Friday, April 22, 2016

USA: True Islam and the Extremists Seminar Sponsored by Al-Islam Students Association


Despite being a great monotheistic religion most akin to Christianity and Judaism, Islam is widely misunderstood throughout the West and especially in the U.S.

Times of Ahmad | News Watch | US Desk
Source/Credit: Univ of Arkansas
By Announcement | April 22, 2016

Al-Islam Student Association invites students to a seminar on "True Islam and the Extremists" from 3-5 p.m. Friday, April 29, in Giffels Auditorium in Old Main on the University of Arkansas campus. Qasim Rashid will be the guest speaker.

Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world with over 1.6 billion adherents worldwide as of 2010. Although the Middle East is home to majority-Muslim countries, only about 20 percent of Muslims live there. Indonesia in Southeast Asia is the largest Muslim country in the world with over 220 million Muslims. The U.S. has about 3.3 million Muslims making up about 1 percent of the population.

Despite being a great monotheistic religion most akin to Christianity and Judaism, Islam is widely misunderstood throughout the West and especially in the U.S. According to a 2014 Pew Research Center study, over 50 percent of Americans associate Islam with violence and extremism. Recent comments by some presidential candidates reflect how the sentiments of the lay people are being exploited for political expediency. Studies have shown that Muslim-majority countries are as concerned as the US about extremist organizations such as ISIS, and overwhelming majority of Muslims there have unfavorable view of ISIS.

Muslim communities throughout the US have made efforts to educate general public over the years, and especially in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in 2001, showing that Islam is a religion of peace and universal human rights. But as the Middle East has been thrust into the quagmire of ever-worsening civil wars since the so-called Arab Spring in 2011, the world is watching with horror the criminal and inhumane conduct of many an organization in the name of Islam. Recently, President Obama, while visiting a mosque as a gesture of reaching out to law abiding Muslim citizens of this country, expressed clearly that Islam and Muslims are clearly not to be blamed for the heinous acts of terrorists, but the Muslim community must come forward to confront the extremist ideology that is being propagated within their midst.

True Islam and the Extremists is a seminar sponsored by Al-Islam Students Association, a registered student organization supported by funds from the Associated Student Government to clearly identify what are the teachings of True Islam and how these are deliberately contorted by the extremists to prey on the vulnerable Muslim youth. This seminar is being conducted in concert with the national campaign of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. Qasim Rashid, a prolific writer and a spokesman for the AMC, will be the chief guest. A question and answer session will follow. The seminar ends with catered food from Khana restaurant. The seminar is free to all University of Arkansas students.

This event is supported by the Student Activities Fee as a funded event by the Associated Student Government and is free to all currently enrolled University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, students who pay the student activities fee. For questions about the event or for accommodations due to disability please contact Naseer Naseem, Nwnaseem@uark.edu, or call (479) 249-5230.


CONTACTS

Naseer Naseem,
Al-Islam Student Association (RSO)
479-249-5230, Nwnaseem@uark.edu



Read original post here: -True Islam and the Extremists Seminar Sponsored by Al-Islam Students Association


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