AN

What does it take to awaken the heart and mind of our Editor of the Muslim Journal to be Fair and responsible as a Muslim and a journalist to the Muslim community that supports the Muslim Journal?  I was approached in the Court Room of Judge Budzinski, the presiding Judge for the Probate case, that will decide who will be the administrator over the estate of Imam W. D. Mohammed, by Muslim Journal writer, Samuel A. Bilal who asked me would we be willing to give him an interview once this case is finalized and the judge has rendered his decision.  Brother Bilal informed me that the Editor of the Journal had asked him to interview both sides of the case and publish the results and publish them in the Journal.  I told him that I was sure that Khadijah would be willing and I would also be willing.  At the time that he asked me that question we were sitting waiting for the Judge to take the bench and begin hearing cases.   Shortly thereafter we learned that Judge Budzinski was ill and would not be present this day and that a Pro Tem (substitute Judge) would be sitting in for him.  When the substitute judge took the stand he, after reviewing our case, decided not to hear it and let it wait for judge Budzinski, but he did offer us some very important advice.  Brother Bilal decided to write a story on the advice that the judge gave us and published it in the Journal which caught the attention and admiration of all of those who read said story.

One person who read the writing of Brother Bilal was Imam Bilal Yasin El-Amin and he in turn forwarded me an email encouraging me to give the Qur’an and Islam another try in settling this case.  Upon reading Brother Imam El-amin’s email to me which reflected many other emails and phone calls that I had already received from many Muslim brothers and sisters.   I wrote the enclosed article and immediately called Sister Editor Ayesha Mustafaa and asked her would she please publish it.  I chose to call her and alert her to the fact that I was sending said article to the Journal knowing that very few if any of my writings have been published in the Journal on this issue.  I believed that since the article that I had written was basically driven by what the Muslim Journal writer Samuel Bilal had written and clearly was information that needed to be disseminated to the Muslim public and since I kept the article limited to a sincere appeal to help save our community from the endless fall out that will occur as a result of this law suit that Shirley Muhammad has filed to establish her fraudulent claim that she was the wife of Imam Mohammed at the time of his death, I believed that any responsible journalist would be compelled to publish said article.

After my initial call to Sister Ayesha alerting her that I was sending said article, I never heard back from her as to what she would or would not do as far as publishing our response to a Muslim Journal writers article and a second public appeal to leave the Cook County Courts and turn as sincere Muslims to our Holy book the Qur’an to resolve this issue.  She never returned my call and three editions of Muslim Journal have been published since I first wrote this article appealing to Wallace Mohammed Jr. and his family to join me and my family in abandoning the court case and allowing the Qur’an and Islam to be the judge and deciding factor in this case.

My thinking was and is that regardless as to how Sister Ayesha Mustafaa might feel about me personally, she has a professional and moral responsibility to this community who identify with the leadership of Imam W.D. Mohammed and support the Muslim Journal, to publish all information that is in the interest of that public that she, is committed to serve.  To arbitrarily choose not to inform or to delay informing the Muslims because of some narrow bias or prejudice is un professional and unacceptable and the Muslim community should let her know just that.

However, time is now of the essences and the court case is scheduled to commence. I have enclosed the article that I had written and sent to the Muslim Journal and was rejected by Sister Editor Ayesha Mustafaa for publishing and will now proceed to publish it on my own website and circulate it as best as I can so that you brothers and sisters who have been encouraging and insisting on our not being in the public courts with this case can see that we, the Siddeeq family have made another sincere effort to turn to the Qur’an for the solution of this matter and did not make any preconditions that could be used as an excuse for not accepting this sincere appeal.   I have been informed that Sister Ayesha did forward our appeal to Wallace and to that end we are grateful. As of this date we have not heard one word back from Sister Editor Ayesha Mustafaa nor Wallace Mohammed Jr. on this matter.  Therefore I am personally publishing the appeal that was released to the Muslim Journal three Journal editions ago:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

WITH ALLAH’S NAME THE MERCIFUL BENEFACTOR, THE MERCIFUL REDEEMER

July 8, 2009

AS-Salaamu-Alaikum
Dear Brother Wallace Mohammed Jr.

I am writing you as the head of your family and inspired by the dynamic article in the Muslim Journal written by our Brother and reporter Samuel Ayub Bilal, Volume 34, Number 40, July 3, 2009, pp. 7 and 9.   If you will recall, and I do believe that we both were present to witness these words that Brother Bilal wrote in our paper.  Judge Perivolidis all but quoted the Qur’an. He all but said: “Muslims, this court should not have to settle your differences for you.” As I was reminded by one of our most faithful and dedicated Imam’s, Brother Yasin El-Amin, who wrote me and encouraged me to try again.   Try again to do what Allah would have us do.

Brother Imam El-Amin, went on quoting our brother reporter Bilal saying, this “folksy” judge said it right out as plain as day. Take five minutes to talk to each other. Stop giving your money to lawyers (and this court). Apply your Qur’an. Use your common sense, and respect each other.

Further inspired by reporter Bilal’s writing, Imam El-Amin admonished me by writing:
“Dear Muslims, we don’t need a judge to tell us this. But having been told, can we not now follow the Qur’an in this matter? There have been two national meetings of imams, but this case has not been on the agenda. Why not?  Please don’t say this is a private matter with which we have noting to do, and it should not be discussed in a public forum such as this. This is an Islamic forum. The case is now in a public, Christian court, and now in the Muslim Journal, a publication that is read all over the world. Don’t you feel embarrassed? And hurt? I do.”

So Brother Wallace, I speak as the head of my family to you as the head of your family on the eve of this Community’s  National Convention and observance of Ramadan.  Let’s put the law suits aside and sit down as Muslims should and resolve these issues–that have divided us and will continue to divide us–according to our Qur’an and our religion Al-Islam.

I am forwarding this letter to Sister Editor Ayeshah Mustafaa for publication and asking her to simultaneousl
y forward this appeal to you.  If you accept our effort or want time to think about it we can both appeal to the court for a temporary continuance in our legal matter scheduled to commence on August 3, 2009.   Please let sister editor know your response in a timely fashion so that we will not be in violation of the court procedure if you choose to continue on using the Chicago Courts to resolve our Islamic concerns.

As-Salaamu-Alaikum
Brother Muhammad Siddeeq

P.S.    After the Judge made his suggestion that the two families talk directly to one another, the attorney for Shirley Muhammad approached Khadijah’s Attorney while the court was on recess and told her that after listening to the Judges recommendation, Shirley had consented to recognize Khadijah as a legitimate heir.  Before Khadijah’s attorney could fully make this report to Khadijah, Shirley’s attorney re-approached Khadijah’s attorney and told her that Shirley had changed her mind and instructed him to tell Khadijah that she (Shirley) was standing by her original position of not recognizing Khadijah as a legitimate heir despite what the Judge had suggested.