Ahmadiyya Student Association at NAIT held an open house on Thursday to give fellow students a better understanding of Islam.

Taha Syed, missionary of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in Edmonton, said people may be surprised to learn how much of the ancient text is relevant to today.

Displays showed what the Qur'an says about science, peace, women and prophecies.

He says the biggest misconception of the Qur'an is there is no teaching of love. Syed said often people have an idea that the Qur'an teaches violence.

"Some verses are very, very clear you cannot kill a human being and the Qu'ran says someone who has killed one person, it's as if they've killed the whole of humanity," Syed said.

There are rules for treatment of prisoners of war, when war cannot be avoided.

There is also economic peace, he said.

The open house works well in schools as students are willing to have a dialogue and read more about the religion.

"We think that we can get a good response from students and we'll be able to share our message more openly with them," he said.

Often, students find commonalities with their own faith when reading the information he said.

The Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama'at was founded by Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad in the 1800s.

catherine.griwkowsky@sunmedia.ca

@SunGriwkowskyC