Muslims Use Billboards to Condemn Violence in Orlando, Saudi Arabia, Dallas and Other Places
By Dr Sabeel Ahmed

Chicago, IL: GainPeace, an outreach organization in Chicago, has launched an outreach campaign using highway billboards to condemn the Orlando shooting and other forms of violence.  The campaign, which runs from June to Aug 16, includes three billboards on Chicago highways, each running for a month.

GainPeace’s campaign is in response to the increasing rhetoric by a presidential nominee and the recent mass shooting in Orlando, FL, and bombings in Turkey, Bangladesh, Iraq and Saudi Arabia.

Besides condemning violence, these billboards offer the public the opportunity to call GainPeace’s outreach hotline to ask any question on Islam and request a free copy of the Qur’an in English or Spanish.  

Dr Sabeel Ahmed, director of GainPeace, claims the “billboards have generated numerous calls of support for the Muslim community and commend GainPeace on embarking on a campaign to educate and build bridges.”  He adds: ‘Hopefully, by learning from the source of Islam, the   Qu’ran, the readers will find that Islam stands  against violence, killing, and injustice and  for justice and preservation of all lives.”  

So far this year, GainPeace has hosted 26 such billboards across Chicago, Detroit and Kansas City.  Approximately 600 copies of the Qur’an were mailed in June 2016 in response to calls placed on GainPeace outreach phone line, 1-800-662-ISLAM and GainPeace.com website.

Due the profound success of the billboard campaign, GainPeace plans to add another 15 billboards in other cities in 2016.