Samuel Hadelman Photo
Saifuddin Hassan at WNHH.
As Muslims prepare for their annual month-long celebration of Ramadan, Iman Saifuddin Hassan is preaching a message of peace and acceptance.
“The way we should express our faith is communication,” Hassan said Wednesday during an appearance on WNHH radio’s “Mornings With Mubarakah.” Hassan went on to say that the Muslim community is embedded in America’s culture, noting that “30 percent of the slaves brought here were Muslim” and “Muslims even predate Columbus.”
Hassan appeared on the show days before Ramadan, which begins Saturday, and two days after a terrorist attack in Manchester, England, revived some public hostility toward Muslims.
“We’ve been turning blue in the face condemning terrorism,” said Hassan, who is currently serving as acting imam at George Street’s Masjid Islam while the regular imam faces possible deportation after being taken into custody by federal agents.
Hassan stated that the people committing terrorism cannot be doing it in the name of true Islam, because the religion itself condemns violence ferociously. When a Muslim terrorist commits an act people use it to condemn the whole religion, while when an act is carried out by a white Christian, like the Oklahoma City bombing, no one uses it to condemn Christianity. He noted as well that Muslims come from all racial backgrounds, including Caucasian, African-American and Hispanic.
“Muslims are under siege,” he said. “We are the victims of terrorism more than anyone else.” Hassan said he thinks that this array of attacks by ISIS may be a result of the oppressive forces that are in power in some Muslim nations in the Middle East.
Hassan called for the local Islamic community to become more open about expressing its faith and deal head on with problems like drugs and troubled youth. “We should not feel ashamed of who we are,” he said. “We have to come together and be the forefront to try and bring upon a better world.”
Click on or download the above audio file to hear the full interview with Hassan on WNHH radio’s “Mornings with Mubarakah,” in which he spoke at length about why Muslims fast on Ramadan.