Originally Published in Richmond Times Dispatch on August 26th, 2017
by Faran Jalil
Last week there were two coordinated attacks at different sites in Spain, Barcelona and Cambrils. As a result, 13 are dead and more than 100 injured. As a member of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, I condemn the perpetrators of this violence in the strongest terms and show my solidarity with the families of the victims. The Quran unequivocally states that “the killing of one soul is equal to killing all of mankind.” The Holy Prophet Muhammad counted the “killing of a soul” among the four “major sins.”
Terrorism has no religion. In fact, as a counter to the narrative, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community teaches a peaceful and true Islam. The Khalifa of the community, His Holiness Mirza Masroor Ahmad, stated, “those who seek to justify their hateful acts in the name of Islam are serving only to defame it in the worst possible way.”
The Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Association U.S. (AMYA USA) challenges radicalization and extremists’ claim on Islam by showing through words and deeds the true essence of Islam. The Muslim Writers Guild of America, an auxiliary of AMYA USA, published nearly 400 pieces in U.S. newsprint media in 2016 presenting the true teachings of Islam. In that same time span, AMYA USA has fed upward of 170,000 people and collected 40,000 units of blood in service of our fellow Americans.
