Most of the talk was dedicated to explaining the fundamental beliefs of Islam, emphasizing how each of these fundamentals work towards creating and maintaining peace.
Source/Credit: Ahmadiyya Times / Chino Mosque
By Jonathan MA Ghaffar | January 28, 2013
Imam Shamshad A. Nasir from the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community’s Baitul Hameed Mosque in Chino was the special guest speaker at the Pomona Rotary Club’s monthly luncheon meeting January 22. The Imam was joined by Imram Jattala, founder and editor of Ahmadiyya Times.
The Pomona Rotary Club meeting was held at the Sheraton Fairplex Conference Center and started at 12:30 pm with lunch, followed by the Club's regular orders of business by its members. The remainder of the program consisted solely of Imam Shamshad's presentation on the fundamentals of Islam and how they create and sustain peace in one’s personal life and in society.
About 65 Rotarians were in attendance at the luncheon. Pomona Rotary Club president Carol Wilt introduced Imam Shamshad, extolling his passion for creating mutual understanding through interfaith dialogue, public outreach and education to correct misunderstandings and misinformation about Islam.
Imam Shamshad presented examples from the life of the Prophet Muhammad to refute common misunderstandings about the religion, even among Muslims. The Imam explained that many of the criticisms against Islam are actually cultural habits or religious beliefs introduced into Islam over its 1500-year history from non-Islamic societies or religions that came into contact with Islam and Muslim rulers. This is exactly the reason God sent reformers in the past to purify Muslims and strive to remove the corruptions in their beliefs.
Imam Shamshad presented the numerous Ahmadiyya Muslim Community’s public relations and information campaigns in the US and around the world, including “Muslims for Peace” (2010), “Muslims for Loyalty” (2011), “Muslims for Life” (2011-12), and the latest nationwide campaign, “Peace through the Messiah” (2012-13).
The Imam also took time to answer questions from the audience about extremism in the name of Islam, women's rights in Islam and Islam's stress on loyalty to the country.
It is noteworthy that the invitation to speak at the Pomona Rotary Club came about as a result of one of Imam Shamshad's frequent newspaper articles, published in local papers, which was read by the previous president of the Pomona Rotary Club. This resulted in the Imam being invited to speak at one of the Club’s upcoming monthly meetings.
At the conclusion of the meeting, “Peace through the Messiah” flyers were distributed to all the attendees, along with free copies of “The Muslim Sunrise” magazine, which contained many different articles on the life and character of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). The pleasant interaction generated enormous goodwill for the faith of Islam and the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community.
The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community is a dynamic, reformist and fast-growing international movement within Islam. Founded in 1889 in Qadian, India by Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1835-1908), the Promised Messiah and Imam Mahdi, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community is now established in over 200 countries with membership numbering in the tens of millions. Their motto is: “Love for All – Hatred for None.”
-- Imam Shamshad addresses Pomona Rotary Club on fundamentals of Islam
-- Ahmadiyya Times
-- By Jonathan MA Ghaffar
-- Edited by Ahmadiyya Time
This content-post is archived for backup and to keep archived records of any news Islam Ahmadiyya. The views expressed by the author and source of this news archive do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of Ahmadiyya Times.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you for your comments. Any comments irrelevant to the post's subject matter, containing abuses, and/or vulgar language will not be approved.