More than 100 people gathered Saturday at the Islamic Center of Central Missouri’s open house to learn more about Islam and the Islamic culture.
The gathering enjoyed food, exchanged knowledge and many people had their names written in Arabic, Columbia Missourian wrote Sunday.
Columbia’s Muslims are as diverse as any other group in Columbia. They are a mixture of various ethnic, racial and national origins. Some own businesses while others wait tables.
The gathering organisers set out 25 chairs at the men’s prayer hall, for visitors who came to listen to a lecture by Hend El-Buri and Maaz Maqbool, of the Muslim Speakers Bureau of Columbia.
El-Buri and Maqbool made five presentations in which they tackled a number of issues linked to the Islamic faith.
Also Imam Mohammed Nabeel Ahmed Khan joined them to reply to people’s questions about theology, culture and politics.
One of the visitors asked about what’s the meaning of Jihad. Maqbool explained that Jihad means “struggle.”
“My personal Jihad is against ignorance,” he said. “I don’t mean that as an entirely bad thing, just as a lack of understanding.”
Tom Nordberg, a pastor at Columbia United Church of Christ, brought some 20 members of his congregation to the open house.
“This is a wonderful opportunity to be received by our brothers and sisters in the religion of Abraham,” Nordberg said. “The more we know, the better,” he added, expressing willingness to engage in joint projects with the ICCM.
Other questions tackled the nature of Muslims’ life in Columbia.
“Since I’ve been here, I’ve never encountered anything negative,” said Khan, who came to Columbia in January.
Participants of the event prepared about 10 different cultural dishes for the visitors. Beside every dish, pink cars were placed, identifying the name of the dish, country of origin and brief description.
“I always like when people ask about my religion,” said Katie Hurst “It’s always nice to share a part of yourself, especially today, when people have come with a genuine interest.”
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