November 22, 2009
What's Inside:
Muslims hope mosque ‘sheds light on Islam’
Islamic Center will be first in St. Joseph
Islamic Center will be first in St. Joseph
Shamsuddin Rager had never been a Muslim in a city without a mosque until he moved to St. Joseph two years ago.
Mr. Rager, who is originally from Boston, came here from Florida and before that lived in a city in Germany not much larger than St. Joseph — one with five mosques. It was there, almost five years ago, that he converted to Islam.
Of the places he’s lived since, St. Joseph seems to be where Islam and its followers are least understood, he said. But he hopes that will change when the Islamic Center of Greater St. Joseph opens its first mosque later this year and St. Joseph’s Muslim community becomes more visible.
“I hope it sheds light on Islam so people will learn they don’t have to live in fear,” he said. “They don’t have to fear Islam; they don’t have to worry we’re going to blow something up.”
Until recently, he added, there wasn’t much of a Muslim community in St. Joseph, which he thinks may be why many people here seem not to have much of an understanding of Islam. A majority of his encounters with this misunderstanding come at Christmas time, when he tells people who wish him a merry Christmas that as a Muslim, he doesn’t celebrate Christmas.
“There are mixed reactions,” Mr. Rager said. “Quite a few negative, some surprised. The door kind of swings both ways.”
And then there are the people who are curious about Islam. At the Islamic Center’s open house May 16, only one or two of the 35 to 40 in attendance were Muslim, said Amro Nabil Masjid, the center’s imam, or priest. Originally from Egypt, he moved to Kansas City in 1983 and lived there until coming to St. Joseph last July. He sees the Muslim presence here as similar to Kansas City’s in the 1980s.
“In Kansas City in 1985, there was no mosque,” he said. “But so many were built, and so many started coming.”
Many people may not want to see St. Joseph’s Muslim community and number of mosques grow as Kansas City’s have. But the Rev. Chase Peeples, pastor of First Christian Church in St. Joseph, sees Islam’s presence here as a positive thing, noting that religious diversity is good for a community and that he’s grown as a Christian from having discussions with people of other faiths. He said, too, that in his interactions with Muslims, he’s always been impressed by their devotion to prayer, their hospitality and their respect for others — which is something he wishes all Christians were showing them in return.
“I think Jesus spoke pretty clearly about loving our neighbor, and our neighbor may very well be someone of a different faith,” he added. “In Northwest Missouri, Muslims are so much in the minority they probably have more to fear from Christians than Christians do from them.”
Mr. Masjid hopes others will become more open to the Muslim community as well. He said the center is thinking about having monthly events similar to its open house, to offer people an opportunity to have questions about Islam answered. The center’s weekly service — which takes place from 1 to 1:30 p.m. each Friday at 24th and Messanie streets and typically draws about 20 worshippers — also is open to anyone who wants to participate or just observe.
Mr. Masjid thinks that those who come might leave with a different impression of Islam and its followers than what they’ve had in the past.
“It’s a peaceful religion,” he said. “We’re not very bad people, after all.”
Erin Wisdom can be reached at ewisdom@npgco.com.
A name was incorrect in the May 23 story, “Muslims hope mosque sheds light on Islam,” that appeared on Page A1, due to a reporter’s error. The imam of the Islamic Center of Greater St. Joseph is Amro A. Nabil.
The News-Press apologizes for the error.
It is the policy of the News-Press to correct all errors as quickly as possible. To request a correction, call the City Desk at 271-8548 or 271-8533.
This story has 10 comments. Click here to join in on the discussion.
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Muslims have a goal similar to Christians, spread the word and covert people.
It is going to be interesting, as more and more Muslims will flock here, the Islamic culture will explode.
May be yet another culture shock for St. Joe - and possibly a wake up call for the other churches......
We are the mission field for the Muslims - Ironic, "we" send Missions to Mexico, Central America - overseas and in many cases, we've seemingly forgotten about our own back yard......
Is Christanity in decline?
If so, why?
Is it the money? Is it the hypocrisy? Is is the arrogance?
All of the above?
Intersting times, eh?
Yeh it will be another culture shock for St Joseph and we are still trying to come to grips with the other culture shock but these other cultures need to understand for those of us who have lived here all of our lives it is going to take us time to accept the change as we have never had these other cultures around us.
I said it once before, I'll say it again. Let's see what happens if we try to build a church over in a muslim country and see what happens. Why do we have troops in Iraq? To help promote religious freedom, right? Even if it's to help two or three factions of the muslim religion to learn to live peacefully amonge themselves. But many Christians are being forced to leave because of persecution. Yes, humans can learn to live together but what have we learned from politics? Some people like to argue no matter what.
To respond to St Joe Moe's question: Is Christianity declining? I don't think it is. Christianity is growing faster among the third world population than in the U.S. and Europe. Christianity is declining in Europe because of the influx of foreign people/muslims. Plus secularism trends are increasing. America needs a revival again.
This comment was removed by the site staff.
Shamsuddin May 24, 2009 at 5:11 p.m. (Suggest removal)Salam allaikum(peace be upon you),
This is Shamsuddin I am the muslim convert that you may have read about above and I noticed some of your comments!!! Let me first of all say that I can identify with all your comments because I used to feel the same way, I used to be a Christian and thought that Islam did nothing but oppress but it turns out that I was wrong!! I used to live in Germany and it is so multiculteral because it's so central there were people from Asia, Iran, Iraq, Afganastan, India, Turkey, Morrocco, Tunesia, Lybia, Ghana, Ethiopia, Russia ect.. I'm sure you get the point. I lived in Germany for 16 years and had not known about a mosque until I converted although some of my best friends were Muslims they never tried to force it on me, they never even talked about it!!! All I knew is that they were Muslim and I was Catholic that's it!!! When I became interested in Islam then they opened up to me about it and they even told me brother don't convert unless you believe that this is the straight path, they told me that they would much rather me be a Christian and believe in God than to convert to Islam and lose faith!!! I understand that people will have to get used to a Muslim community because I also had to get used to the Islamic faith myself!! It is not our mission to convert people to Islam because we believe that God Almighty does that alone however if anyone has any curiousity about us than ask us we would be more than happy to answer any questions!!!
PEACE
Peace be upon you brother Mrstjoeguy they're are churches in Iraq and in fact just recently the Iraqi government which I'm sure you know is a muslim lead government declared Christmas as a national holiday which means that they have religous freedom there not everyone who is from arabic origin is Muslim. I took a trip to Egypt which is also a Muslim lead country and visited a church in a town called Hurghada!! We need to learn how to coexist my brother because faith aside we are brothers we all come from our grandparents Adam and Eve peace be upon them both!!! Through our faith's however we are cousins there is just a thin line that seperates Islam from Christianity!!! I must agree with you about Christianity though it's not declining and infact it's the most practiced faith in the world today but brothers it's more important that you hold on to what you believe and what you are ready to pass down to your children!!! We can learn nothing from politics period and need to read and see what the truth is instead of swallowing everything whole!!!
PEACE
I am neutral toward Islam.
My daughter converted 10 years ago in Egypt & married a Muslim (now divorced-he wouldn't work).
Remember, the founder of the religion was a violent man who led an army of conquest. Contrast that with Jesus who advocated peaceful settlement of differences; BE VERY CAREFUL. Also remember that THEORETICALLY women have equal rights, the zealots who have been PERMITTED to take over the governments or religions in most Muslim countries TODAY believe in a medieval system!
notes from a world traveler.
Hello Brother Longarm, peace be upon you I saw your comment and I must respectfully disagree. It sounds like you are more anti Islam than neutral which is okay brother because we can both agree to disagree. However it is something entirely different when you spread false information you must be very careful about that!!! You see brother the prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) advocated peace and never led an army of conquest the only thing he conquered was the hearts of people!!! If you look properly at the prophet Muhammad's (peace be upon him) history you would find that he was very kind and trustworthy so much infact that they called him Al Amin (the trustworthy) he taught his people that you would not enter the gates of heaven unless you love for your brother what you love for yourself, or that you are not a muslim if you go to sleep on a full stomach while your neighbor suffers hunger!!! The prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him)Had a Jewish neighbor who would always throw trash on his door step and one day there was no trash on his door step so he went looking for him. He found out that he was in the hospital so the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) visited him to see if he was okay, now does this sound like a violent man? I'm a world traveler myself infact I've been to Germany and lived there for 16 years, I've been to Austria, Holland, Luxemboug, Switzerland and Egypt!!! While I was in Egypt I was in Safaga, Hurghada, Luxor, and Cairo!!! Egypt is a Muslim country and I've noticed that out of all the places I've been and also being through out the US the Egyptians where the kindest and most giving people I ever met!!! Ohh and trust me it is not a medeval system over there that's what we are made to think!!!! The Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) abolished slavery and gave women equal rights when he conveyed the message of Allah so a medeval system could never come from Islam but cultures!!! Besides most people only look at the Middle East which only makes up 20 percent of the world's Muslim population at 200 mill most people wouldn't think to look at Asia with 300 million Muslims with 170,310,000 in Indonesia alone towering 80 percent over any country in the Middle East or the world but do we ever hear anything out of Indonesia? The answer is no because most people wouldn't consider Indonesia a Muslim nation!!! I'm sorry to hear about your daughter each one of us has our bad apples but that sounds more like a personal issue, you just can't throw people all into one pot because of what someone did!!! I encourage people to look at the WHOLE picture not just one side, Read my people read!!!
Americans live in dangerous times. Muslims are invading and Americans are allowing the invasion to happen. Wake Up America, before it is too late! My husband and I were looking for a small American town to live out our lives. We thought St. Joseph was the town until I saw that St. Joseph was allowing a Mosque to be built. We will continue looking else where . . . if there is a small American town that does not have Muslims. The invasion is in full force, America! The Muslims will "displace" Americans and St. Joseph will soon be waking up to the SOUNDS of Prayer Call. Is this what a beautiful small American town wants to become . . . . a medieval village????