CHANTILLY, Va. (RNS) Ahmadi Muslims have been preaching peace since the movement was founded 121 years ago in India. Now, they say they are just trying to get the rest of the world — including their fellow Americans — to listen.
“Many, many Americans do not trust Muslims,” Naseem Mahdi, the national president of the community, told thousands of listeners during his address here at the Ahmadi movement’s 62nd annual convention on Saturday (July 17).
“Love of your homeland, your place of residence, is part of your faith,” Mahdi said, standing just steps away from a display that held the flags of the United States, Virginia and the Ahmadi movement.
The community’s message of nonviolence seemed particularly poignant in the wake of attacks on two Ahmadi mosques in Lahore, Pakistan, on May 28 that left at least 94 Ahmadis dead.
It’s a message that leaders say got lost when the community was new to the United States, because it was young and full of immigrants trying to assimilate.
“We cannot be silent anymore,” said Nasim Rehmatullah, national vice president of the community.
Rehmatullah and other leaders are pushing the Muslims for Peace movement, a public awareness campaign started by the Ahmadi community. The campaign advertises Islam as a peaceful religion, condemns terrorism, and advocates for the separation of religion and state and human rights.
Organizers said they expected at least 5,000 attendees at the three-day convention, held across two venues with concurrent programs for men and women since tradition prohibits the mingling of the sexes in public spaces.
This year’s convention was also a place for members of the scattered Ahmadi community to reconnect. Vendors offered matchmaking services, homeopathic therapies and religious books, all supplemented by a large volunteer food service.
Across the parking lot from the men’s convention, St. Louis native Tamara Rodney, an Ahmadi convert, stood amid a crowd of festively dressed women who were shopping and talking. She had recited a poem earlier that day onstage to the same crowd, and said the gathering had rejuvenated her.
“You come, you feel strengthened,” she said.
Looking around the room, she added “We can do this here in America.”
