The Star-Ledger
Feeling the pain of victims and families of 9/11 and the pain caused as the result of distorted image of Islam, Peace Islands Institute volunteers participated in several 9/11 commemoration programs in New Jersey at Dumont High School, Allwood Community Church in Clifton, Notre Dame Church in North Caldwell and Mayo Community Theater in Morristown.
When Peace Islands Institute’s honorary president, Turkish Muslim scholar
Fethullah Gulen, foresaw the importance of interfaith dialog among communities as well as among nations and initiated it in Turkey, it was 1994. It was the same year that he said 'there is no return from democracy’ when Muslims were questioned regarding their opinions about democracy. He was successful in his efforts to direct people’s attention, time, energy and money into education and
dialog. While
Gulen, and those inspired by him worked hard for implementing seeds of dialog, understanding and respect in Turkey; the catastrophic attacks of 9/11 took place in the US. The tragic events of 9/11 shifted the focus of interfaith dialog efforts from bringing people together in Turkey to repairing, at the community level, the damaged state of interfaith, interethnic, and inter-cultural relations in the US and in the global arena.
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Oguzhan Senturk from Turkish Cultural Center
delivered a speech at Dumont 9/11 memorial service |
Gulen after 9/11 said, “A true Muslim cannot be a terrorist and a terrorist cannot be a Muslim. A religion that professes, “He who unjustly kills one man kills the whole of humanity,” cannot condone senseless killing of thousands. For this reason, no one—and certainly no Muslims - can approve of any terrorist activity. This latest terrorist activity, which is a most bloody and condemnable one, is far more than an attack on the United States of America - it is an assault against world peace as well as universal democratic, humanistic, and religious values. The world should be assured that, although there may always be some who exploit any religion for their interests, Islam does not approve of terrorism in any form”.
Gulen went further on to declare in an interview in 2004, “Bin Laden is among the persons in this world that I hate most as he has defaced the beautiful face of Islam. He has produced a dirty image. Even if we work on repairing the terrible damage he has caused with all our power, it will take years. We shall speak on every platform everywhere. We shall write books. We shall declare, "This is not Islam". Bin Laden replaced Islamic logic with his own desires and wishes and lives as a monster. The men around him are like that as well. If there are people who think like that, they are also locked into monstrosity. We equivocally condemn their perspective”.
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Feyza Teke, a youth leader of the Peace Islands Institute,
delivered speeches and said prayers
at Dumont and Morristown 9/11 programs. |
Feeling the pain of victims and families of 9/11 and the pain caused as the result of distorted image of Islam, Peace Islands Institute volunteers participated in several 9/11 commemoration programs in New Jersey at Dumont High School, Allwood Community Church in Clifton, Notre Dame Church in North Caldwell and Mayo Community Theater in Morristown.
Click here and visit Peace Islands' web site for more details and photos.
Published on
NJ.com 23 September 2011, Friday
Related Article: Peace Islands Institute remembers 9/11 in New Jersey
