State and national government officials also spoke about violence, which some said was growing, toward the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in places, such as Pakistan and Iraq.
Source/Credit: The Patriot-News
By Julianne Mattera | August 16, 2014
'He was killed because of his faith,' sister of slain doctor says at Muslim sect's peace conference in Harrisburg
Samina Arain lost her brother in May when he was shot to death during a humanitarian visit to Pakistan.
But on Saturday, surrounded by fellow members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, Arain focused more on the meaning her brother's death left behind, rather than the pain it's caused.
"He was killed because of his faith. So he's a martyr," said Arain, concerning Dr. Mehdi Ali Qamar, a member of the Ahmadiyya Muslim sect, whose death made international news. "So martyrs we say, they never die... In the eye of Allah, they are alive."
Those who spoke at Qamar's funeral saw his death as another sectarian murder dealt to the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, according to an Associated Press report. Islamic extremists in Pakistan have been known to target people of that religious sect.
Arain of McLean, Va. said her brother was a top cardiologist in Ohio who was both "very kind and very humble" and his death was a "great loss for the community."
"God chose him because he was the best example ... and he represented our [Ahmadiyya Muslim] Community to the world," Arain said.
Arain was one of more than 6,000 people expected to attend the 66th annual Jalsa Salana Peace Conference at the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex on Cameron Street in Harrisburg. Most are Ahmadi Muslims, but Harris Zafar, national spokesman for the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community USA said several hundred people of other faiths also were expected to attend this weekend.
"We're here to share our faith with others," Zafar said, concerning the free event that started Friday and goes through Sunday.
A handful of Ahmadi Muslims attending said the event was a time for them to connect with their community, focus on their faith, and, as Nadim Malik of New York City put it, get their "spiritual battery recharged." Though some referenced the religious persecution and violence Ahmadi Muslims face in other parts of the world as something weighing on their minds at the conference.
Ahmad Bhatti, 26, of Lower Paxton Township said the speeches and events at the convention are inspiring and fun. It's also a place where he meets up with friends from around the country and rejuvenates his faith.
"It defines who I really am as an Ahmadi Muslim," Bhatti said, regarding the conference. "It really makes me realize how lucky I am that I live in America and that we have freedom because worldwide there's a few countries in the world that don't have this freedom of having ... this convention and who are persecuted if they had it."
State and national government officials also spoke about violence, which some said was growing, toward the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in places, such as Pakistan and Iraq.
"The war against the Ahmadiyya is part of the global war on freedom and dignity," said Dr. Robert P. George, vice chairman of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom.
For Arain, that violence has hit home and, on Saturday, she reflected on her brother's absence from the conference. The siblings, who lived states away, used to meet up at the conference every year.
Qamar also was a poet, she said, and he normally would have been in the poetry session scheduled for Saturday night. "This year I was thinking, you know, he's not here," Arain said.
Instead, Arain has received condolences from many people she has seen at the convention.
Arain said Ahmadi Muslims believe that Islam is "about treating people well," with a love of God and a love of mankind. She said they're not like extremists in Pakistan that are "preaching Islam" and "killing people."
"After this incident, a lot of doctors they want to volunteer and go there again," Ahmadi, said, regarding Ahmadi Muslim doctors in America that still want to serve in Pakistan. "They are going there. They are not stopping that mission, you know, because that's what we believe."
Nusrat Qadir, national spokeswoman for the for the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community USA, said Arain believes her brother's death has a purpose to create change and "cause a tension to the extremists that not only affect Ahmadi Muslims as I mentioned before, but also the Shia Muslims and other minority groups, which includes Christians, Jews and Hindus, within Pakistan."
"There is no peace or tolerance," Qadir said.
And by coming to the convention, Qadir said Arain showed great strength.
In addition to the countless condolences, she has seen families reunite with loved ones when she cannot do the same with her deceased brother.
And still, she does not envy that, Qadir said.
"She's showing the rest of us how to be," Qadir said. "She's been the prime example to me on what it takes when something tragic happens to put your faith in action."
-- jmattera@pennlive.com
-- Follow on Twitter: @jumattera
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