MCC Condemns Attack at Fort Hood, Texas.
Nov 7th, 2009 • Category: General AnnouncementsWe the members of the Muslim Community Center are deeply pained at the events that transpired at Fort Hood, Texas on November 5, 2009.
We offer our heartfelt prayers and condolences for all the men and women who lost their lives and suffered injuries.
We also extend our prayers and sympathy to the families and the community at Fort Hood.
We condemn all indiscriminate acts of violence regardless of who commits them.
I too, will be thinking of the victims and their families, as well as the family of the shooter. Please know that the members of the MCC are also in my prayers and accept my condolences to all who have been affected by recent events at Ft. Hood. This tragedy has touched so many people across the country. I am not Muslim, but I have studied your faith and know it to be a religion of peace. The very word “Islam” is a triliteral of “salaam” or “peace.” I pray for all whose lives have been affected by violence that they will find solace in their faith and that faith leaders of all religions will teach peace to their communities.
Sh. Mohamed Abdullahi:
I pass by your Center on occasion and am concerned at the pain that the recent incident at Fort Hood must be causing you and your members. I can only hope that you do not receive harassment on top of the hurt you must already feel that one of your own was the cause of the Fort Hood tragedy. As a fellow American (Roman Catholic), I much appreciate the contribution you and your people make to our country.
My name is Diana, I am a wife, mother and nurse in Wyoming. I am sending this message to you because your name is the one that appears in the news stories.
I am like most Americans shocked over the shooting at Fort Hood. I want you to know that I am not shocked because the shooter was muslim. I am shocked that any human being could do these things to someone else. This shooter could have been from any nationality and I would have been just as shocked.
I am also very sorry that because this person attended your place of worship, you now feel that you must be careful yourselves. There should not be this fear to attend a worship time and time with other believers. I am also sorry that I, personally, do not understand your faith or your culture.
Please accept my aplolgy to the women and men of your faith and may we not turn one on another.
MCC – thank you for your condemnation and prayers.
Religious leaders have to come out and speak out to help separate religion from what seems to be an individual act of violence. Leaders, centers, and Islamic organizations in America have to speak, write and talk to the media to let them know the truth about Islam. Although media outlets could sometimes sensationalize ceratin views at times of tragedy like this, the media could also be useful in presenting the facts to the public.
I pray to all the victims and the families.
Thank you for being part of our community in Silver Spring. I worship down the street from you at a protestant church. I am pleased to call you neighbor.
Let us all work for peace and justice in this broken world.
The Interfaith Conference of Metropolitan Washington (IFC)
“Advancing Justice, Building Community,
Nurturing Understanding”
The Gatehouse, 100 Allison Street NW, Washington DC 20011• Tel: (202)-234-6300
• Fax: (202)-234-6303 • Email: ifc@ifcmw.org • Web: http://www.ifcmw.org
Statement of InterFaith Conference Board of Directors
at its meeting today, November 9, 2009, on the Fort Hood massacre on November 5th
In light of the horrendous killing at Fort Hood on Friday, November 5th, the InterFaith Conference of Metropolitan Washington, at its Board of Directors meeting today, reiterated its earlier statements against condemning a whole religion and its adherents based on the actions of one or a few members of that faith.
We deeply appreciate the quick denunciations by many local and national Islamic groups of this murderous rampage, apparently carried out by a US Army psychiatrist facing deployment to a war zone who was a Muslim. These statements make clear that such actions are a deep perversion of this religion of peace. We know that the Islamic community and its many adherents here and across the country are the ones most likely to be attacked or harassed for being of the same faith community as the person who apparently caused this carnage.
We commend the substantial commitment to interfaith work and to serving their neighborhoods of our member mosques, especially the Muslim Community Center in Silver Spring and the Dar Al Hijrah Islamic Center in Falls Church. Since Major Nidal Hasan, charged in the killing, attended both mosques they are the focus of much of the media coverage and investigations. We urge all Americans not to be misled by those who encourage such attacks or harassment but to remain unified in this time of tragedy.
We join with others in praying for the victims and survivors as well as their families and other loved ones as well as calling on our nation’s law enforcement agencies to see that justice is served.
Last week’s shootings at Fort Hood were tragic and terrible, but they were the responsibility of a single individual, not a community. Sadly, such acts have been perpetrated on occasion by individuals from all traditions, my own included. As a resident of Silver Spring and a member of the Tifereth Israel Synagogue in Washington, DC, I have been greatly encouraged in recent years by the productive dialogue we have been fortunate to share with the Muslim Community Center and the wider Islamic community in Washington. Our discussions, and the time we have spent together, represent important steps towards building a world in which we can all live together in friendship and peace.
I join MCC in condemning all indiscriminate acts of violence regardless of who commits them. At the same time, I deeply regret that some misguided individuals have used this tragedy as a pretext for threatening harm to MCC and its members. We must all stand against such prejudice: It has no place in our society and represents a danger to us all. At this difficult moment I would like to express my solidarity with MCC as well as my appreciation for your ongoing efforts to promote harmony and understanding.
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