Ahmadiyya Times | News Staff | US Desk
Source & Credit: The Oakland Press | May 15, 2010
By DAVE PHILLIPS | The Oakland Press
Urging loyalty for the United States of America, Naseem Mahdi spoke in front of a group of Muslims from all around the Great Lakes region Saturday at Masjid Mahmood in Rochester Hills.
Mahdi, the national vice president for the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, began his speech by speaking about the terror attacks of 9/11, when somebody called him and told him what was happening.
“I immediately thought as a human being and as a citizen of this world, I must react,” said Mahdi, who was working with an Ahmadiyya Muslim group in Canada at the time.
“I immediately picked up the phone and called city officials and the prime minister’s office.”
Those phone calls led to aid being sent to New York, in contrast to the reactions of some around the world.
“I remember some unfortunate Muslims in certain parts of the world who were celebrating that day of atrocity. As you know, another atrocity almost (took place recently) and we don’t know how many people would have been killed if that had been accomplished in New York and Times Square.”
Mahdi said that incident prompted he and his colleagues to call a press conference and “denounce this act of violence.”
“Islam ... does not condone this type of thing,” he said. “This is something which you must know that you can never, ever do. You as a Muslim cannot be allowed to even think of harming any human being. (According to the Quran) if someone has killed one person, they should be considered as if he has killed all humanity. Always have this strong belief that Islam does not give us the liberty to even think about harming our enemies.”
Mahdi said Muslim-Americans should be grateful for all of the opportunities this country affords them. Sipping from a cup of water, he noted that the majority of the population of the world does not have access to clean water. He also spoke of health care, education and many other things available here that are not available elsewhere.
“If we are not thankful to our county government and the state and the federal government — those who are working day and night to make the quality of life better and better, how can we show our affection to Allah?” Mahdi said. “If you are not grateful to people, you cannot be grateful to Allah.”
Mahdi added that loyalty to the homeland, which is preached in the Quran, means loyalty to the country you live in.
“This has to be understood by all of us. Get out and preach this. Let us join hands. Let us come together not only for the preaching of the peaceful fate of this land but also preach loyalty to the homeland.”
Following the speech, Mahdi answered questions for The Oakland Press.
“My feeling is that the vast majority of modern Muslims remain silent, ultimately, this small minority will take over,” he said. “They have already taken over. In some countries of the world, Afghanistan and Pakistan, these clerics control everything. Do we want these clerics who control all these Muslim agendas in United States? No. Do we want to let them promote hatred against different sections of society? No.”
“This is, I think life or death issue for Muslims. A lot of us don’t understand how rapidly they are coming closer to their political economic and civil undoing. Their rights will be gone.”
Mahdi said it’s important to teach young Muslim-Americans to be loyal to the country they live in.
“This is high time that all the forces of Islam — forces is a strong word, but all the power has to be used to teach the next generation — we are here and we are law abiding and grateful and loyalists who love this country, and this is not a political statement — this is our responsibility.”
When asked what he would say to Faisal Shahzad, the alleged Times Square attempted bomber, Mahdi had some strong words.
“Come to your senses. This is not Islam. You’re doing perhaps — not perhaps, for sure — a disservice to Islam. You are just following those people who have a totally wrong picture of Islam. They are doing it for their political agenda. They are doing it for their control of the message. They want the control, and people like (Shahzad), he’s a very intelligent person, they are being influenced and brainwashed. My message to all those youth who are like him is come to your senses, this is not Islam.”
The Ahmadiyya sect of the Muslim faith is one of peace, Mahdi said.
“The Ahmadiyya Muslim community very much believe that time has come in the United States of America that we should get out and ask people to come under one banner, and we should be united and we should tell our fellow Americans that you can trust us. We are fellow citizens and we are law abiding citizens and we are peace loving citizens and we have nothing to do with any kind of wars or terrorism. This is the message.”
Mahdi also stressed support of the government’s efforts to defeat terrorism.
“Our feeling is you can defeat an ideology with a better ideology. If you try to defeat the ideology of terror with the ideology which we present, that Islam is a peaceful religion. Islam does not condone any terror. Islam does not condone any violence. Islam promotes peace and harmony between different sections of society, Islam is understanding, Islam highlights the fruit of all other religions (and) Islam teaches us to be loyal to your country and to your homeland — if we preach this and convert those (terrorists), every conversion will be one enemy less, one terrorist less. Every day we are converting those who follow those clerics and those who are jihadists those who are very much interested in having a holy war against the west and western civilization. (If we convert them, they become) law abiding, peaceful and obedient and loyal citizens of the country they are in. We think, and I personally think, it’s a better approach.”
Contact staff writer Dave Phillips at 248-745-4631 or dave.phillips@oakpress.com.
Follow him on Twitter @dave_phillips1.
Read original article here: Rochester Hills speech urges U.S. loyalty for Muslim-Americans
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