Source/Credit: Murfreesboro Post
By Michelle Willard | May 29, 2011
Editor’s Note: This is the second part of a series examining the controversy over the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro. Next week The Post will look at those in oppostion to the construction.
Growing up in Clarksville, Tenn., Amber Alali never thought she’d end up converting to Islam.
“I was one of those people who thought the women were oppressed,” she said.
But then she met her husband, Majed.
After meeting, dating and eventually marrying a Muslim man, Alali decided to research the religion to get a better idea of her husband’s beliefs and background.
“I had no intentions of converting. … He accepted that I was a Christian,” she said. “I wanted him to believe in God.”
So she read up on Islam and compared it to the Christian teachings she learned as a child.
“They’re not different,” she said.
Before long she found herself believing more and more in Islam, but felt like she was turning her back on her religion and Jesus himself.
“I prayed hard one night before bed and that night I had a dream,” she explained.
In the dream, God came to her and greeted her as Muslims greet each other, by saying in Arabic “peace be with you” and then “God is great.”
“I woke up and knew it was what God wanted for me,” she said.
A month and a half later she converted to Islam and attends the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro with her husband and 10-month-old son.
She even wears a hijab, the traditional headscarf worn by Muslim women, that she once thought was a sign of oppression.
“I love it, I wear it,” Alali said. “It’s a beautiful religion.”
It’s a religion that’s seen its fair share of bad press in the past 10 years, thanks to the 9/11 attacks and the War on Terror.
On Sept. 11, 2001, members of Al-Qaeda, an extremist, militant Muslim group, changed the face of Islam as Americans know it.
“They are hijacking my religion,” Alali said, adding most of what Americans know comes from the national and international media.
Transplant surgeon and President of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community of Middle Tennessee Dr. Luft Rehman said something similar.
“I think the political struggle that Muslims are going through in different parts of the world give a negative perception …” he said. “It’s logical to see that people would get a negative perception.”
It’s a negative perception he and other members of the Islamic community in Rutherford County would like to change. His mosque in Smyrna, as well as the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro, is open to the public.
“I’ve watched the controversy over the mosque (Islamic Center of Murfreesboro). … My impression here is people in Middle Tennessee don’t know much about Muslims,” he said. He added the lack of communication is a failure of the Islamic community.
“If we communicated better, most would find Christianity and Islam are close religions,” Rehman said.
“People think we believe in a different god but we don’t,” Alali said. “We are not terrorists.”
In fact Alali doesn’t even look at members of Al-Qaeda as true followers of her religion.
“The Quran says ‘If you kill an innocent person, you kill mankind’,” she said.
Alali said she understands the position and opinions of those who stood up against the Islamic Center.
“They are concerned about security. …” she said. “You have people in every religion … (that) don’t follow the religion like they should,” she said. “But that doesn’t mean we’re all terrorists.”
She said members of the Islamic Center just want enough space to worship and hold activities.
With more than 300 families, the center’s space in a strip mall on Middle Tennessee Boulevard has gotten too small.
“At one holiday, we couldn’t fit. We had to stand outside,” she said.
That is why the ICM is constructing a 6,800 square-foot, multi-purpose building that will be used for prayers and holding social events, along with outdoor sports and recreation areas. It’s the first phase of a proposed 52,000-square-foot complex, which will include a weekend school, a gym, a swimming pool and a prayer hall.
Alali said she hopes the controversy dies down and the construction can be completed for her son.
She wants the best for him and any future siblings he may have.
As for Rehman, he has been living and raised his children here for the past 15 years.
“We’re just trying to be good people, raise our families, do good in the community and be productive citizens,” Rehman said.
Read original post here: Local muslims feel community misrepresented
i live in murfressboro and i support every muslim and every religions rights. while im Buddhist and Islam is not the relgion for me i think if it works for you more power to you and all the rednecks in tn are just making it worse.
ReplyDeletemay allah bless you