Photo by James A. McBride
In photo: Bishop Galante and Zia U. Rahman sign “An Agreement of Understanding and Cooperation between the Roman Catholic Diocese of Camden and The Muslim American Community Association” on Feb. 20, 2008, at the Voorhees Islamic Center.
The interfaith community of Southern New Jersey suffered a great loss last week. We buried one of our shinning stars, Zia Rahman, managing director of the Muslim American Community Association. We all could see that over the past year or so he was struggling with all the complications associated with a brain tumor. And yet while enduring all the treatments that weakened his body, his spirit was indomitable as he pressed ahead full speed in the duty he believed assigned him by God to build bridges of understanding and respect among Muslims and the wider religious communities of Southern New Jersey. He died peacefully with his ever-faithful wife Zahida, his two sons Zahid and Nabeel, at his side in prayer.
I met Zia a number of years ago when he was encountering vigorous opposition from local residents in Voorhees to the building of a mosque in that township. Immediately, I was struck by his gentle countenance and spiritual aura. He had shared with me that when he and other leaders of his community approached the Voorhees’ zoning board a large group of opponents were present and some had secretly distributed flyers saying that the mosque would be a center for terrorists. This was just two years after 9/11.Under the direction of Bishop Galante, local Catholics and the Office of Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs came to the aid of our Muslim friends.
The mosque was built and continues to be a haven for interreligious meetings, programs and education. Zia used this first encounter with many of his religious neighbors to forge deeper ties of understanding and respect. He drew close with our Catholic community and we began shortly after the dedication of the mosque to enter into a formal dialogue that culminated in the signing of a formal agreement. Throughout this process of dialogue and planning Zia was a driving force. Even when the brain tumor struck him, he would not allow it to slow him down.
On Wednesday evening, Feb. 20, 2008, the culmination of all our efforts to make our close ties official, leaders of the Camden Diocese of local Muslim community gathered for a signing ceremony. Bishop Galante, Msgr. McGrath the Vicar General, Msgr. Joyce the Chancellor and I signed the historic Agreement of Cooperation and Understanding along with Zia, who was representing the Muslim American Community Association. This was only the second such agreement in the United States. Present that evening was a large contingent of Catholics, Muslims and civic leaders to witness the signing of the document. Bishop Galante called the agreement “a significant step toward deepening respect and understanding between the two faiths.” He added that “both faiths worship and acknowledge God in a culture that is increasingly secular.” Zia agreed and said, “Without God, without faith, we are lost.”
Zia was instrumental in many of our local interreligious outreaches. He was a leader in our Catholic-Muslim Commission, Jewish-Catholic-Muslim Dialogue of Southern New Jersey and the various programming these groups plan and present. He was usually a speaker at our annual “Breaking Bread Together,” interfaith educational program and our annual interfaith “Prayer for Peace.” He was the central figure in a PBS documentary “Talking Through Walls,” that tells the tale of the building of the mosque and the interfaith effort to champion the cause.
Upon hearing of the death of Zia Rahman, Bishop Galante said to the press that he was “deeply saddened” and he offered “condolences to his family and the Muslim community.” He also said “I will always be grateful for the role he played in promoting respect and understanding between the Muslim and Catholic communities of South Jersey.”
In Islam Muhammad once said that there are three things which may continue to benefit a person after death: charity given during life which continues to help others, knowledge from which people continue to benefit and a righteous child who prays for him. Zia continues to help others in these ways. All of South Jersey has lost a good and noble friend. I will miss him. May he rest in peace.
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