The congregation forgave Ted Hakey, who fired four shots at the mosque from his home in response to the Paris terrorist attack earlier that day, and he has since become an advocate for the Ahmadi True Islam campaign.
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| Photo: Record-Journal |
Source/Credit: Record-Journal
By Mike Savino | March 30, 2017
During an event at the Capitol Thursday, Meriden Police Chief Jeffry Cossette invited the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community of Connecticut to speak with officers and become part of the department’s ongoing training program.
Cossette, a guest speaker at an event the Muslim community hosted at the Capitol, said he felt his officers would benefit by learning more about Islam and mosque members.
“I think communication can solve 90 percent of the problems we face,” Cossette said, adding he has learned a lot about Islam since gunshots were fired into the community’s South Meriden mosque in November 2015. No one was inside at the time. Cossette said the incident brought the department and congregation closer.
Thursday’s event, planned in advance, comes roughly a week after a man drove his car into pedestrians outside Westminster Palace in London, killing three people and injuring more than 50 others. He was later killed by police.
Police have said the man expressed an interest in jihad and ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack.
Some British conservatives have said the attack is the result of multiculturalism, saying a push for diversity in London has divided communities.
Meriden Mayor Kevin Scarpati, also at Thursday’s event in Hartford, said he believes “that isn’t necessarily true,” and points to the interaction between the Baitul Aman mosque, the Ahmadiyya community’s home in Connecticut, and Meriden after the November 2015 shooting.
The congregation forgave Ted Hakey, who fired four shots at the mosque from his home in response to the Paris terrorist attack earlier that day, and he has since become an advocate for the Ahmadi True Islam campaign.
Scarpati said other Meriden residents have also become more involved, attending events the mosque has been hosting for years.
“While the shooting can be looked at as a devastating thing for the mosque and for our Ahmadiyya community, it really, I think, turned out to be one of the more positive things that have come out of such a violent act,” Scarpati said.
Earlier this month, the City Council recognized the Baitul Aman mosque with the Spirit of Meriden Award.
Imam Hamid Malik, regional missionary in charge of the New England and upstate New York Ahmadiyya communities, condemned the London attacks, saying they go against Islam’s core principles of peace and justice.
He said the True Islam campaign is intended to serve both as an outreach with the general public and to educate other Muslims to focus on peace and love. Malik also said the Quran teaches that race and ethnicity “do not validate any form of superiority of any kind.”
Malik said the hatred and division that results from terrorism can drive people to extreme ideologies and, in some cases, to embrace violence.
Mohammad Qureshi, president of Connecticut’s Ahmadiyya community, agreed that peace and justice are the best ways to combat terrorism, adding “terrorists have hijacked the religion.”
“We believe when we apply our religious principles properly, it’s going to unite our nation and not divide it,” he said. “When you create more divisions, it creates hate and it creates destruction.”
msavino@record-journal.com 203-317-2266 Twitter: @reporter_savino
Read original post here: USA: Meriden police chief looks to partner with local Muslim community
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