Rashid and Pir Tayyab set up shop in the Cerf Center lobby for four hours on Monday with standing banners printed with citations from the Quran
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| Photo via Twitter: Ahmad | @TheAhmadE |
Source/Credit: Journal Star
By Scott Hilyard / Scott Hinton | April 4, 2016
EUREKA — The two political buttons pinned on Adria Slater’s lime green backpack read: “Free Speech Zone, No Exceptions,” and “Think, It’s Not Illegal Yet.”
Both sort of explain why the college sophomore from Champaign was in the lobby of the Cerf Student Center at Eureka College between classes on Monday asking a pair of Muslim men about Islam’s view on abortion rights. She possesses an inquiring mind.
“I’m very pro-life,” said Slater, who is the president of the Students For Life group on campus. “And I’ve heard that Muslims support abortions in the first trimester of a woman’s pregnancy. Is that right?”
“Muslims believe life is created in the womb,” said Ahmad Rashid, a member of Bloomington’s Ahmadiyya Muslim community, who was on campus to answer questions about his faith from the curious and the confused. “If the mother’s life is not in danger we believe there is no reason for an abortion.”
Rashid and Pir Tayyab set up shop in the Cerf Center lobby for four hours on Monday with standing banners printed with citations from the Quran that explain why Islam is not the religion hijacked by extremists of the faith. Extremists practice something that is decidedly un-Islamic, they said.
“Peace and peace and peace,” said Tayyab. “Islam is about peace.”
The Ahmadiyya Muslim community describes itself as a “dynamic, reformist and fast-growing movement within Islam,” according to prepared material. It is predicated on the belief that the long-awaited Messiah has come to Earth in the person of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, of Qadian, India who lived from 1835 to 1908. Ahmad claimed to be the metaphorical second coming of Jesus and the divine guide whose advent was foretold by the Prophet of Islam, Muhammad.
Although their religion is Quran-based, Ahmadiyya Muslims are disallowed by law to worship in Pakistan, where the religion is based.
“We are considered non-Muslims in Pakistan,” Tayyab said.
Rashid described the five pillars of Islamic faith to a steady stream of students, faculty and staff from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. He will return to the Cerf Center for those same hours on Wednesday.
“Bearing witness that there is none worthy of worship but God, and that Muhammad is His Servant and His Messenger. Observance of prayer five times a day. Fasting from dawn to dusk during one month every year,” Rashid said, naming the first three pillars. “Paying a fixed portion of charity on accumulated wealth for the benefit of the poor and needy. And pilgrimage to the Ka’ba in Mecca, Arabia, at least once in a lifetime if conditions permit.”
Rashid also passed along information on his group’s True Islam movement clarifying 11 misconceptions about Islam. Those interested are encouraged to endorse any or all of the 11 misconceptions — that begin with the rejection of all forms of terrorism and include loyalty to an individual’s country of residence and a universal declaration of human rights — at TrueIslam.com or by using #TrueIslam on Twitter.
The Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Association is hosting 60 such events across the country this year, bringing the message to the communities selected that might not have a lot of interaction with people of Islamic faith.
Junior Christopher Sharkey, of rural Lexington, showed up to ask some questions about the Quran.
“I have a Catholic background and know how to read the Bible,” said Sharkey. “But I have some questions about some of the wordings in the Quran. I’d like to be able to read and understand the Quran on my own.”
Sharkey listened intently to Rashid’s message of peace and tolerance. Then he hustled off, late for his 1 p.m. class.
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-- Scott Hilyard is communities reporter. Follow @scotthilyard. Scott Hilyard can be reached at 686-3244 and shilyard@pjstar.com.
-- Scott Hinton is Journal Star Web Producer
Read original post here: USA: Muslim group delivers #TrueIslam message of peace during Eureka College educational display
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