RIP Farooq Hussaini

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08141/883211-122.stm
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Obituary: Syed Farooq Hussaini / Inspiring spokesman for the Pittsburgh Islamic community
Died May 18, 2008
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
By Dennis B. Roddy, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette



Syed Farooq Hussaini, director of interfaith relations for the Islamic Center of Pittsburgh, died Sunday after a long battle with kidney disease. He was 50.

Diminutive, gregarious and an always approachable spokesman for a community sometimes reticent in the post-9/11 era, Mr. Hussaini was remembered by colleagues and friends across the religious divide as a spokesman who eschewed any hint of stridency for the belief that goodwill would overcome differences.

Yesterday, at the center's Oakland mosque, followers of the world's three major religions -- Muslims, Jews and Christians -- filled the room for a funeral service in which Mr. Hussaini was praised as a man whose faith transcended religious boundaries

A frequent lecturer on Islam, he served on the Religious Leadership Forum of Southwestern Pennsylvania and was a member of the Daughters and Sons of Abraham program at Carlow University.

When he decided to settle in the United States, Mr. Hussaini said, his father urged him to promote understanding among religions. In his native country, the Muslim minority often faces discrimination, and religiously inspired violence between Hindus and Muslims has been a recurring problem.

After a lukewarm response to his proposal to teach the region's Christians and Jews about the meaning of Islam, Mr. Hussaini was confronted -- 10 years after becoming a citizen -- with the world-changing event of the terrorist attacks on New York, the Pentagon and Pennsylvania.

"Sept. 11 happened. I was numb," he told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in a 2002 interview. At the time, he chided many in his own community for their reluctance to reach out in years past. Requests arrived for a speaker who could tell audiences whether the 9/11 hijackers truly reflected the world view of Islam.

"The sad part, that hurts me so much, is that I saw Islam as a beautiful religion. I saw my parents forgiving and caring and sharing," Mr. Hussaini said.

Mr. Hussaini continued with that message, seeking to explain Islam as a peaceful belief system, despite growing medical problems.
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Farooq was a pretty good guy. He'll be missed.