The Holy Qur'an teaches religious freedom and having respect for the prophets from other religions, because they have all received their knowledge from God.
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Source/Credit: Chatham Daily News
By Ellwood Shreve | December 28, 2014
A worldwide religious organization won't give up its efforts to spread the true message that Islam is a religion of peace, despite continued terrorist attacks by radicalized Muslims around the world.
Members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community (AMC), which is in 206 countries with 86 chapters throughout Canada, visited Chatham for a second time within the past few months, to spread its message of peace.
The youth association of the AMC is in the midst of a nationwide awareness campaign called STOPTHECRISIS to take a stand against the terrorist group ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) and the extremist influence it has had in radicalizing some youth.
Imam Umar Akbar, who gave a presentation at the Chatham branch of the Chatham-Kent Public Library on Saturday, said if you study ISIS, the terrorist group has nothing to do with religion.
He said their goal is world domination, noting the group has even created maps of what they believe the world will look like in the future under the rule of ISIS.
Akbar said what is most alarming is ISIS seems to be motivated by revenge, based on the deaths of Muslims in military conflicts with western countries.
“It's not about religion . . . it's a political cause,” he said, adding ISIS is pinning the blame on Western countries including the U.S., Canada and in Europe.
Akbar added a key message from ISIS is: “You're either with us or against us.”
He said the terrorist group's savvy use of social media to spread their message has been successful in manipulating impressionable and vulnerable youth.
Akbar said only a very small number of converts to Islam are radicalized and, overall, there is only a minute number of Muslims carrying out terrorist activities among the more than one billion Muslims in the world, including more than one million living Canada.
Usman Javed, who moderated the event, said the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community is the only Islamic organization to believe that the long-awaited Messiah has come in the person of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1835-1908) of Qadian.
He added, the "Ahmadiyya Muslim Community is the leading Islamic organization to categorically reject terrorism in any form. Over a century ago, Ahmad emphatically declared that an aggressive “jihad by the sword” has no place in Islam. In its place, he taught his followers to wage a bloodless, intellectual “jihad of the pen” to defend Islam."
A few residents attended the presentation, including one man – who didn't want to be identified – who told the group it is important the message be sent that Islam is a religion of peace.
He added there is a fear by many that the goal of the Islamic faith is to not stop until everyone believes in Allah.
Akbar said the Holy Qur'an teaches religious freedom and having respect for the prophets from other religions, because they have all received their knowledge from God.
“You are free to have your religion and I am free to have my religion,” Akbar said is the message that comes from the Qur'an.
The man said he actually came to the library to look for a book on the Muslim faith to try to gain a better understanding, when he learned this presentation was going on.
Olivia Austen, of Chatham, said she came to the event because “I want to be informed.
She added she doesn't want to base her opinion solely on the information she gets from the media.
“So why not get it from the source?”
After the presentation, she said, “I have a better understanding about the Qur'an, about the religion in general.
“If I can see it from their perspective then I know more about what's going with world problems,” Austen added.
When hearing from peaceful Muslims, she said it is apparent the majority are not interested in fighting.
AMC has been able to freely deliver it's message in Canada, but that hasn't been the case in other countries.
Akbar said there is fear of speaking out in countries such as Pakistan where the AMC is persecuted for such actions. He said there was a recent report on a Pakistan television station that blamed the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community for causing the attack by the Taliban on school, where more than 130 children were massacred.
When asked by The Chatham Daily News about the frustration of trying to spread this message of peace while terrorist attacks continue by radicals, Akbar said: “It's our mission to establish peace and in this world, harmony in this world. So, we're not going to desist regardless of ISIS or any other group, we're not going to stop trying to establish peace.
“This is what our community stands for – Love for all, hatred for none,” he added.
ellwood.shreve@sunmedia.ca
Twitter.com/DailyNewsES
Read original post here: Sharing true meaning of Islam
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