ROCHESTER, N.Y. — The local Muslim community is doing its part to combat Islamophobia a quarter of a century after 9/11.
MORE: Events honoring 9/11 victims: Blood drive and vigil on Thursday, ceremonies on Friday
Every year since 9/11, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community hosts blood drives across the country, including here in Rochester. News10NBC’s Tom Kowalski spoke with leaders at the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community on East Main Street about why it’s important for them to continue this event.
Wajeh Mirza of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community’s Rochester Chapter said the blood drive is part of the Muslims for Life program. The group has been hosting the drive around 9/11 for the past 25 years.
“We’re just trying to do our part in regards to bringing humanity together and to help those in need,” Mirza said.
Mirza said it’s extremely important to do it around this time of year because Muslims and Islam are misrepresented. He said they are unfortunately misconstrued in the media and on social media.
“We try to do our part in regards to making sure that the true and peaceful message of Islam gets out,” Mirza said.
Faraz Ahmed was one of the people who showed up to donate this year, hoping to help push back against Islamophobia.
“I know it’s the 25th anniversary and even if it’s the 26th, we’re going to keep doing it every single year,” Ahmed said.
“God created our bodies in a way where we can give blood,” Ahmed said.
Mirza said they get some very negative comments and backlash on their social media pages. But he said they don’t retaliate or take it to heart.
“On our social media pages, we get some, you know, very negative comments and some backlash and stuff as well. But again, we don’t retaliate or, you know, think anything of it. We don’t kind of take it to heart, we just understand that this is the aspect of educating people,” said Mirza.
He said the Holy Quran states that saving a life is like saving humanity and taking a life is like killing humanity.
“We try to do our part in regards to that as well, fulfilling the aspect of making sure that we try to save lives rather than taking lives, of course,” Mirza explained.
At least a dozen people had donated by the time Tom was at the center around 4 p.m. Thursday.
If you’d like to donate to the American Red Cross, click here.
Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in Rochester holds 9/11 blood drive to fight Islamophobia WHEC.com.
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