Rev. Steve Smith & Imran Malik of SAIL (Safe Alliance of Interfaith Leaders) - April 6
Posted by Michael Blackwell
on Apr 21, 2012
"Typically on an Easter," explained Dublin AM's own Steve Smith, "I tell you about religious and social traditions, such as why we have an Easter Bunny. Today I'm going to talk about something different. I wish Terry Hofecker were here today, for he has been instrumental in starting SAIL. A few years back when there was a controversy over building an Islamic Center in Manhattan, near where the World Trade Towers stood, he heard some Christian commentators say "Fine, let them build it, and then we'll bomb it so they can see how it feels.' He was appalled that anyone could say something so very un-Christian. He wondered what we might do in our area to build bridges and create understanding between people of different faiths. And so we started SAIL to help create understanding and to come together as people of many different faiths to do projects. The projects have been slow in getting started, though we are having a food drive for the Hilliard Food Bank this week. But we have met and gotten to know each other and to share and learn from each other."
"For us," added Imran Malik, a Muslim member of the group, "meeting someone of a different faith provides an opportunity to learn and not to proselytize. By coming together, we learn ourselves and we hope to show others how by working together, people of many faiths can do more good and create a better life for all of humanity than each faith can do by itself. And in this way we also show respect for all those raised in any of the three great Abrahamic religious traditions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, all of which worship the same God and all of which share a belief in many of the same prophets." Imran showed a fine example of how learning can create understanding when he was asked what efforts those of his faith had made to combat terrorism. "We have made many media disclaimers, though often those get little of the attention they should because of the bias of some media commentators. More importantly, in our community, we have stressed the need for peace and forbearance and to avoid doing any acts that would give Islam a bad name. True Muslims are against terrorism, and we are creating a solid movement against terrorist acts. It is important to understand that only 11% of the 1.7 billion Muslims live in the Middle East, and that the great majority of them, and certainly and overwhelming majority of all of my faith do not promulgate terrorism. We educate ourselves on cross-cultural matters and we believe that peace and understanding are God's way and that hate and violence are evil and ungodly."
It was an instructive and interesting Good Friday presentation for Dublin A.M. Rotarians, all of whom were glad to see a group standing up so firmly for the core beliefs that Rotarians share with them.
Thanks to Mohan Viddam for taking photos!