“I was a bit skeptical, a bit anxious, not knowing what we might face, a group of Muslim women in their Muslim attire, whether we might be subject to any harassment or any type of assault. I was a little fearful.”
Source/Credit: The News-Post
By David Frey | November 18, 2016
Ahmadiyya Muslim Community continues to serve despite fears of persecution in Frederick
The women were more nervous than usual last Friday as they arrived to serve food at the Frederick soup kitchen in their traditional headscarves and long garments. The month before, as they stood on the downtown sidewalk across from the homeless shelter, a woman rushed up, spat on one of them, and raced off.
That sort of thing hadn’t happened to them here before. Frederick had always seemed welcoming. But they felt an anti-Islamic mood growing in the country throughout election season, and now that Election Day was over, they worried what lay ahead.
It was Friday night. Veterans Day. News reports had been filled with stories of hate incidents across the country in the three days since Donald Trump won the presidency. Schools were spray-painted with swastikas. Muslim women had been choked with their headscarves.
These women just wanted to feed the homeless. Their religion called them to serve.
The seven women, six from Frederick, one from Germantown, were part of the women’s auxiliary of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community’s Potomac chapter, which worships at a large, white mosque in Silver Spring that serves as the group’s national headquarters. For about five years, the women’s group has been coming to Frederick almost monthly to volunteer at the soup kitchen, taking turns with other places of worship throughout the area.
The Ahmadiyya follow the teachings of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the 19th-century founder whom they consider the prophesied messiah and reformer of Islam. They stress a message of peace and service that they call “true Islam,” but many Muslims consider them heretics, and they have faced persecution and attacks around the world, particularly in Pakistan, where the movement began and still claims the most members.
Nothing like that had ever happened here, but times were changing. By 4:30 p.m., when the women arrived, the sun was low in the sky. They warned each other to get there before sundown and stay safe.
“I’ve lived here in Frederick for 24 years and never had any problem at all,”said Ruqaiya Asad. But then in September, as she stood with her children at the Great Frederick Fair, someone approached them and muttered something about bombing. In October, the woman spat at them.
“I’m always kind of surprised when something does happen,” Asad said. “I’ve lived here for a long time and watched Frederick evolve and grow. It’s where I live. It’s my community. I don’t really ever think about [being targeted].”
Elsewhere in the country, Trump opponents were protesting. In Washington, D.C., crowds gathered at his recently opened hotel and the White House holding signs with messages like “Stand up to racism” against what they saw as a campaign of hate-filled rhetoric that led Trump to victory. But the Ahmadiyya religion discourages protest, and even though they worried about anti-Islamic comments during the campaign, they vowed to stay quiet.
“We’re not supposed to be the cause of unrest or cause disorder,” Asad said. “For us, it’s part of our religion. We don’t go out and create more upset. We’re not allowed to use violence. I know that’s probably the opposite of what many people think and see on TV, but we don’t follow that. This is our protest: To go out and serve.”
So they served turkey subs.
The women arrived at the soup kitchen to find a large crowd waiting for dinner. Usually, 70 or 80 people show up, Asad said, but on Veterans Day, some 90 people were waiting for the doors to open. They were men and women, but mostly men. White and black, but mostly white.
“I was a bit skeptical, a bit anxious,” said Shahina Bashir, of Germantown, “not knowing what we might face, a group of Muslim women in their Muslim attire, whether we might be subject to any harassment or any type of assault. I was a little fearful.”
She had seen an anti-Muslim backlash following 9/11, the only time she felt frightened enough to avoid wearing the hijab in public. She arrived at the soup kitchen to find the large crowd gathering. The police officer who usually comes hadn’t shown up yet.
They opened the doors. The crowd filed through. Diners took sandwiches, chips, oranges, apples, cookies and soda. They didn’t talk politics, Bashir said. They didn’t talk religion. They were just thankful for the food, and for the women who came to serve them, whatever their faith.
“It was a very humbling experience,” she said. “I kept standing there and thanking God for allowing me to have this opportunity.”
Instead of trading barbs, they shared a meal. Instead of carrying signs, these women carried food. Their visibility was their protest.
“We have to be part of American society, the fabric of this country,” Bashir said. “This has always been a place where people could come. We’ve used the phrase ‘melting pot’ or ‘stewpot.’ It’s a place where we could reach out and fulfill our dreams. We’re not going to go anywhere. We’re staying, and we want to be helpful in any capacity that we can.”
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