May 7 Seminar: Understanding American Muslims

American singer Janet Jackson goes hijab.

Clinton, 22 Rajab 1437/01 Mei 2016 (MINA) – In the 19th century, President Thomas Jefferson owned a Koran, the sacred text of Islam, and used it to learn about the religion.

Information on the faith is readily accessible today — especially online — but questions remain on accurate, fair and honest facts.

A two-hour educational seminar, “Understanding American Muslims” is planned for Saturday, May 7, in the Clinton Community College auditorium, 1000 Lincoln Blvd, Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) reported, quoting qctimes.com.

“Many Americans have questions about Muslim-Americans, their faith, history and beliefs,” Dr. Anis Ansari said. “This event will go a long way to answering those questions.”

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Ansari, event organizer, is one of 16 Muslim physicians in Clinton, and he founded the Islamic center in that city, using a former Lutheran church.

This connection between Islam and Lutheranism may make it comfortable for some seminar participants. In fact, the link between Abrahamic faiths will be discussed by the Rev. Duane Larson, interim pastor of Clinton’s St. Paul Lutheran Church.

Topics of peace and obligations to care for a neighbor are common to all religions, Larson said.

“We have more in common than we think,” the pastor said, noting vibrancy in the Muslim communities of Clinton and Davenport.

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The keynote speech, “What America Needs to Know about Islam and Muslims,” will be given by Ahmadullah Siddqui, professor emeritus at Western Illinois University, Macomb.

Islam represents the universality of human beings, Siddqui said.

Siddqui and Ansari both point out Muslims have been in the United States since the 14th century, 100 years before European explorers such as Christopher Columbus arrived.

About 85 percent of Muslims in America are in professions, such as medicine and engineering, Ansari said. Civil engineer Fazlur Rahman Khan, from Bangladesh, invented a new process to build skyscrapers, and his work includes the Sears Tower, now the Willis Center, Chicago.

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Muslims in the Quad-City region are against bigotry, the doctor said.

“Our job is to practice our religion and live in peaceful co-existence,” he said. “We want to be understood, not misunderstood.”

Siddqui said Muslims are often asked to condemn acts of terrorism and violence made in the name of Islam. “But we keep condemning them and are still asked, ‘Why not condemn them?'” (T/R07/R01)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)

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