:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/shawmedia/R7LDMITBUPMMUISWNKDHJS5WSA.jpg)
GLEN ELLYN — Farrah Qazi was born and raised in the U.S., attending high school in the suburbs before heading to Chicago to study political science, English literature and Spanish language and literature at Loyola University. She was in law school at DePaul University when the nation she called home was attacked on Sept. 11, 2001, and while she had never felt different from her peers because she was a practicing Muslim, suddenly she was told she was.
“When 9/11 occurred, we became the other,” Farrah said. “Immediately, Muslims became targeted as people that were foreign, as totally different — because we dressed differently, because we look a little different, because our skin color’s different — immediately we were targeted, for lack of a better word, as the ‘enemy’ by some people, not realizing that a good majority of those Muslims were born and raised in the United States like I was or had been in the United States for decades.”
Although the western suburbs of Chicago are predominantly Christian — with about 40 churches in incorporated Wheaton alone — strong Muslim communities do exist in the area. These communities celebrated the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad, a holiday called Mawlid al-Nabi, on Jan. 24.
Farrah is part of the west suburban Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, based at a mosque in Glen Ellyn called Masjid Al Baet-ul-Jaamay, located on Route 53 just one block north of Butterfield Road.
The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community is a sect of Islam that is often persecuted by other Muslims in countries such as Pakistan for their belief that Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of India was the Messiah. Ahmadis are the only Muslims to believe this.
One of Farrah’s concentrations as a lawyer is human and civil rights, and she said it was sad that so many people were suddenly called upon to differentiate themselves from what was being seen on the news after Sept. 11, 2001.
The racial profiling that occurred did not serve the purpose of strengthening national security but instead diminished human rights, she said.
Even today, this same kind of “othering” discourse continues. Farrah said she has heard political candidates make outrageous comments under the guise of patriotism, but she said this American patriotism shouldn’t exclude her as a Muslim.
“We also want to keep America safe because it’s also our country ... we also consider ourselves to be Americans,” Farrah said.
A part of the local community
While her sentiment may not always be understood at a national level, Farrah said she feels accepted by her immediate communities, including her neighborhood and the schools her children attend.
In their neighborhood in North Aurora, the Qazis said they know of one other Muslim family who lives there. But even with the lack of others who share their religious beliefs, they haven’t encountered any problems with their neighbors.
“We’ve been pretty blessed that we have a really great neighborhood,” Farrah said. “People have been very open and understanding.”
This same sentiment about the openness shown by the people they encounter on an everyday basis is shared by Shuaib and Attiya Shams, who are among the Glen Ellyn Ahmadiyya Muslim Community’s founding families.
Their families were part of five or six families in the western suburbs who started meeting at each other’s houses for prayer services about 40 years ago, before the community acquired a mosque in the early 1980s.
Shuaib and Attiya, who have four children ranging from 1 to 6 years old, said they are the only Muslim family at the school their children attend in Geneva and the only family in their neighborhood as well.
Still, they said they live in a very educated place, and people are more inquisitive than anything else.
“I’ve been complimented, our family’s been complimented,” Attiya Shams said. “... because we’re Muslim and we live in this community, that it’s encouraged (neighbors) to find out more about Islam than they would have otherwise.”
And in some cases, it is through their children’s friendships that information about the family’s lifestyle is shared. Some of what is shared are day-to-day things, like how Muslims don’t eat pork or that they pray at five specific times throughout the day.
Sana Latif, a 23-year-old member of the Glen Ellyn mosque, said some of her coworkers in the cosmetics department at Nordstrom will come to her defense now if they hear someone say something negative regarding Islam.
The Glen Ellyn resident said this is because her coworkers have gotten to know her as a person, outside of what they may see about Islam elsewhere.
Faithful representatives
Farrah Qazi’s husband, Manzor, is a physician in Elgin. Since he treats people from all different backgrounds, his role as a doctor gives him the opportunity to explain parts of Islam to a diverse group of people, many of whom ask him questions about his faith.
Manzor said Muslims in the U.S. have a responsibility to explain why events happen overseas, a responsibility other Americans do not have.
“Being a Muslim has a bit of a responsibility because you’re trying to project the correct image of Islam while others are using Islam for their own manipulations and battering that image with each media video or picture that comes out,” Farrah said.
Hina Latif, a 24-year-old sociology graduate student at DePaul University from Glen Ellyn, agrees it can sometimes be challenging to be people’s “go-to Muslim” for any Islam-related question. But when she is called upon to represent Islam, she said it is important to represent Islam in the right way.
Farrah said representing Islam can feel like an especially enormous responsibility if she happens to be the only Muslim someone has ever met, but being in that kind of position and feeling that level of responsibility is not necessarily a bad thing.
“That’s not something I think, generally speaking, other people would have that kind of responsibility — they’re not going to have that on their shoulders,” Farrah said. “But all that being said, I don’t think that’s a complaint, and I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing. I think it’s a unique position, and again, it’s a unique position for us to give our perspective, to educate people.”
And that education relates to the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community’s motto of “love for all, hatred for none,” which Ahmadis strive to demonstrate both through their individual lives and nationwide campaigns.
Spreading 'love for all, hatred for none'
These campaigns include “Muslims for Peace,” “Muslims for Loyalty” and “Muslims for Life.”
The Muslims for Life campaign began by honoring the 10th anniversary of Sept. 11 with blood drives in Washington, D.C., something the campaign continued this past September as well.
The Muslims for Peace and Muslims for Loyalty campaigns encourage American Muslims to defend Islam peacefully and show loyalty to the U.S.
As part of these campaigns, Ahmadis pass out fliers and brochures to spread these messages, Shuaib Shams said.
In addition to these campaigns, Ahmadiyya Muslim youth are actively involved in volunteer efforts through Majlis Khuddamul Ahmadiyya (MKA), the youth auxiliary of the worldwide Ahmadiyya Muslim Community.
MKA USA sponsored a Walk for Humanity in 2012 to benefit the Boys and Girls Club of Lake County, Humanity First and WhyHunger.
Media misunderstandings
Besides campaigns to spread their message of 'love for all, hatred for none,' area Muslims must also fight misperceptions created by the media.
Bashir Ahmad Bhatti, who came to the U.S. from India in 1955 and joined the west suburban Ahmadiyya Muslim Community when he moved to the suburbs in 1988, said the media often disproportionately label Muslims as “terrorists.”
Misunderstandings about Islam, Farrah Qazi pointed out, also stem from confusing religion with nationality.
For example, women are not afforded equal rights in some predominantly Muslim countries, but that is because of the socio-economic issues that exist there, not because of the religion, Farrah said.
Islam teaches that women are equal to men and should be educated as such, she said.
Bhatti said there are Muslims who wish to use the religion as a way to condone violence through the word “jihad."
The word “jihad” means “to strive for” or “to exert” and refers to making an effort to do positive things, he said.
Sharmeen Jariullah, another member of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in Glen Ellyn, said it’s unfortunate some Muslims misrepresent religion for their own political interests.
Jariullah works in the ophthalmology department at the University of Illinois at Chicago and now lives in Chicago, although she's originally from Plainfield.
She said she doesn’t get bitter or angry when she hears or sees Muslim stereotypes. Instead, she personifies the characteristics she wants people to associate with Islam.
Jariullah said she addresses jokes or other comments people might make in a non-confrontational way because growing up, she was always taught not to judge others.
While there are many efforts in place that aim to spread the peaceful message of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community on a larger scale, many Ahmadis agree it comes down to what they do as individuals that can make the biggest difference.