Muslims, Morris leaders talk peace on eve of 9/11

MOUNTAIN LAKES Members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim community broke bread Thursday with a large gathering of Morris County leaders and public law-enforcement professionals at the Villa at Mountain Lakes, where they hosted a “Muslims for Peace” event to open lines of communication and condemn radical terrorists on the eve of the 14th anniversary of 9/11.

A similar event, “Stop the CriISIS,” drew a significantly smaller audience in April. But dozens of police and sheriff’s officers, along with Sen. Anthony R. Bucco, Morris County Clerk Ann Grossi and several mayors helped to nearly fill the large ballroom at the Villa banquet hall on a rainy Thursday night.

“There is a lot of ignorance about Islam, and a lot misunderstanding about Islam, even the concept of God,” said Imam Naseem Mahdi, vice president of the National Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, which preaches “Love for all, hatred for none.”

“There has been far too much hatred and misunderstanding between the Islamic community and other communities,” said Parsippany Police Chief Paul Philipps. “Events like this are going to change that. That’s why it is so heartwarming to see so many people here today. It’s vital that we collectively understand that these acts of barbarism do not represent this great religion.”

Philipps, who spoke at the “Stop the CrISIS” event in April, was joined this time by fellow chiefs Shawn Bennett (Mountain Lakes), Christopher Wagner (Denville) and Robert Kugler (Saddle Brook).

“As police officers, it’s been our job since the beginning of time to get out and meet our community,” said Wagner, who also is president of the New Jersey Chiefs of Police Association. “Today, we find ourselves reaching further... to our neighbors that we never really knew, but the neighbors that we need to know.”

Morris County mayors were in attendance as well, including co-host James Barberio of Parsippany, and Boonton Mayor Cyril Wekilsky, who surprised many in the audience by telling them he was born and raised as a Christian in Tehran, Iran.

“I didn’t know until I left the country that there was a problem,” Wekilsky recalled.

Parsippany Councilman Michael dePierro, like Barberio, attended the “Stop the CrISIS” event in April and returned on Thursday, as did former Parsippany councilman and current council candidate Vincent Ferrara.

Morris County Sheriff Ed Rochford also spoke and called attention to several of his uniformed officers in attendance and sitting at a front-row table. All volunteered to attend and join in the dialogue, Rochford said.

“It’s important to show the Ahmadiyya community that law enforcement supports them, especially the Morris County Sheriff’s Office,” Rochford said. “With understanding, there comes tolerance and harmony. It’s great for us to get to know you, and for you to get to know us.”

“The need is greater now than ever to bring the diverse communities of New Jersey and law enforcement together, and that’s exactly what we’re doing here tonight,” said Morris County Undersheriff William Schievella. “One of the best ways to do that is to diversify the ranks of law enforcement, and that’s something that we’re working very hard on here in Morris County. One of the goals that we set is that a year from now, we will have more young Muslims in the New Jersey law-enforcement community. That is really the only way to truly bring communities together, to have police agencies reflect the communities they serve.”

“In these 14 years (since 9/11), we’ve had wars, economic recessions, and we’ve also demonized an entire faith — a faith that has existed for over 1,400 years — yet overnight was heralded as a religion of violence, anti-Semitism and misogyny,” said attorney Salaam Bhatti. “So this is where we come in. This is where the oldest American Muslim organization, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community USA, comes in. We’ve been here since 1920 and we come in with a campaign called ‘Muslims for Peace.’ We’re not going to sit here on our laurels, waiting to pull the victim card. We took the offense after so many years of playing defense.”

Bhatti then aired a video explaining the Muslims for Peace movement, and later stressed they are not only peaceful Muslims, but proud Americans.

“Earlier in 2011 we also launched the ‘Muslims for Loyalty’ campaign,” he said. “And that was to show that American Muslims are loyal to our country of residence because that is what the Prophet Muhammad taught us to be... my loyalty is here, just like my fellow Muslim-Americans.”

Noting the Quran teaches Muslims not only to believe in the prophet Muhammad, but Jesus Christ and the many prophets in the Bible, Mahdi told the diverse audience that Ahmadiyya Muslims believe that the Quran teaches “all those who believe in God, on the day of judgment, and live according to their beliefs, Allah will — God will — give them salvation.”

Mahdi joined all the speakers in condemning the terrorist who perpetrated the 9/11 attacks, calling it “a crime against humanity,” and that his community over the last five years has collected 35,0000 pints of blood during drives staged across the country in commemoration of 9/11.

Morristown resident Nusrat J. Qadir, a member of the Northern New Jersey Ahmadiyya Muslim community based in Clifton, said she and about 60 other delegates from the national Ahmadiyya Muslim Women’s Association would travel to Washington on Friday to meet with several members of Congress to report how their community has done a successful job in preventing youth radicalization, and discuss how to prevent that level of radicalization in the future.

“We don’t want any more children from America, or the west in general, rushing off to Syria,” she said. “We’d like them to understand loyalty to your country, and understand true Islam, so you are not having any levels of conflict with your personal beliefs and being an American Muslim.”

Staff Writer William Westhoven: 973-917-9242; wwesthoven@GannettNJ.com.