Help Bassel Elnamara with Legal Fees

Dear Dayton Muslim Community Members,

 

Asalam Alaykum. I am reaching out to you to ask for your financial support to help our brother, Bassel Elnamara (also known as Br. Abu Rabee) with significant court and lawyer fees to cover expenses resulting from a lawsuit filed by the current Islamic Society of Greater Dayton (ISGD) board against him. The current ISGD board has falsely accused Br. Bassel of taking money from the ISGD organization because he wrote checks to himself to reimburse himself for ISGD expenses that Br. Bassel paid with his personal credit card.

 

In June 2020, the Board asked him for documentation of specific expense reimbursements, and he provided all supporting documents he had for those expenses. The Board never acknowledged his response and after months of not hearing anything, Br. Bassel thought the matter was resolved.

 

Unfortunately in July 2021, the Board contacted him again with additional requests for supporting documentation of expense reimbursements going back eight more years. Some board members questioned why Br. Bassel did not use an ISGD credit card instead of “stealing” credit card points for himself. There is not, nor has there ever been, an ISGD credit card.

 

After more back and forth, Br. Bassel felt certain members of the Board were not actually interested in resolving the situation favorably and could be going after him for personal reasons. He requested they mediate by contacting a neutral group of trusted community members for a meeting to resolve the matter. The Board never reached out to these members and instead escalated the situation by taking Br. Bassel to court, which will not only waste time, energy, and resources, but has caused a big rift in our community.

 

As a previous board member who served as treasurer, I worked very closely with Br. Bassel when I was on the ISGD Board from 2012 – 2016. We reconciled accounting records annually. I witnessed the amount of time and energy he put to keep the daily operations of Masjid Al-Rahman running smoothly. There were several incidences where Br. Bassel had to interrupt his workday to address an issue at the Masjid. When a member in the community needed financial assistance, he was the person who oversaw this help. When a Masjid event was happening, he was the main organizer and planner for these events. He was also part of the team that oversaw the construction of our beautiful Masjid, Al-Huda. I remember one board meeting where I shared my concerns that too much of the Masjid responsibilities were falling on Br. Bassel’s shoulders, and the rest of the board needed to step up.

 

Br. Bassel has served the community as an ISGD board member since the 1990s through 2020. When I first heard that the Board was taking Br. Bassel to court, I was extremely disappointed and hurt that someone who worked so hard to serve the community was being falsely accused of taking Masjid funds.

 

Br. Bassel has selflessly supported our community for over two decades. Let us now support our brother by helping him with the legal costs to fight these false accusations.

 

Jazak Allah Khair,

Mohammad Khalil, CPA