There has been considerable opposition to the proposed building of a mosque in neighboring Murfressboro. Many in middle Tennessee see a Mosque in Murfressboro as a terrorist training school and as a step in the establishment of Sharia law. I am not convinced. If someone will provide me some evidence that that is true, I will considerate. So far, all I have seen is unfounded allegations and bigotry.
I believe Muslims can be good citizens of America and good neighbors. I have never been convinced that Islam is the enemy of the United States. Certainly American's are being killed by Muslim extremist but Americans are also fighting alone side and dieing for our Muslim allies.
Growing up in a Baptist fundamentalist community in rural east Tennessee, I remember a time when Catholics were all suspected of being disloyal. Catholics, it was alleged, were loyal to the Pope and could not be good Americans. It is now embarrassing to recall the anti-Catholic sentiment of the time, but preachers did preach fear and hatred of Catholics from the pulpit. The anti-Catholic sentiment at that time was as strong as the anti-Islamic sentiment I see today.
This is not to say, that their is not reason to be suspicious of the spread of Islam. The madrases being build across the world have been used to spread an extremist ideology and have been training grounds for terrorist, but that does not mean every mosque is a terrorist training school. Those who are educating and alerting Americans to the dangers of the spread of radical Islam are to be commended, but their is a difference between educating people to the dangers of an extremist brand of Islam and spreading fear and hate of all Muslims.
If all you hear is the voice of the opponents of the Murfressboro Mosque, you may want to hear from the Muslims of Murfreesboro who are proposing to build the mosque. Does this sound like the voice someone who is planning to build a terrorist training school and is set on destroying America?
Statement of Imam Ossama Bahloul
Since the human beings are all related, they share the same parents, Adam and Eve. God encourages us to know each other and care about one another. He said in the Holy Quran,
O mankind! Lo! We have created you male and female, and have made you nations and tribes that you may know one another. Lo! the noblest of you, in the sight of God, is the best in conduct. Lo! God is All-Knower, All-Aware.By obeying His orders we will be able to enjoy our life socially and otherwise regardless of our differences in terms of religion or philosophy. This will allow everyone to know that having a disagreement can not lead reasonable people to have hate in their hearts toward any other. It is a message of love that God wants us to understand, practice and maintain in our daily life simply because if you love God you will not be able to hate anyone.
As a clergy dealing with people, I have come to realize that stereotyping can lead to hate. It can be a huge partition between one another. This is why I often advise our congregation to reach out to others, simple because the majority of the people are nice, adopting the proper view. People with radical views remain a small minority of Jews, Christians, Muslims or other. Instead of giving these small groups the opportunity to contaminate our life, why don't we spread the message of love and show that we care about them. It can be a way for them to find the truth and to change their view.
Since there are many different sects contained within each religion I want to remind our congregation and let our neighbors here in Murfreesboro know our type of belief. We believe in Islam, the message of peace toward all of mankind. We look to all people in our community as our neighbors that we love and care about. We are against any kind of violence, emotional, physical or any other kind. We believe that all people are equal regardless of their gender, financial situation or the color of their skin. It is also part of our religion to obey the constitution of the USA and to respect the laws of the land we life in. We care about our city, state and country. The Islamic Center of Murfreesboro has its own identity and only supports organizations that lead people toward peace and is against any organizations that lead people toward any type of hatred.
I want to take advantage of this opportunity to send an invitation for anyone to feel free to contact us through the office or email for me to answer any questions.
May God watch over our city, state and country, and may God bless our nation.
Sincerely,
Ossama Bahloul
Imam of The Islamic Center of Murfreesboro
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