USA: To stand against those who would divide

The featured speaker of the evening was Qasim Rashid, national spokesman for the Ahmadiyya Muslim community. Ahmadiyya Muslims, who worship locally in Rotterdam, are a sect of Islam who believe Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, a 19th century Indian religious leader, was the messiah.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch |
Source/Credit: The Jewish World | News
By Dan Vollweiler | January 20, 2011

Photo: JIHAD OF THE PEN: Qasim Rashid, national spokesman for the Ahmadiyya Muslim community, discussed Islamic history and beliefs to a gathering at Temple Sinai in Saratoga Springs on Jan. 9.

SARATOGA SPRINGS–One hundred people of diverse faiths gathered at Temple Sinai on a recent Sunday night to learn about and discuss Islam, a religion under severe scrutiny in the western world. The event, organized by several area peace and religious groups, was meant, according to Rabbi Linda Motzkin of Temple Sinai in her introductory remarks, to “stand against those who would divide.” It was also meant, according to Rabbi Jonathan Rubenstein, also of Temple Sinai, “to bring awareness of Islam to Saratoga, where there is little exposure to the Muslim faith.”



Jihad Of The Pen
The featured speaker of the evening was Qasim Rashid, national spokesman for the Ahmadiyya Muslim community. Ahmadiyya Muslims, who worship locally in Rotterdam, are a sect of Islam who believe Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, a 19th century Indian religious leader, was the messiah. They also believe in “jihad of the pen” as opposed to “jihad of the sword” and last year they began an international campaign for peace.

While providing the audience with an introduction to Islam, both its history and beliefs, Rashid challenged the notion that Islam is an inherently violent religion. “There is nothing Islamic about what the terrorists are doing,” Rashid said. “The first verse of the Quran states that the purpose of Islam is to learn and educate, not to dominate the world. Historically Muslims were not violent except when violence was their last resort for self-defense.”

“When Muslims gained power,” Rashid said, “instead of discriminating against other faiths, as was done to them, they vowed to protect other religions, making pacts with Christians and Jews. Muslims were commanded to serve humanity. If you love an artist,” Rashid said, referring to God, “you must also love his work.”

Discussing the commonalities between the major religions, Rashid pointed out that “Islam is not too different from past religions, Islam recognizes major figures from all religions because Muslims believe that God provided every group of people with guidance in the form of prophets.” He said Jews and Muslims are like cousins, and joked that maybe this is why we fight so much.

Participants React
A few participants continued to have doubts about Islam after Rashid’s presentation. “Why is there such a strong association of mayhem and violence within and without Islam?” asked Uwe Tigoer, Temple Sinai congregant. Rashid answered that Islam’s holiest prophet, Mohammed, warned about the actions of religious clerics. Referring to verses in the Quran perceived as violent, Rashid said, “Only those with an evil heart will find the evil interpretation.”

Other participants were glad for the opportunity to discuss Islam with people of diverse faiths. “I wish the rest of the world was this open,” Harold Smith, a retired Methodist clergyman from Saratoga Springs, said, also noting that fanatics can be found in every religion. Aziz Rehmen of Amsterdam said that this event was a nice opportunity to create understanding. “There are a lot of misunderstandings about Islam. Things taken out of context.”

A Jewish Perspective
Rabbi Rubenstein said that “Jews can understand the predicament of Muslims when they consider the recent actions taken by the Israeli government to restrict property ownership to Jews. Many Jews outside of Israel and in Israel do not support this policy. The same with Muslims and the extremists within their religion.”


Continuing the Dialogue
The Ahmadiyya Muslim community and The Hindu Temple Society of the Capital District will hold an interfaith symposium at 3 p.m. this Sunday, Jan. 30 to demonstrate and discuss how people of differing faiths can live together in the spirit of acceptance, harmony, and compassion. The symposium will be held at the Hindu Community Center, 450 Albany Shaker Rd. in Albany.

The conference will feature local representatives of major world religions discussing how their teachings can lead to peace and how to build bridges and share commonalities. The program seeks to highlight the unifying factors between the different religions of the world and to promote dialogue between the local faith communities.

Monshin Namoon of Jiunzan Tendai-ji Abbott will represent the Buddhist faith, Barbara DiTommaso will represent Christianity, Rabbi Yaakov Kellman of Jewish Educational Resources of New York (JERNY) based in Albany, will represent Judaism. The Sikh perspective will be presented by Jagmohan Singh Chahal and Naseem Mehdi, of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, will present the Islamic point of view.

A question and answer session will be followed by a vegetarian supper.

Because of limited space, preregistration is required. Tarik Malik, 542-5801, can provide details.


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