President’s Message: Eidul Fitr 2025 - Org Announcements & Priorities
President’s Message: Eidul Fitr 2025
Assalamu-Alaykum (Peace Be Upon You)
On behalf of Muslim Association of Puget Sound, I extend to all of you a very warm Eid Greetings! Eid Mubarak. TaqabbalaAllahu Minna Wa Minkum. May Allah swt accept this month of fasting, worship, and charity from all of us!
Last year in my eidul adha message I talked about the need for expansion in Redmond and the concrete steps we have been taking to achieve it. As you can see from Ramadan attendance, our community has outgrown our facility. Likewise, the demand for our services has outstripped our capabilities. By the Grace of Allah swt, I’m extremely optimistic about our community’s future in this area. To address these issues and give our community all the room it needs to grow, I am delighted to inform you that, in partnership with Medina Academy, we are about to close on a campus 3x the size of our current facility. This is also without having to sell our current facility. All thanks to Allah swt first and your generous donations. May Allah swt accept it from all of us. We plan to take time to build a beautiful masjid building (a religious wing) at the new campus considering community’s future needs before relocating in the next 3 - 5 years.
Today, I'd like to talk about three key topics: evolving organization structure, the Ramadan Fund-Raising Drive, and our 2025 priorities. It’s very important for our community and especially for our members to be aware of these key areas, as we have embarked on some major undertakings for our collective future.
Organization Structure & COO Announcement
MAPS is entering a pivotal phase of growth and transformation. With several major initiatives underway, it is critical that we evolve our organizational structure to effectively support our expanding footprint, operations, programs, and services—all while maintaining strong governance.
We are no longer a small masjid. With the upcoming closure of our expansion project next month, MAPS will manage close to $60 million in assets and oversee annual operations exceeding $10 million. Our board members are currently involved in many day-to-day decisions—both large and small—which are neither scalable nor sustainable in the long term.
To address this, we are transitioning to a more structured governance model. The board will increasingly focus on its fiduciary duties and strategic planning, while operational execution will be delegated to a newly formed executive body.
We are pleased to announce the creation of the Chief Operating Officer (COO) role to lead this executive body. The COO will be responsible for overseeing all operations, including HR, finance, new campus expansion planning and execution, and the future roadmap for our existing MAPS facilities.
We are honored to share that Br. Mahmood Khadeer has accepted this role. A founder of MAPS and a cornerstone of both the original campus and current expansion efforts, Br. Mahmood brings deep institutional knowledge and a clear vision for operational excellence. We ask for your full support as he takes on this responsibility. Together, let us usher MAPS into its next chapter—one of enhanced efficiency, impactful service, and a realization of our shared vision.
Fund-Raising Drive
This expansion, of course, requires a budget and us meeting several financial deadlines. Alhamdulillah, we are concluding a very successful fund-raising drive across our three campuses. Commencing with our annual banquet on Feb 15, 2025, in Redmond, followed by multiple events during Ramadan, I am thrilled to share that we have received pledges and donations totaling over ~$4.8M over the past month. (MAPS Redmond: close to $4.2M, MAPS Seattle: over $500K, and MAPS Snohomish County: over $150K). This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for all of us to establish a solid institution in the Pacific North West, that will endure long after we are gone Insha-Allah, and that will be at the foundation of our children’s and their children’s generations. If you have not yet fulfilled your pledge or had the opportunity to donate, please do so here. There’s a huge sadaqa jariya opportunity that we don’t want anyone to miss.
2025 Priorities
We have outlined the priorities MAPS will focus on in 2025 during various fund-raising events. This is important as, during all the expansion work, we do not want to lose sight in to our core set of programs and services in the current campus. I'd like to reiterate these priorities to ensure they remain at the forefront of our collective efforts:
Religious & Education:
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Accelerate PNW Seminary: Weekend long seminars by national speakers, fulltime staff, partnership with Bayan, expansion in Snohomish, etc.
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Increase Teachers & Khateebs – via training and recruiting w/ special focus for advanced topics
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Increased attendance in daily salaat, Friday programs, guest speakers. We’ve got 500+ new apartments coming up and hope to get a lot more attendees.
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Expand camps & programs: Launch day care program (space permitting), religious, arts, sports, classes/camps
Outreach, Social, and Services:
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MAPS Matching Program: Encourage and train community to become part of school district, other boards, public diplomacy training, pursue internship opportunities, etc.
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Muslim cultural events in public places, e.g. Ramadan crafts in public libraries, eid celebrations in public spaces with the broader community
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Quarterly open houses across our branches
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MAPS-MCRC to prioritize focus on 1) single women transition housing/support (Capex), 2) Full-time clinic, 3) Seniors programming
Grand Expansion & Operations:
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Close on expansion & design, architecture, and a development plan
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MAPS-Seattle long term planning as current lease would expire in early 2027
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Operationalize MAPS structure: HR, Finance, Audits, Budgeting, Checks, & Controls while continue to improve marketing, education
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Facilities Upkeep: 4 locations’ centralized maintenance
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Fundraisings: Proactive goals for each branch and capital projects
We will continue to provide updates on these programs via our newsletter and social media channels. Exciting times lie ahead for MAPS, and I am grateful for your continued support as we work together to build a lasting legacy. May Allah SWT bless us all abundantly.
Let us also not forget our brothers and sisters around the world, and especially in Gaza and Palestine, who continue to face immense challenges. May Allah swt alleviate their sufferings, prevent starvation and famine, and grant our leaders the moral courage to put an end to this humanitarian crisis and genocide.
Wassalam,
Mohammad Vakil
MAPS Board President
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Muslim Association Of Puget Sound (MAPS) | 17550 NE 67th Ct | Redmond, WA 98052 US