“The flooding support that we have received from the community has been nothing short of a blessing and shows that the members of Rochester Hills and the surrounding areas want to build strong relationships as well.”
Source/Credit: C & G News
By Linda Shepard | February 15, 2017
ROCHESTER HILLS — While watching documentaries depicting the events of Sept. 11, 2001, local resident Mahir Osman was asked by his 11-year old nephew how anyone could cause so much destruction and why were they filled with so much hate.
“These were tough questions, and one of the most difficult things I have ever had to do was to explain to a child that hatred and fear exist in the world, and we do not always have the answers as to why,” said Osman, secretary of public affairs for the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in Rochester Hills.
“Franklin Delano Roosevelt once said, ‘The only thing we have to fear is fear itself,’” Osman said Feb. 6 before the Rochester Hills City Council. “I have to admit, at times I am skeptical of that quote. Fear in our nation and across the globe is fast becoming a part of our lives, such that we cannot begin to understand that fear in itself is worse than the enemy, and the best way to combat it is to implicate love, understanding and peace in our children and our communities.”
In an effort to create an opportunity to meet local Muslims and hear firsthand about Islam’s teachings, several months ago the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community of Metro Detroit launched the open house series Coffee, Cake and True Islam, held from 7 to 8 p.m. every Thursday at the community center located at 1730 Auburn Road.
“We are opening our doors to our fellow citizens every Thursday evening to enjoy refreshments and to get to know us better,” Osman said. “The flooding support that we have received from the community has been nothing short of a blessing and shows that the members of Rochester Hills and the surrounding areas want to build strong relationships as well.”
“I met Mahir at an annual blood drive the Ahmadiyya community does memorializing the 9/11 victims,” Rochester Hills City Council President Mark Tisdel said. “I appreciate all the work you have done on behalf of the city in getting your youth group involved in our youth council members,” he said to Osman. “This is an organization that puts its money and its work where its mouth is.”
Osman said that since 9/11, “Fear has taken a deeper and more prominent role in our lives. We have become polarized to a point where we are afraid to give an opposing view. Anyone with a different view from our own immediately becomes the enemy. That is not who we are as Americans, or what our Constitution or community stand for. A community is one where its individuals love and cherish one another, show compassion for one another and pay mutual kinship to one another.
“We hope to continue to work toward peace and justice in our world for the sake of our children — so we never have to answer the questions my nephew asked,” Osman said.
Coffee, Cake and True Islam is free and open to all. For more information, call (248) 677-1316 or email tabligh.det@ahmadiyya.us.
Read original post here: USA: Detroit area Ahmadiyya Muslim group aims for peace and justice in world
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