Hundreds of People Attend ‘Meet Your Muslim Neighbor’ Event in Greenville

North Carolina, 12 Rajab 1438/9 April 2017 (MINA) – More than one hundred people in the east gathered at a local mosque Saturday to learn more about culture and religion at the Meet your Muslim Neighbor event in Greenville, wnct.com reported.

People of all walks of life came together at the Al-Masjid Islamic center in Greenville.

“Sometimes people criticize us because they don’t understand our religion, and some people call us terrorist because they don’t know fully our religion,” said Al-Masjid Islamic member Abdal Rahnan

Some were eager, others doubtful, but most simply curious about the Islamic religion.

But not everyone is open minded “I had a friend who said oh be careful going there. You don’t know what you are going to find…and I was like what?” explained Visitor Jean Fitzpatrick.

She said afterwards she has a better understanding of the faith, but also the people around her.

“I don’t know anything about the Muslim religion. I don’t know much about anything. I didn’t know the difference between Islam and Muslim stuff so it meant a lot to me to see that it was even offered. And it was a wonderful experience,” said Fitzpatrick.

Spokeswoman Samar Badwan said that’s the idea of their event, to extinguish misconceptions, and the idea of grouping people together.

“One Muslim representing a whole group of Muslims, just as one Christian representing a whole group of Christians, that’s not who we are and that’s not who they are and that’s not how any group is. You can’t base it on the group you base it on the individual,” said Badwan

Rahnan said he sees how cruel the world can be so he hopes people leave today with a more peaceful understanding.

“We should all treat people equally even if you’re Jewish Muslim, Islamic. It doesn’t matter we should all treat somebody equally,” said Rahnan.(T/RE1/RS5)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)