USA: Muslim sect delivers message of peace at Rochester Public Market

Members have been promoting peace since the sect was founded more than 120 years ago, Bashir says, not just since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

(Photo: KRIS J. MURANTE staff photographer)

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | US Desk
Source/Credit: Rochester Democrat & Chronicle
By Alan Morrell | RD&C Staff writer | October 24, 2010

Muslim sect delivers message of peace at Rochester Public Market

Seated at a booth at the Rochester Public Market beside vendors selling produce, clothing and toys, Mubarak Bashir and Mubashir Majoka are on a mission to spread what they call the true tenets of Islam.

Seated at a booth at the Rochester Public Market beside vendors selling produce, clothing and toys, Mubarak Bashir and Mubashir Majoka are on a mission to spread what they call the true tenets of Islam.

Bashir, who was born in Milwaukee, and Majoka, a native of Pakistan, are members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, the only sect of Islam that believes the Messiah has come to Earth. As part of their faith, they spread their motto, "Love for All, Hatred for None," through weekly visits to the market for the past four months.


Curious passers-by stopped by Saturday to look at brochures and books and ask questions. Bashir and Majoka are happy to talk and to dispel what they call myths about Islam.

"Everyone thinks it's a religion of terrorism and violence," said Bashir, 29, of Penfield, who moved to Rochester two years ago and works for the Urban League of Rochester. "Islam, by definition, means peace and submission. It's an oxymoron when you hear 'Islamic terrorist.'"

Members have been promoting peace since the sect was founded more than 120 years ago, Bashir says, not just since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

They condemn terrorists and try to correct impressions that all Muslims are that way.

Majoka said that members of his religion also have been victims. On May 28, militants armed with grenades and high-powered rifles killed dozens of people in a Pakistan mosque. While Majoka, 56, was growing up in Pakistan, the country "declared us a non-religion," he said.

"We try to follow our religion, and we have faced troubles," said Majoka, of Irondequoit, who moved to the U.S. in 1998. "But you have to follow your religion."

Both men worship at the Baitun Naseer Mosque, at 1609 E. Main St. They said the mosque has about 60 members, and their sect has tens of millions of followers in more than 190 countries.

Jeff Hoffman of Rochester was among the people who stopped to chat Saturday. Hoffman, who calls himself an agnostic deist, said the work that Bashir and Majoka are doing is wonderful.

"There are no bogeymen," said Hoffman, 61, of Hayward Avenue. "We should all try to be good to each other."

There have been some setbacks, Bashir said, such as when a group of kids from St. Joseph's Villa commented that they were afraid of Muslims. That experience turned out well, Bashir said, when their counselor made the kids speak with them. They later visited the mosque to learn more, Bashir said.

Occasionally, people have mumbled negative comments when they passed by Bashir's booth. His only concern is that they did not stop to talk.

Pamela A. Babusci of Greece did stop Saturday.

"People have a conception that Muslims are terrorists," said Babusci, 60, who said she is of Italian heritage.

"That would be like saying all Italians are in the Mafia. That's ridiculous. You fear what you don't understand."

Mubarak said he will be at the market every Saturday morning through the winter months.

He said he is not there to promote his religion, but to help people understand it.

"If we want peace," he said, "every (religion) should do something like this."

AMORRELL@DemocratandChronicle.com

Photo: Mubarak Bashir of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, left, chats with Tony Levin, as his daughter Ally, 8, both of Henrietta, waits patiently at Rochester Public Market on Saturday. The stall is part of the sect’s Muslims for Peace campaign to spread what they call the true tenets of Islam. (KRIS J. MURANTE staff photographer)



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