Compassion to All

Abdul Jaliel Taher is a caring individual who spreads kind thoughts through soccer and his words.

Abdul Jaliel Taher, AJ to his friends, has lived in Buffalo all his life. With a loving wife, a beautiful daughter, and a steady job as a mortgage loan officer, AJ couldn’t be happier. 

Although simple on the surface, within this ordinary story is a harrowing adventure of star-crossed lovers, hectic households, and soccer.

It all began when AJ’s grandfather met his grandmother. While deployed by the French Foreign Legion in Vietnam, AJ’s Yemeni grandfather met his grandmother of mixed Indian-Vietnamese descent at the market where she had been working. It was love at first sight, and the happy couple was soon a happy family. However, war came to Vietnam. First, they tried to weather the storm, disguising AJ’s father as a Buddhist in the hopes that it would protect him from harm. As the fighting grew more intense, the Tahers soon realized that they needed to leave for the United States.

Like most immigrant stories, it was a difficult move, but the family eventually settled in West Seneca. Living there, AJ’s father gained a reputation for his charm and good looks. Young and carefree, he agreed to an arranged marriage with AJ’s mother, a fellow Muslim from a remote village in Yemen. Once married, the pair stayed in the Taher house in West Seneca, and opened a series of corner stores across town.

Then along comes AJ. Growing up in Lackawanna’s First Ward, AJ shared his father’s carefree spirit. He spent his childhood playing with friends, working at the family cornerstores, and sharing a roof with multiple generations of the Taher clan. AJ’s home was crowded, yet comfortable. With five siblings and seven cousins, he always had someone to spend time with, and it wasn’t uncommon to have friends and guests at “Hotel Taher”. 

Still, being one of the first Muslim families in the First Ward came with its challenges. The First Ward was the ward of the immigrants, and in those days, Lackawanna was deeply segregated. Outside the safety of Hotel Taher, AJ regularly had racist slurs hurled at him, especially during sports games. 

Despite the pain felt in the moment, these experiences taught AJ to see the spark of good in every person he encounters. Reaching out with compassion, AJ now approaches these situations with the hope of honest dialogue and the potential for a new friendship. Most importantly, AJ learned the most important lesson of all: it matters far more what people do than what they are. AJ carries this lesson with him wherever he goes: helping old women with their luggage while traveling, helping his students when he worked as a business teacher at Lackawanna High School, and helping his clients as a mortgage loan officer .

When asked about his outlook on difference, AJ says, “ I always tell people, ‘I don't care if you're buying a $10 million house, or a $10 house, I treat everybody the same.’”

This commitment to empathy arises in AJ’s love of soccer. As a child, soccer bridged the gap between Lackawanna’s different communities and brought a diverse array of kids together in one great game. As an adult, AJ volunteers as a coach for Lackawanna’s JV soccer team to share this opportunity with the next generation. 

AJ takes this position seriously. For him, soccer is more than a sport; it’s a way of giving back to the place that raised him. As such, AJ always looks out for the kids under his care, especially when they face the same discrimination he experienced. On one memorable occasion, AJ pulled his team from a soccer game once he discovered that Islamophobic remarks were being made towards his players. Despite the criticism he later received from the rival coaches, AJ refused to tolerate anything that put his team in harm's way.

Discussing his commitment to coaching soccer, AJ remarked, “Those kids, I used to teach them. I was them. If I don't come, I can't think of anybody else who's gonna come.”