The Zakat Foundation of America

May 01, 2010

Dr. Mohammad Abdo

In Memory of Dr. Mohammad Abdo: Executive Director Khalil Demir Remembers a Loyal Zakat Foundation Volunteer and Friend

On a hot day in the summer of 2000, I was at Nazran airport in Ingushetia waiting for a humanitarian doctor from the USA. Ingushetia is a small Muslim republic situated next to war-torn Chechnya in the Russian Federation. The second Chechen-Russian war had just recently started and over 300,000 Chechen refugees sought shelter in Ingushetia. We were there providing humanitarian relief. The airport resembled a war zone: tanks, military jeeps, and soldiers. Finally, the plane arrived from Moscow, and I saw the doctor that I was expecting exit out of the plane. This medical doctor was Mohammad K. Abdo. He looked around anxiously and then he spotted me. He smiled and rushed to hug me. "Nice to see you, my brother," he said. Since that day we were never far away from each other or out of touch. That is, until the shocking news reached me that Muhammad was killed in a car accident!

I had first met Muhammad earlier in 2000, at an event sponsored by IMANA (The Islamic Medical Association of North America). It was an effort of IMANA to coordinate their work with relief organizations. It was not long after that first meeting that we were working together in refugee camps. In 2002 Mohammed was practicing medicine in Manahawkin (NJ), we at Zakat Foundation were looking for someone to supervise our work overseas. At that time Muhammad was planning to move to Egypt. His mom was living there and he wanted to be closer to her. It was good opportunity for him to accept the task especially because he wanted to dedicate most of his time to humanitarian work. This was his way of serving Allah (SWT), Lord of Heaven and Earth. In Cairo, he was working as doctor and volunteering/ traveling on behalf of Zakat Foundation.

Many of our brothers, sisters and donors would have never heard of Muhammad. But Dr. Muhammad Abdo was a real hero and a true humanitarian. His immense compassion, kindness, and dedication to the Muslim Ummah and to humanity at large, was like an ocean. He was so humble and lived so simply. His short life was full of goodness!

Muhammad went to Indonesia during the Tsunami and was in Pakistan during the devastating earthquake. He traveled to supervise projects in Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Niger, Senegal, Sierra Leona, Malawi, Turkey and Zambia. Last year he participated in a three-week Perma-Culture training in Malawi in order to learn how to create environment-friendly sustainable projects. Just seven days before he was killed, he had been in Kenya visiting a shelter and sewing center we support to help Somali refugee women in Nairobi.

We have so many plans, but our Lord (SWT) has His. The news of Muhammad’s passing broke my heart. But we are believers; we submit ourselves to the will of our Lord (SWT). The Quran teaches us to say "Inna Lillahi wa Inna Ilayhi Rajiun." – From God we are, and unto Him, we shall return". We ask Allah (SWT), our Lord, to accept him into His paradise and to shower him with blessings. We will miss him. To honor him we will continue his work insha’Allah. Brothers and sisters, I ask you humbly to pray for Mohammad and his family.

Wassalamu Alaykum,

Khalil Demir