One of Founders of ICNE Passed Away

One of the original founders of the Islamic Center of New England (Quincy, MA) passed away on Thursday, May 17.   John Omar is the son of the late Hajj Mohamed Omar, and his family is one of the founding families, as described by Mary Lahaj at the ICNE Founders Trust website.  Curiously, the ICNE website makes no mention of the passing of one of its earliest members. Some background from Lahaj:

"The Islamic Center of New England was a long range dream of seven Lebanese Muslim families whose history began in the early 1900's when the first generation of immigrants settled in Quincy Point, Quincy, Ma. They were among the first wave of Muslim immigrants to enter America from the Middle East, in the years from about 1875 to 1912."

"The seven families in this study responsible for founding the Center are: the Ameens, the Derbes, the El-Deebs, the Abrahams, the Allies, the Hassans (two brothers, Ismael and `Abduh), and the Omars (Awad).... Mohamed Omar (Awad) arrived in 1913."

"To understand the reasons for their migration, it is useful to look at the example of one of the founders, a Sunni Muslim, Mohamed Omar Awad. At the age of 22, Mr. Omar left his village in the mountainous area north of Tripoli. He waited for fifteen days at the Greek port, Patras, until the Martha Washington arrived to take him to Ellis Island, New York."

"Like other immigrants from rural areas of what now constitutes Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, and Jordan, Mr. Omar was fleeing the long arm of the Turkish army. He stated that there was no reason for him to leave his home but for the threat of having to fight for the Turks in Yemen. He had six uncles who had gone to fight and never came back."

"Historian George Antonius explains that the practice of recruiting troops from Syria to reconquor the Arabs of Yemen, introduced in 1880, 'opened a long and costly chapter of enmity between Turk and Arab.' The recruitment continued in spite of protests in Beirut. The Yemenese revolted in 1903 and again in 1911, ultimately forcing the Turks into a compromise."

"In 1931, Mr. Omar came to Quincy to work at the Fore River Shipyard. The community of immigrant Muslims in Quincy were unable to fulfill their Islamic obligations. Those pertained to praying over the dead, reading from the Qur'an (the Muslim Holy Book), weekly congregational prayers, zakah (annual obligatory charity), etc. Reasons for a lack of community cohesion were illiteracy, poverty, and having no customary place to pay the zakah. Mr. Omar pushed for the group to get organized. Because he could read and write, he soon became a leader in the nascent community."

"In the early thirties, Mr. Omar made a personal friend of Mr. Dennis Sweeney, the proprietor of Sweeney's Funeral Home of Quincy, founded in 1917. In 1939, the accidental death of a member of the community, Joseph Hassan, was the first occasion for a Muslim to be buried in the traditional Islamic manner. Mr. Omar washed the body and read Qur'an."

"The record of Hassan's death in Sweeney's Archives marks the beginning of a relationship between Sweeney's Funeral Home and the Muslim community which has lasted for three generations. Today, the grand-nephew of the original proprietor, Dennis Sweeney, provides the Muslim community with a special room for washing their dead. Mr. Sweeney estimates that he buries about thirteen Muslims a year and expects that number to increase as the community continues to grow."

The relationship continues, as Mr. Omar's funeral will be at Sweeney Funeral Home.  May John Omar's soul rest in peace.