A message from the Perez family

Assalamu alaikum

‘May peace be upon you’

On behalf of the Perez family, we are forever grateful to you all for your comforting words of condolences upon the passing of our father, Imam Benjamin Perez. Your fond memories, thoughtfulness and generous financial support for his burial expenses are greatly and humbly appreciated.

May Allah reward you for your good deeds.

"From the (earth) did We Create you, and into it Shall We return you, And from it shall We Bring you out once again." (The Quran, 20:55)".

- The Perez Family

انّا للہ و انّا الیہ راجعون

(Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un)

Surely we belong to Allah and to Him we shall return...

Imam Benjamin Perez returned to his Creator the evening of December 8, 2009 at 8:22 PM. He was in his home, surrounded with family and a brother in faith. He passed peacefully in his sleep.

May Allah bless him, reward him immensely for all his good, forgive him his mistakes, make his return easy for him, and place him in the highest abode in the afterlife.

* The janazah (funeral services) will be held at 10:00am on Friday, December 11th, at Five Pillars Cemetery in Livermore, CA. (Directions here) *

Please pray for his family, make sincere du'a for him, recite Qur'an for him, and commit righteous acts and charity on his behalf.

(It is related that the gifts of alms, prayers, and Qur'anic recitation sent by the living to the dead reach them carried by the angels on plates of light, and adorned with silk handkerchiefs, and they say to them: 'This is a gift from so-and-so', and in this way they find joy and delight. ref.)

Imam Benjamin led a vibrant and beautiful life and touched many people along the way.  He will be very deeply missed.

 

This webpage is dedicated to honoring and supporting our dear imam, brother, and friend Hajj Ibrahim Benjamin Perez. Imam Benjamin is one of our great pioneers here in the San Francisco Bay Area, known throughout this country for the great contributions, and sacrifices that he has made to our ummah over the years. He was one of the first, if not the first, hispanic convert to Islam here in the S.F. Bay Area back in the 1950's.

Imam Benjamin has recently been diagnosed with terminal cancer in the brain and stomach and has been told he has only a few weeks left before he returns to his Creator.His doctors say that there is very little that can be done for him because the cancer is too extensively spread in these areas. Inna lillahi wa inna ilaihi raji'oon (From Allah we all come, and to Him do we return).

Imam Benjamin was caught suddenly with this cancer diagnosis, and needs our help. Though we all know that we are to prepare for the day when we will eventually all meet our Lord, unfortunately, Imam Perez, and his family were not prepared for the inevitable. This could happen to any one of us, at any given time, brothers and sisters, and no one is exempt. His family does not have any burial insurance for him.

A bank account has been established in his name by a select group of believers in the Oakland, California area to offset his family's expenses. We are appealing to every believer to donate whatever you are able to give to help us in our effort to see that our brother receives a decent, and proper Islamic burial. Every dollar, five dollars, ten dollars, twenty, fifty, a hundred, a thousand...whatever you are able to give, if it's just a penny, every little bit helps, and Allah (S.W.T.) will bless you multiple times for your generosity and sacrifice.

Let us help our brother and his family in their time of need, as we should want for our brother as we want for ourselves. It is imperative that we come to the aid of another believer in his/her time of need. Jazakallah Khair (May Allah - [S.W.T.]) reward us all with the highest reward for our regardfulness to our Lord, and to our duty. Ameen.