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HASNAT ASHIQ Hasnat Ashiq is an engineer with sales and business development expertise. He holds degrees in Electrical Engineering and Cognitive Science from University of Rochester, New York. Hasnat has worked with many non-profits worldwide over the last 20 years in a variety of capacities and roles, focusing on poverty alleviation, educational initiatives, affordable healthcare, and orphan care. Most recently he served on the Board of West Valley Muslim Association (WVMA) as a Trustee and Outreach Manager, where he worked closely with AAi to organize compassion events for the homeless. As Outreach Manager for WVMA, Hasnat also worked with Saratoga and Cupertino city officials, clergy, members of various faiths, and Second Harvest Food Bank. Hasnat is a family man. He enjoys attending the high school wrestling events of his sons, and he pretends to be a golfer in his spare time. IRIS BENDAHAN Iris Bendahan has been a Jewish educator in the South Bay Area since 2001. She taught supplementary Jewish education at various synagogues, served as Religious School Principal at Congregation Beth David (Saratoga) for eleven years, and continues to train Jewish students for their Bnei Mitzvah. Iris curates The California Holocaust Awareness and Action Interactive Museum (CHAIM), a mobile educational exhibit which is brought to schools, workplaces, and community centers. Prior to working in Jewish education, Iris worked in biotechnology for twenty years after earning a Bachelor degree in Biochemistry from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, and a Master’s in Life Sciences from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel. Iris has engaged in numerous social action and social justice projects with Congregation Beth David. She discovered AAi in 2014 and resonated deeply with its mission to building interfaith bridges through social action. Since then she led two to three AAi Compassion events annually for Congregation Beth David, coordinated an AAi Trialogue event with Congregation Beth David, West Valley Muslim Association and Saratoga Federated Church, and assisted in organizing Temple Emanu-El San Jose’s first AAi compassion event in November 2018.
ROD CARDOZA, Founder and Executive Director Rod Cardoza is a cultural, theological and linguistic anthropologist. He has published ethnographic research on Muslim ritual, and lectures internationally on Muslim-Christian dialogue. He studied Urdu language at Delhi University and Jamia Millia Islamia in New Delhi, India. He researched social stratification among Muslim communities in Ahmedabad, India; shamanism among Maguindanaon Muslims in rural Mindanao, Philippines; and Shi'ite mourning rituals in Gujarat, India. He worked closely with leading scholars from Delhi University and Hazrat Pir Mohammed Shah Research Centre in India to publish religious peacebuilding Urdu texts. He also researched the role of Muslim cinematography in teaching Islamic knowledge in Egypt, where Rod lived with his family for several years while studying Arabic. Rod has lectured widely at universities and seminaries such as Lewis & Clark College, American University DC, Fresno Pacific University, and Fuller Theological Seminary. Rod authored "New Paths in Muslim-Christian Dialog: Understanding Islam from the Light of Earliest Jewish Christianity," (originally presented in Washington, DC at the Annual Conference on Muslim Peace, Justice and Interfaith Dialogue sponsored by Salam Institute for Peace and Justice, and Islamic Society of North America), published in The Muslim World, a journal devoted to the study of Islam and Christian-Muslim relations. Rod lives in San Jose, California and attends a Mennonite church with his wife and three children.

HENNA PAREKH, Board Secretary Henna Parekh has always been passionate about serving her community, particularly in the area of youth empowerment. She served as Vice President of the PTA Board at her local school, and volunteered for a decade in numerous school programs, including leading an anti-bullying program which used a reading curriculum and the arts as tools for teachers, students, and parents. Henna pioneered the weekly youth program at Evergreen Islamic Center (EIC) in San Jose, where she also served as the first woman on EIC’s Board of Directors. Henna has served as a teacher at the Stanford Islamic School, participated in youth-driven food distribution events at Rahima Foundation, and led the EIC youth in packaging food for underprivileged children in East Palo Alto. Henna Parekh was born and raised in the UK where she studied French and Russian at the University of Durham. While raising three children, she worked as a public speaking teacher in the Evergreen School District. As hate crimes soared in the U.S., Henna’s vision for fostering mutual understanding and healing among inter-religious youth led her to partner Evergreen Islamic Center with Camp Gilboa, a Jewish Summer School. This initiative brought together youth and parents of both communities through social activities and service events at Rahima Foundation, a charitable Muslim nonprofit that distributes food to neighbors in need. Henna has performed in Mary/Maryam with a interfaith drama team of budding actors at Peace United Church, Santa Cruz, under the directorship of Dr. Victoria Rue, Professor of Comparative and Religious Studies at San Jose State University, which proved to be a most life-affirming experience, akin to the same energy she feels when leading AAi compassion events. Serving with AAi is a natural continuation of her journey of hope and service to others.
Emeritus Board Members SOHAIL AKHTER, Board Member Emeritus Sohail Akhter is the founder of The Cordoba Foundation, a non-profit organization working to promote education about Islam and elderly care for Muslims in the San Francisco Bay Area. He attends South Valley Islamic Center in San Martin, California where he served as president for two terms, leading numerous community service and interfaith events with both Jewish and Christian communities. Sohail has long been an activist for peacebuilding, community outreach and civil rights initiatives, participating regularly in interfaith dialogue and community outreach programs with organizations such as Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), Islamic Networks Group (ING) and United Muslims of America Interfaith Alliance. Sohail has a degree in Electrical Engineering from Purdue University and a 20-year professional career in Sales, Marketing and Corporate Development. Sohail is a co-founder of Abrahamic Alliance International, helping take it from concept in 2007 to launch operations in 2008. Sohail served on the AAi Board of Directors from 2008–2014, and remains a distinguished and honorary Board Member Emeritus today.

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The Holy Exhilaration of AAi Compassion

by Rod Cardoza on Fri, 04/02/2021 - 16:48

As our compassion event planning meeting ends at the synagogue, the rabbi smiles and says to all gathered, “Every time I leave these meetings together, I’m high for about two days—completely energized! I’m not kidding! Meeting with you all gets me high!” Then the rabbi pauses, frowns, and says rather sadly, “But you know, when I leave meetings from my own community, it’s not always that way.”

I am astounded not only by the rabbi’s transparency, but also by his vulnerability to reveal something so deeply personal after collaborating in compassion with the others for only a few months. After a brief moment of silence, the mosque president says emphatically, “Same here.” Then the church pastor quickly admits, “Me too.” Whoa.

Something awesome happens when Jews, Christians, and Muslims unite to serve our neighbors in need. I have searched long and hard for a word to describe it, and I’ve listened to hundreds like the rabbi comment on the exhilaration they experience. Exhilaration is defined as a feeling of excitement, happiness, or elation. Its synonyms include joy, delight, jubilation, even ecstasy—a term used by cultural anthropologists to describe ecstatic religious experiences, and slang for a drug used to “get high.”

Social scientists have identified three components that produce happiness and joy. Ironically, money is not one of them. If you are living in poverty without food and shelter, then yes, enough money to pay for basic needs will lead to an increase in happiness. However, once basic needs are met, an increase in wealth does not correspondingly lead to an increase in happiness. Instead, social scientists state that happiness comes from being:

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