3. Islam has never endorsed killing people because we disagree with them or their lifestyles.
a. Islam teaches us that to take a single life is to have killed the world, and to save a single life is to have saved the entirety of the world.
b. Across the country, Muslim community leaders and congregation leaders (“Imams”) have issued statements and edicts forbidding violence and condemning extremism.
c. Muslim Americans uphold the constitution, and moreover just last week we laid to rest the people’s champion, Muhammad Ali, a Muslim American leader who exemplified tolerance and a commitment to non-violence as an Islamic religious tenet.
d. The Quran teaches us to agree to disagree with those we do not agree with, and to greet even those who wish us harm with peace, as the prophet Muhammad (pbuh) did throughout his life.
4. Within hours of the shooting, every major Muslim organization in America from every sect of Islam not only condemned the mass shooting, but reached out with prayers to the LGBTQ community.
a. Sunni, Shiite and Ahmediyya organizations all immediately condemned the mass shooting in Orlando.
b. CAIR, MPAC, ICNA. ISNA and many others have issued statements condemning the shooting attacks, and offering support to the victims and their families.
c. Montgomery County’s Muslim community issued a joint statement with LGBTQ community leaders condemning Saturday night’s violence and calling for solidarity.
d. A Solidarity Iftar will be preceded by speakers from the Muslim and LBGTQ communities on June 13, 2016 in Montgomery, Maryland. Please contact Hamza@HamzaKhan.me for details.
5. America is about living together and agreeing to disagree.
a. When America’s constitution was written, detail was paid in the Bill of Rights to protecting the rights of minorities—be they social, religious, or otherwise. In other words, our country was founded with the understanding that all Americans are free to practice their way of life without molestation. The Muslim and LGBTQ communities have both striven to protect one another’s constitutional rights for many years.
b. Islam as a faith has a strong religious tradition of live and let live, as well as protecting the rights of others—especially those we might disagree with on any number of matters. The true state of being a good Muslim is to be a compassionate citizen of one’s society.
6. Muslim Americans have in place rigorous anti-terror and anti-radicalization programs
a. To re-emphasize: Saturday night’s attacks were not about terror, but about a deranged person committing a horrific act of gun violence. That being said, Muslim Americans are on the forefront of combatting extremism and terrorism, especially here in Montgomery County, MD.
b. MPAC launched the SafeSpaces project some years ago that focuses on empowering communities in order to secure the sanctity of the mosque and Muslim communities in promoting Islamic values of civic engagement, public safety and healthy identity formation. To learn more, visit: http://www.mpac.org/safespaces/