USA: CT Muslim community leaders meet with lawmakers ahead of prayer week

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"All over the world, not just the United States, people are actually coming together even more, bowing our heads together to pray for this country because of the turmoil that we live in, that's happening in this world today, we need a lot of prayers.”

Members of the Muslim community met with lawmakers ahead of their prayer
week (Photo: WFSB)

Times of Ahmad | News Watch | UK Desk
Source/Credit: WSFB 3 Eyewitness News
By Cheri Hardmon | February 20, 2017

MERIDEN, CT (WFSB) - Muslims across the country kicked off their National Prayer Week on Monday.

For some Muslims in Connecticut, the week comes on the heels of a trip to the nation's capital to meet with lawmakers to talk about number of things, including President Donald Trump's recent executive order banning citizens from seven primarily Muslim countries from entering the United States.

Leaders of the Ahmadiyya Baitul Aman "House of Peace" Mosque in Meriden said they hope the trip to Washington D.C., as well as this week of prayer, will help bring together a divided nation.

"The world is a global village, we need to bring unity and unite people together,” said Wajid Ahmed, of Ahmadiyya Baitul Aman.

That is the message Ahmed, along with more than 200 other delegates from mosques all across the country took with them to Washington D.C. last week.

"There were really three things that we wanted to focus on, we wanted to meet our legislatures and our leaders and educate them on true Islam and what the true teaching of what is Islam is about,” Ahmed said.

This is the seventh year the delegates have gone to D.C. but this year it was during a changing and volatile climate in the country.

The new president's executive order, banning immigrants from seven primarily Muslim countries from entering the United States was also a concern.

“I feel that the way we rolled out the executive order, it was done in a way that kind of broke the bridges that we are trying to unite people together,” Ahmed said.

The trip led into the National Prayer week for Muslims.

"All over the world, not just the United States, people are actually coming together even more, bowing our heads together to pray for this country because of the turmoil that we live in, that's happening in this world today, we need a lot of prayers,” Ahmed said.

He added that the ultimate goal is to educate people on what their faith is really about and who they are, as people.

"More than 60 percent of Americans have never met a Muslim or they think they've never met a Muslim because we might look a little different but in might look like anyone else,” Ahmed said.

They are also reaching out to other clergy in the state to join them for an interfaith prayer service.

That service will take place on Thursday at 7 p.m.



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