Muslims give blood in solidarity on 9/11 anniversary

“We want to honor 9/11 victims and to counter a lot of drummed-up negative information on Islam. Nothing in Islam endorses homicide or suicide. It’s a peaceful religion.”

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch |
Source/Credit: News Sun Times
By Judy Masterson | September 9, 2011

ZION — The blood of every human being is sacred, according to the Prophet Muhammad, and Muslims are spreading that message with a nationwide blood drive timed to honor the victims of 9/11 on the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks.

The Ahmadiyya Muslim community hopes to collect 10,000 units of blood in September, a goal that could save as many as 30,000 lives. The sect’s approximately 400-member community in Zion partnered with Heartland Blood Centers to hold a drive Friday at the Zion Fire Department, 1303 27th St.

“Blood knows no gender, no race, no creed,” said Ahmadiyya member Ayesha Usman of Zion, who arrived to donate.


Zion Firefighter Paramedic Justin Stried, 33, of Winthrop Harbor, returned to the station on his day off to become the first donor aboard the Heartland mobile coach.

“It’s just a small thing I can do for the community,” said Stried who, as a paramedic, is usually the needle sticker, rather than the stickee.

Inside the fire station garage, Omar Latif and Junayd Latif, who are not related, sat at a table taking registrations.

“We want to honor 9/11 victims and to counter a lot of drummed-up negative information on Islam,” Omar Latif said. “Nothing in Islam endorses homicide or suicide. It’s a peaceful religion.”

Junayd Latif, lead organizer of the drive, said the estimated 12,000 members of the Ahmadiyya Movement in 60 chapters in the U.S. want to show solidarity with all Americans.

“Ten years after the worst attack on American civilians — Americans from all backgrounds, all religions, are able to come together to support life, compassion and service over death, violence and hatred,” he said. “The terrorist attack was intended to create divisions between Muslims and what they (terrorists) saw as a Christian world.”

Donor Jamil Johnson, 39, of Waukegan recalled how he became “the guy who told everybody” at his new job as an accountant for a firm in Libertyville on the morning of 9/11. The tragedy, he said, has brought out the best, and the worst, of America.

“It brought awareness of diversity in terms of religious faiths, but also that there’s a lot of work to be done,” Johnson said. “It’s brought a new sensitivity for me, as a Muslim American, on how we present ourselves and how Islam is presented in the media.

“People need to understand, Islam means peace.”

  -- jmasterson@stmedianetwork.com

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