A tribute to an unseen backbone of the American Muslims

The beloved wife of our dear Hazrat Mawlānā Sheikh al-Ḥadīth Qārī Mohammed Abdullah Saleem sahib, the founder of the Institute of Islamic Education, has passed away on Jan 3, 2023. انا للہ وانا الیہ راجعون

As we look back into her life, we find many qualities of her that we cannot even enumerate. It is sufficient to say that she was gifted with the qualities of the muʾmināt, dhākirāt, ṣāliḥāt, qānitāt, and tāʾibāt.

She was a woman who was never seen to falter from her duties to her religion, her husband, her children, her family, and the students of her madrasa. Many ʿulama and ḥuffāẓ can today boast of being fed by her own cooking for years on end.

In fact, we find her to be the blessed woman who helped establish the first madrasa in America. She was an unseen backbone of the American Muslims, who although was not known for her efforts in this world, she will be known in her grave, in shā Allah.

كم من معروف في الأرض مجهول في السماء وكم من مجهول في الأرض معروف في السماء

Her name has already been written in golden words. The generations of ʿulamāʾ and ḥuffāẓ will forever remain indebted to her, and the amount of rewards she has reaped and continues to receive is unimaginable.

Through her actions we learn that we are to do everything for the sake of Allah ﷻ. We are to seek reward only from him and none else; we are to stay consistent in our worship and hold no thought of being known by anyone but Allah ﷻ.

On the same day, she was laid to rest in the Elgin Muslim cemetery, close to the grave of one of the greatest muhaddithin, Allamah Shaykh al Hadith Mawlana Muhammad Na'eem Sahib RA, after her funeral prayer was performed at the Masjid al Islam of the Institute of Islamic Education.

We request everyone to keep her in their duʾās and to recite Qurʾān for her as a form of īṣāl al-thawāb.