Source/Credit: Mercury News | Milpitas Post
By Shannon Barry | August 24, 2011
The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community is honoring the nearly 3,000 people killed on Sept. 11, 2001 by saving the living as the 10-year anniversary of the terrorist attacks approaches.
The community will launch "Muslims for Life" next month a nationwide campaign to uphold the message that Islam values the sanctity of life by holding more than 150 blood drives at all its mosques and prayer centers, and in collaboration with other organizations including the American Red Cross and Blood Center of the Pacific. A drive will be held in Milpitas Sept. 4 at the community's mosque on Evans Road.
The goal of the campaign is to collect 10,000 units of blood which can help save 30,000 lives during the month.
"We think that on Sept. 11 not only did the terrorists hijack the airplanes but they also hijacked the essential message of Islam, which is to value life," said Waseem Sayed, a spokesman for the community.
He said they have received immense reception from all groups, Hindus, Christians and Jew alike, for their cause.
"In Dallas would you believe there are 13 blood drives and 12 of them are by non-Muslims?" Sayed said late last week, before listing other locations where they have received an outpouring of support.
At that time there were 140 blood drive locations for the campaign, with 160 total being the goal.
"When we tell them what we're doing, they're very responsive," Sayed said. "I think that it speaks to what a wonderful country we live in and what a fantastic set of gratitude we Muslims (have)."
Idrees Munir, a member of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community and founder of Milpitas business Skylite Communications, has been helping coordinate drives locally.
He said he became passionate with the cause not only as an opportunity to better humanity but help share the true message of Islam with the community.
"...Whoever supported 9/11 is not a true Islam," Munir said. "There's no religion in this world where you're allowed to kill anyone, let alone Islam. No religion can afford to even put a finger on someone."
The educational humanitarian effort is being publicized through a variety of means, including posters on buses and at bus stops, billboard signs and advertisements on radio stations.
"Nationwide our community has taken this challenge and it's a huge undertaking..." Munir said.
Following the terrorist attacks 10 years ago, anti-Muslim hate crimes have been especially visible.
According to the May 2005 report "Unequal Protection: The Status of Muslim Civil Rights in the United States" by the Council on American Islamic Relations, an American Muslim civil rights organization, anti-Muslim hate crimes rose by more than 50 percent between 2003 to 2004.
The study cites 1,552 cases of anti-Muslim occurrences including violence, discrimination and harassment. Approximately 225 of these cases involved religious discrimination, such as a city's opposition to a mosque, 196 cases involved discrimination in the workplace and 190 cases cited verbal harassment.
Further cited in the report is that nearly 80 percent of anti-Muslim crime was committed in only 10 states, including 20 percent in California followed by 10 percent in New York, 9 percent in Arizona, 7 percent in Virginia, Texas and Florida, and 5 percent in Ohio, Maryland, New Jersey and Illinois.
Threats have been found at institutions such as Yale where anti-Muslim rants and threatening notes were directed toward student Christine Lo. Administrator Raphael Soifer also became the target of discrimination there. In addition, hateful graffiti was found in a bathroom at San Jose State University and Muslim prayer rugs were discovered soaked in pig's blood at the University of California at Los Angeles Medical Center.
Munir shared his hope that campaigns like "Muslims for Life" will change people's hearts and minds about Islam and "teach our next generation that (murder) is not acceptable for any format or in any religion."
"We think as Muslims living in the United States, it is our responsibility to shape the image of Islam," Sayed said in agreement. "...Instead of continuing to play the victim card and try to talk about why everything is interpreted so badly in the media when a Muslim is involved, especially when someone else did something bad ... what we really need to do is do things that get the message of Islam out."
Those who want to help the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community meet their goal of collecting 10,000 pints can register for the 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. drive Sunday, Sept. 4 at the mosque, 926 Evans Road, at bloodheroes.org. Residents can also visit any Red Cross location in September and donate with sponsor code "CodeRED" or call 1 (800) 733-2767 using sponsor code "CodeRED." For a list of all participating locations, visit muslimsforlife.org or call 1 (800) 949-4752.
Contact Shannon Barry at sbarry@themilpitaspost.com or 408-262-2454. Visit us on our social media sites at facebook.com/milpitas post and twitter.com/milpitaspost.
Read original post here: Muslim-organized blood drives honor the dead, save the living
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