Fundraiser for Rebuilding Churches in Pakistan

Members of the All Dulles Area Muslim Society (ADAMS) will have a Fundraising Dinner on Saturday, January 21, at 7pm to help rebuild churches in Pakistan that were wrongfully destroyed by mobs. Keynote address at the fundraiser will be given by y Ambassador Akbar Ahmed, Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies at American University in Washington, DC
Other speakers include Reverend Clark Lobenstine, Executive Director of the Interfaith Conference of Metropolitan Washington, and Imam Mohamed Magid, Executive Director of ADAMS.
Interfaith groups have been invited to help in the rebuild effort.
Islam teaches tolerance and respect for other faiths. Muslims believe in all Prophets of God including Adams, Noah, Jacob, Joseph, Jonah, David, Solomon, Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad (peace be upon them). ADAMS is on the Boards of Reston Interfaith, Fairfax Faith Communities in Action, and The Interfaith Conference of Metropolitan Washington.
CONTACT: Shirin Elkoshairi -- 571-217-9286 or Rizwan Jaka -- 703-624-6352
WHERE: The ADAMS Center 46903 Sugarland Drive, Sterling, VA 20164
One mile south of Route 7, one block west of the intersection of Dranesville Rd and Sugarland.
(From Dulles toll Road, take exit 11(Fairfax County Parkway North), take a left on Wiehle Ave, take a right on Dranesville Rd, take a left on Sugarland Road, after one block, take a left into the parking lot.)
All Dulles Area Muslim Society (ADAMS) is one of the largest Muslim communities/mosques in the DC Metro Area and in the United States. ADAMS is a non-profit 501c(3) organization. ADAMS serves over 5000 families and has 7 branches (Sterling/Herndon, Tysons Corner, Fairfax, Reston, Leesburg, Ashburn, and South Riding) in Northern Virginia. ADAMS Center is governed by a 13-member democratically elected board of trustees comprising of men and women. ADAMS engages in regular interfaith, government relations, social services, and community service. ADAMS has one of the largest Cub Scout, Boy Scout, and Girl Scout programs in the DC Metro area
An email message pertaining to the ADAMS initiative reads:
As many of you already know, on November 12, violence and terror swept through Sangala Hill, Pakistan. A violent mob of over 1,000 people attacked both churches and other building associated with the Shanti Nagar Christian community. Among them were the following:
• a local Catholic church;
• a local Salvation Army church and facility;
• a local Presbyterian church, erected in 1902;
• a 68-year-old girls’ school (where 90 percents of the students were Muslim); and
• a home for priests and nuns.
The mob forced almost all the families of Shanti Nagar to flee their homes for safety; all the while, the local police made no effort to stop the senseless violence.
The preliminary inquiry into the incident revealed that it began over a money-related dispute between two gamblers – one Muslim, the other Christian – who were playing cards. The reason for the deplorable violence: the Muslim falsely accused the Christian of burning the Holy Qu’ran.
As American Muslims of Pakistani origin, we cannot simply stand idly by as the level of violence toward non-Muslim Pakistanis continues to rise.
We cannot remain silent about the desecration of places of worship, no matter their creed; nor can we remain silent over the complete failure of local Pakistani authorities to protect religious minorities against senseless persecution.
We must take a stand on this issue, which has caused already-tense relations between Muslims and people of other faiths to worsen globally while also dividing Pakistanis along religious lines.
We must take a stand against religious discrimination in all its forms by helping to rebuild at least one of the three churches that were destroyed, so that we may demonstrate to the world that Pakistani Muslims, whether at home or abroad, stand together in tolerance and respect for all people.
We thus ask for your full support in the rebuilding effort for the Catholic church that was destroyed in this act of sectarian violence. fundraiser will be held at ADAMS Center on January 21, 2006 at 7:00 PM. A

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