On December 16^th, 2012, 340 players gathered from 19 various mosques from all over Southern California for a tournament titled, “Joint Masjid Basket Ball Tournament”.  This tournament was presented by Southern California Muslim Community Organization. The tournament was the fourth mega event put on by SCMCO, which is an umbrella organization of mosques in SoCal aiming to bring the Muslim community closer together through social activities.

SCMCO’s mission is to organize activities and mobilize the community in a manner that establishes greater unity between our communities stated event’s core executive organizers Ayaz Kaleemullah and Samina Haq.

SCMCO Chairperson Dawar Naqvi opened with a heart-felt welcome to the players and audience. This was not only about basketball or entertainment, this was about coming together “ stated event’s organizers, Javad Arain from Islamic Society of Orange County and Amaar Ashraf from Islamic Center of Yorba Linda. During the intervals one of the Coach Alam Akhtar explained the rules and format to the players.

It was delightful to see over 400 players and spectators performing salah together. Imam/Religious Director Shaykh Faqih & Education & Outreach Director Shaykh Mustafa Umar of Islamic Institute of Orange County, Imam of Islamic Society of Corona and Norco Osman Umarji and Imam of Islamic Center of Yorba Linda Hafiz Aslam Patel led different prayers and gave wonderful speeches throughout the event. It was nice to see many Imams, such as Imam of Darul Falah Furhan Zubairi, Usman Umarji, and others, on the court as well.

Alhumdullilah we were able to achieve our goal with our basketball tournament said event volunteers Sameer and Ruquayyah Jackson.

The tournament was held at the American Sports Center a state of the art facility. The competition began at 8:15 AM and ended at 7:00 PM with a great sense of team work and competition in the air.

Professional referees performed their duties. The tournament was divided into three categories i.e. Adult, Under 16 and Under 13.  Signs displayed in the gym Shoot hoops for Choc’ encouraged the talented players to play for charity with a total of $500  raised for Children’s Hospital of Orange County.

The Executive Director of the Islamic Shura Council, Shakeel Syed, who attended this event as a special guest awarded prizes to different individuals and teams.

Prizes were also presented by SCMCO Organization Committee members Ayaz Kaleemullah, Alam Akhtar and Dawar Naqvi.

At the end Chairperson of SCMCO Dawar Naqvi thanked everyone for their contribution and their combined effort.  He thanked ALLAH for making this program successful. He admired the hard work of his teammates. He said without their efforts this event was not possible. His team was composed of Ayazkaleemullah, Samina Haq, Javad Arain, Amjad Naqvi, Alam Akthar, Amaar Ashraf, Sameer Sheikh, Ruquayyah Jackson and Firoze Mustafa.

He also indicated inshallah future events would come soon.

The evening concluded with words shared by Executive Director of the Islamic Shura Council, Shakeel Syed, “I have no words to describe my feelings, may Allah always gather us all for the benefit of this Ummah. He applauded the efforts of the Organizing committee for an organizing such a good event. SCMCO Congratulates the Basketball Champions:

Player of the tournament Abdul Hadi Fattal- Masjid Al Noor

Best Volunteers

Javad Arain

Amaar Ashraf

Ruquayyah

Asmaa Shawky

Sameer Sheikh

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