{"id":896,"date":"2008-08-26T17:31:15","date_gmt":"2008-08-26T17:31:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/news\/2008\/08\/young-muslims-getting-the-word.php"},"modified":"2008-08-26T17:31:15","modified_gmt":"2008-08-26T17:31:15","slug":"young-muslims-getting-the-word","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2008\/08\/young-muslims-getting-the-word","title":{"rendered":"Young Muslims Getting the Word Out About Faith"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Charles Honey
\nReligion News Service<\/b>
\nGrand Rapids, Mich. – From their cramped office behind a barber shop, four young men try to get the word out: This is who we are, this is what we believe.
\nAs Muslims in this overwhelmingly Christian community, they feel a responsibility to tell what Islam truly teaches — to non-Muslims and other Muslims. They aim to do so through Sunnah Publishing, an educational nonprofit they formed four years ago.
\n“Living in America, we’re the ones who suffer” from misconceptions about Islam, said Maaz Qureshi, 27, a Pakistani and Grand Rapids resident since 1997. “It is our religious obligation to clarify what our religion stands for and what it doesn’t.”
\nHamza Kantarevic, like Qureshi, sometimes wears the flowing robe, long beard and skullcap of traditionalist Islam. He knows he looks exotic, and perhaps threatening, in conservative West Michigan.
\n“They might see us and know we are Muslims and live amongst them,”
\nsaid Kantarevic, 24, a Bosnian who has lived here since 1999. “But do they really know who we are?”
\nHe and his colleagues at Sunnah Publishing hope to answer that and other questions at their first public conference, “Islam in America,”
\nbeginning Friday (Aug. 29), a few days before the start of the monthlong holiday of Ramadan.
\nThe seminar features Muslim scholars from Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom and New Jersey addressing a wide array of topics, from what Islam teaches about violence and women to Muslim positions on intelligent design and the environment.
\nSunnah Publishing aims to provide answers by “turning back to Islam in its original form,” Qureshi said.
\nSome local Muslim leaders say they know little about Sunnah Publishing and will attend the upcoming seminar to learn more.
\nAli Metwalli, a leader at this city’s Islamic Mosque and Religious Institute, said the young organizers have a “peaceful mindset” but are more conservative than most local Muslims.
\nQureshi accepts the conservative label, but says traditional Islam unequivocally condemns the militant extremism that has “messed up the image of Islam.”
\n“The idea of committing suicide and (making) a plane crash into a building or strapping a bomb on your chest has nothing to do with Islam,” said Qureshi, a data specialist at Pitney Bowes Software Systems.
\nThough not formally educated in Islam, he and his colleagues say they have studied and consulted with top scholars.
\nSalaahudeen Ali, a lifelong Grand Rapids resident, and Muhammad Muridi also are publishing partners.
\nThey formed the publishing firm with their own funds, selling books and CDs and building a Web site including articles and audio recordings.
\nThey also teach classes on Arabic.
\nThough they say top Islamic scholars have consistently condemned terrorism,the publishers believe local Muslims have not been vocal enough about their beliefs.
\n“Nobody else is going to do it,” Qureshi said. “You kind of have to put yourself out there.”
\nCharles Honey writes for The Grand Rapids Press in Grand Rapids, Mich.
\nCopyright 2008 Religion News Service. All rights reserved. No part of this transmission may be distributed or reproduced without written permission.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Charles Honey Religion News Service Grand Rapids, Mich. – From their cramped office behind a barber shop, four young men try to get the word out: This is who we are, this is what we believe. 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