By Karin Friedemann, TMO

I cancelled Comcast for the summer to save money, which has resulted in a TV and internet free environment for my family. Our entertainment has now been reduced to watching library DVDs on the computer. Because the computer is in the master bedroom, the scene is four kids trying to get away with eating pizza on the king sized futon and putting their feet on my pillows on a very regular basis. The upside of this situation is:

– The children will gladly make the bed and vacuum if it means they can watch a movie.

– Library DVDs usually have some educational or philosophical or cultural content.

– Nobody can watch anything while I am asleep or working on the computer.

Now that the summer of 2012 is nearing its close, I am evaluating the effects on my life of having no TV or internet in my home. On the negative side, it is harder for me to get updated on Islamic events. Today I rushed from the grocery store to the library to check my email 15 minutes before closing, but was too late. They had already shut down the computers. So I don’t know what time the Eid prayers will be held on Sunday. Luckily, I have someone’s phone number from the Islamic Center so no problem inshaAllah.

On the whole, the benefits outweigh the negatives, such as:

– Increased use of prioritizing internet time. The library only allows a person one hour on the computer, so Facebook time has been cut dramatically. Instead of checking all my friends’ updates, I go straight to my Inbox and reply only to personal mail, taking a half hour tops. That leaves me 30 minutes to pay an online bill, look up some item of interest, or update my blog. What a dramatic change from my old lifestyle of impatiently checking my updates all day long!

– Increased use of free print media. For wont of things to read to provoke my intellectual curiosity, I now more frequently pick up free neighborhood newspapers. As a result, I have been better informed about local events, very importantly including free public barbeque parties. A local bank’s five year anniversary party offered free burgers, hot dogs, chips, juice, cake, helium balloons, and a fistful of free pens. A local parish offered unlimited pony rides, a bouncy house, and food throughout another Saturday afternoon this summer. These events have turned out to be great ways to meet neighbors.

– Increased socializing. The upslope has not been dramatic, but steady. As my boredom increases with lack of contact with the outside world, the more the importance actual people take up of my time and energy; in particular people whose phone numbers I have. So whether it’s someone I knew from high school or someone I would like to know, the absence of internet in my home increases the likelihood of my calling them to say hello.

– Increased use of radio in the home. Needless to say, my tweenagers call the shots when it comes to what music we will listen to as we chop vegetables or tidy up the living room. This has given me increased insight as to what is meaningful to them. My son pointed out one popular song, telling me it was the story of my life, and I was touched that he had thought about the events of my life on such a level. On other occasions, the presence of radio in our home instead of the TV has resulted in family dance parties and recitals.

– Increased exercise. In the days when I had internet in my private office with a locked door that I could use to shut out all commotion, I spent the majority of my day with one hand on the mouse. This resulted in serious chronic muscle spasms in my neck as well as tendonitis in my arm. Now that we have no choice but to listen to CDs or cassettes, my children have become exposed to Pakistani Sufi music, Bob Dylan’s poetry, and the Beatles. It is so important for the human body to reach upwards with the arms. If we do not ever dance, we lose all the muscle tone in our shoulders, lungs, and stomach. Dance is the most intimate of physical activities beyond the marital act, so it is important to provide a private environment, but it is essential to the human condition to be able to express the human joy of living life to its full physical and emotional capacity.

– Going outside more. When there is nothing to do at home, the next thing to do is to leave. I am very proud of my 13 year old son, who has started walking home from the Boys and Girls Club to save me the trouble of picking him up, a walk which can take 40 minutes. When I was his age, I had to walk almost that far to school but nowadays we have to question whether or not walking home alone is safe. In my experience, a kid on a bike is more likely to get hassled, especially if someone wants to steal the bike. My advice is always to learn to ride a skateboard – it is faster than walking yet you can carry it onto a train or into a store so it is much more convenient than riding a bicycle.

School will soon begin again, and with school comes the stresses of homework, busses, and tests. I am glad we still live in a country where kids get the summer off, because even if they are not actually needed to tend to any crops, I still need them here to do chores around the home and help take care of their younger siblings. I want them to succeed academically but I am also very grateful to God that I had them here at home this summer so we could be a family.

14-35

By Eric S. Margolis

The Polish Zionist ideologue Vladimir Jabotinsky, father of Israel’s right wing, observed nearly a century ago that much of the Arab world was a fragile mosaic. A few sharp blows, he wrote, would cause it to shatter, leaving Israel the region’s dominant power. Jabotinsky may have been right.

Even if the Bashar al-Assad regime manages to hang on in Syria, that country’s economy is being wrecked, its people driven into poverty and neighbors tempted to intervene. Israel just threatened to attack Syria’s modest store of chemical weapons. Turkey is stumbling into the morass, egged on by the Saudis and Gulf Arabs. Russia’s national prestige is increasingly involved in Syria — which is as close to its borders as northern Mexico is to the United States. Iran may yet get involved.

We could be observing the beginning of a twenty-first-century version of the 1930s Spanish Civil War, which became a proxy struggle between Germany, Italy and the Soviet Union. The only thing we know for sure about Syria’s civil conflict is that it is extremely dangerous to the entire region. Its outcome is entirely unpredictable. Meanwhile, the West keeps fueling the fires.
As a veteran correspondent who has covered fourteen conflicts and closely followed events in Syria since 1975, I have become convinced that there’s much more to the current situation there than Westerners are being told by their governments or the blinkered media.

Last week, Reuters reported a classified intelligence “finding” signed by President Obama authorizing aid to the Syrian rebels. This may be the tip of an iceberg that eventually reveals an extensive covert campaign by the United States, Britain, France, Saudi Arabia and Turkey to overthrow the Assad government in Damascus. According to this scenario, these U.S. allies would be using Qatar, assorted freelance jihadists and Lebanese rightists as cat’s-paws to sustain the uprising. Jihadists, both Syrian and foreign, may also play a spearhead role in the fighting.
In fact, the Assad clan was long a target of jihadist wrath; the family was described as godless tyrants oppressing good Muslims, in bed with the heretical Shia of Iran and too often cooperating with Western powers. Osama Bin Laden himself called on all jihadists to overthrow the Assads. Bin Laden is gone, but the movement he sparked continues to gain momentum.

It is no surprise that revolution has again erupted in Syria: the Assad family and its Alawite power base have brutally ruled for more than forty years. Rebellions by the Sunni majority, led by the underground Muslim Brotherhood, have been ferociously crushed. I was outside the city of Hama in 1982 when government heavy guns and tanks put down a Sunni rebellion there, inflicting an estimated ten thousand casualties.

But until recently, Syria was in our good books. The Assad regime quietly cooperated with Western powers and Israel, jailed or liquidated Islamists, and kept quiet about the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights. The Bush administration even sent Islamist suspects to be imprisoned in Syria. Assad and his henchmen were another of our unsavory allies.

However, that was before war fever over Iran gripped Washington. Overthrowing the Assad government, Iran’s only Arab ally, would be a natural first step in overthrowing Iran’s Islamic government and isolating, then eliminating, Israel’s bitter Lebanese foe, Hezbollah.

If Syria were shattered into weak mini-states and Hezbollah crushed, Lebanon likely would become an Israeli protectorate. Such was the strategic plan of Israel’s General Ariel Sharon in 1982.

Western powers may already be employing the same destabilization methods in Syria that were perfected in Libya. French foreign intelligence cobbled together a group of Libyan exiles to form the “National Forces Coalition,” which rallied anti-Gadhafi elements in Benghazi. Britain’s MI-6 intelligence had been active there for decades, stirring up Gadhafi regime opponents.

In Libya, NATO air power intervened on “humanitarian” grounds to halt the killing of civilians. News reports showed only lightly armed civilians battling Gadhafi’s regulars. Not shown were French, British, and some other Western special forces disguised as Libyans; they did much of the fighting and targeted air strikes.

France made use of similar tactics in its brief border war with Libya in 1986 over the disputed Aouzou Strip on the Chadian-Libyan desert border where Chadian troops supposedly routed the Libyans. In reality, the “Chadians” were tough French Foreign Legionnaires decked out in Bedouin dress. I actually interviewed some of them.

Fast-forward to today’s Syria. As a former soldier, I cannot believe that anti-Assad forces in Syria have made such great strides on their own. All armed forces require command and control, specialized training, communications and logistics. How have anti-Assad forces moved so quickly and pushed back Syria’s capable, well-equipped army? Where does all their ammunition come from? Who is supplying all those modern assault rifles?

How have so many Syrian T-72 tanks and other armored vehicles been knocked out? Not by amateur street fighters. Powerful antitank weapons have been used extensively. You don’t blow up a modern T-72 tank with light handheld RPG rockets. The use of heavy weapons suggests that outside forces are involved in the fighting, as they were in Libya.

Now come reports that the rebels are receiving small numbers of portable antiaircraft missiles. If properly used, they would threaten the Assad regime’s armed helicopters. Yet using such missiles requires a good deal of training. I saw in Afghanistan in the 1980s how long it took the mujahidin to learn this skill from CIA instructors.

If Syria’s rebels are being trained, it is probably happening in Turkey (which makes America’s Stinger AA missile under license). However, the U.S. has a major campaign under way to prevent jihadist groups from acquiring such portable missiles. If the Taliban received effective antiaircraft missiles, U.S. military operations in Afghanistan would be seriously threatened.

According to Reuters sources, the United States may have worked with Turkish allies to set up a command HQ at Adana, close to its Incirlik airbase in eastern Turkey, near the Syrian border. This is where it would make sense for U.S. intelligence to coordinate the flow of arms, communications gear, medical supplies, food and munitions to the Syrian rebels.

Other unverified reports from the Mideast suggest that the U.S. mercenary firm formerly known as Blackwater (it recently changed its name to Academi) is training Syrian rebels in Turkey, moving veteran mercenaries in from Iraq (where there were once fifty thousand U.S.-paid private soldiers), and sending combat units into Syria.

Anti-regime groups such as the Free Syrian Army would probably be ineffective without some kind of covert Western support. Whether they can grasp power from the jihadis, who now dominate the streets, remains to be seen. This gambit seems to have worked in Libya. Syria, in contrast, is a very complex nation whose modern era has been marked by instability and coups.

After overthrowing one Syrian government in the late 1940s, Washington wisely backed off. Now it may get drawn back into the vortex of one of the Mideast’s most difficult nations.

(Eric S. Margolis is an internationally syndicated columnist whose articles have appeared in the New York Times, International Herald Tribune, Los Angeles Times and others. He is a regular columnist for the Huffington Post, LewRockwell.com, Gulf Times of Qatar, Khaleej Times of Dubai, Nation Pakistan, and Sun Malaysia. He is a member of the Institute for Strategic Studies in London, UK and his latest book is “American Raj: Liberation or Domination?” published by Key Porter in 2008. This article was slightly edited for the CIC Friday Magazine.)

14-35

By Aijaz Zaka Syed

Egypt’s President Mohamed Mursi smiles during a meeting with IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde at the Presidential Palace in Cairo, August 22, 2012. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh

Most newspapers in India where I am right now ignored the developments in Egypt choosing to bury them inside. Even Urdu dailies that usually show greater interest in the goings on in the Middle East went with the current. But anyone with the slightest familiarity with the Middle East would know that the sacking of the army chief Gen. Hussain Tantawi and chief of army staff Gen. Sami Enon by President Muhammad Mursi is nothing short of a political earthquake in the volatile region.

It’s perhaps as earth shaking in its import as the departure of Hosni Mubarak last year, perhaps even more. Surely the raw and inexperienced new civilian president cannot get away with this, argued the pundits. And like everyone else I found myself waiting with bated breath for the swift response that Mursi’s action was almost certain to invite from the military which has ruled Egypt for the past six decades.

Nothing has happened though. So far. Mursi’s great gamble seems to have paid off for now. The army has seemingly taken the change in its stride. Given the prevailing mood and scenes of instant jubilation on the streets of Egypt though, perhaps it had little choice in any case. Mursi’s purge hasn’t been limited to the firing of 75-year old Tantawi and equally seasoned Enon. The entire old guard, including chiefs of air force, navy, intelligence and military heads of various money-spinning government bodies like the Suez Canal Authority, has been shown the door.

For someone dismissed until weeks ago as a lightweight president without a job description and sans real powers, Mursi has demonstrated incredible chutzpah and alacrity in taking on the institution that has wielded power since King Farouk was banished 60 years ago by Naguib and Nasser.

Within days of taking over as the first freely elected civilian president, Mursi defied the generals by convening Parliament, elected with much fanfare after Mubarak’s exit and promptly dissolved by the army and the so-called supreme constitutional court.

Mursi’s move, however, provoked instant rebuke by the military-appointed judges and the new president graciously retreated. It was clearly a tactical retreat by the US-educated former professor, having realized that unless the genie of the army was coaxed back into the bottle the real change would forever remain elusive.

As elsewhere in Maghreb, the army holds the key to power in Egypt. And now that key is in the hands of the Islamist president. Considering the pivotal nature of Egypt in the Middle East and the strategic region straddling the Middle East and Africa, this is nothing short of a revolution in itself. A people’s coup against the men in khaki who have for once been caught in the web of their own machinations and intrigues.

The generals may have willy-nilly allowed a Brotherhood man to replace their old comrade what with the chant of ‘change’ rising from the Tahrir Square, they could never really stomach it. The night before the presidential runoff, the generals granted themselves all the powers that belonged to the incoming president. Democracy or no democracy, real power would rest with the self-styled Supreme Council of the Armed Forces and they let everyone know it.

Yet Mursi and the junta went with the charade of “transfer of power” from the military to the president even though nothing except the presidential palace was turned over to the new head of state. The new leader, however, bided his time, waiting for the right opportunity to strike. It presented itself following the Sinai massacre of 16 unsuspecting Egyptian border guards having their iftar.

The Sinai killings were clearly timed and intended to spark a new political and security crisis, undermining Egypt’s new leadership as well as its relationship with the Palestinians, especially Gaza’s Islamist rulers. Hamas is an ideological affiliate of the Brotherhood. The loudest cheers for Mursi’s victory were predictably heard in the Palestinian territories.

Soon after taking charge, Mursi didn’t just order the opening of the Rafah border crossing, offering respite to the long besieged people of Gaza. (Rafah is the only connection with the outside world and thus the lifeline for the Palestinians. It has remained shut thanks to Egypt’s understanding with Israel.) In his meetings with the Hamas leadership in Cairo last month, Mursi emphasized that his top priority was achieving unity “between Hamas and Fatah, supplying Gaza with fuel and electricity and easing the restrictions on the border crossing between Gaza and Egypt.”

No wonder many across the Arab world are convinced the Sinai attack was carried out by the Israelis, possibly with support from friends inside Egypt. Indeed, the smooth and effortless ‘operation’ has Mossad fingerprints all over it and the new Egypt-Palestinian equation as well as the Islamist leadership in Cairo had been the obvious target. Israel has never tried to hide its panic over the ascent of the Brotherhood next door. Egypt has been crucial to Israel’s scheme of occupation and dispossession of the Palestinians and dominance of the region. While Israel has experimented with some of the worst forms of abuse against the Palestinians over the past half a century, the proud leader of the Arab world looked the other way. The annual $1.3 billion US aid going directly to the Egyptian Army certainly helped.

No wonder the Tahrir revolution set the cat among the pigeons in Israel. A democratic and independent Egypt wouldn’t be as pliable. The cold-blooded Sinai attack must be seen against this backdrop.
As my friend Ramzy Baroud argues in his latest piece, who stands to benefit from the Sinai episode? Why would the Hamas or any “Islamist militant” group for that matter, target the Egyptian soldiers quietly having their iftar, inviting the wrath of the Egyptian state? And why would the masked gunmen after carrying out the attack and having duly photographed their handiwork melt into Israel, unless they were following Israeli orders or were the Israelis themselves?

After all, Israel has a long history of using murder, subterfuge and obfuscation as state policy, last seen in the poisoning of Arafat and the assassination of Hamas leader Mahmoud Al-Mabhouh in Dubai. But if the Sinai outrage was designed to destabilize Egypt’s new democratic leadership and strengthen Israel’s friends in the military establishment, it ended up achieving exactly the opposite.
Instead of waiting for the army’s explanation and action, Mursi moved with remarkable swiftness sacking the Sinai officials and intelligence chief, besides dispatching gunships to pursue those responsible for the carnage.

Indeed, he went a step ahead, turning the crisis into an opportunity to do what would have been unthinkable only days ago — clipping the generals’ wings and effectively taking charge of the country’s destiny. Perhaps Mursi too was left with no options considering the growing rumors in recent days of a military coup against his leadership with some in the media openly egging on the army to take out the new president.

Whatever be the truth, change has come to Egypt and the Middle East and nothing and no one can stop or reverse it now. And what happens in the country perceived by the rest of the Arab world as Ummud Duniya (mother of all civilization) is sure to impact the region and beyond.

Of course, the road ahead isn’t going to be easy by any means, perhaps even more arduous than it has been so far, considering the formidable challenges facing Egypt on all fronts. Besides, those who have tried to arrest the winds of change in Egypt aren’t going to give up. The Middle East has interesting times ahead.

— Aijaz Zaka Syed is a widely published writer. Write him at aijaz.syed@hotmail.com

14-35

Signs religious tolerance bill, attends ‘Eid Prayers

By Art Golab

Gov. Pat Quinn joins in prayer with Chicago area Muslims during Salaat al-Eid at Toyota Park, which celebrates the end of Ramadan (the holy month of fasting observed by Muslims).

By Brian Jackson

Gov. Pat Quinn joins in prayer with Chicago area Muslims during Salaat al-Eid at Toyota Park. Sunday, August 19, 2012 | Brian Jackson~Sun Times

Gov. Pat Quinn celebrated the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan at a ceremony that drew 15,000 people to Toyota Park on Sunday morning in the southwest suburb of Bridgeview.

The governor used the occasion to sign a bill that will allow university students who have religious holiday conflicts with tests or assignments to ask for and receive alternate assignments.

Gov. Quinn also decried recent attacks against local Muslims, citing a shooting at a Morton Grove mosque, an attack on an Islamic school in Lombard and the desecration of a grave in an Evergreen Park cemetery.

The Empire State Building with green lights for ‘Eid.	An Episcopal church celebrates the coming of ‘Eid for Muslims.

“These are un-American acts,” he said. “The people of Illinois, all 13 million, abhor anyone who would commit these serious acts of violence as a violation of our constitution.”

The governor called religious freedom “The most American and fundamental freedom that we have in our country,” and said “The First Amendment of our constitution says that everyone, everyone has the right to practice their religion and their faith without fear of intimidation.”

The celebration of the end of Ramadan, a month of fasting, prayer and reflection, was organized by the Bridge-view Mosque, led by Imam Jamal Said.

The soccer field was entirely covered by Muslims who listened to speeches and were led in prayers by Said. Following the Muslim tradition, women were seated separately from men.

Quinn, kneeling on a rug facing the holy city of Mecca, followed along as thousands bowed in prayer to celebrate Eid, the Muslim holiday that marks the end of Ramadan.

“It’s a time to bring families together, a time for peace, a time for prosperity, a time for the Muslim community to reflect on all the great things we have,” said Rashad Darwish, a member of the mosque.

After participating in the ceremony and praying, the governor left without talking to reporters.

14-35

(ANAHEIM, August 9, 2012) – The Islamic Shura Council urges Muslims to respond the call from the Islamic Society of Joplin to rebuild their Mosque that was burned down recently in a suspected arson. The Mosque had played a central role for the Muslim community from as far as 50 miles from Joplin serving both Muslims and the community at large. During tornados, the Joplin Mosque served as a hub for Muslim relief workers serving Missourians in rebuilding  their lives.
 
While the investigation continues, the Joplin community has called for help to rebuild their Mosque. “It is our collective responsibility to respond positively and now,” said Dr. Muzammil Siddiqi, the Chairman of the Shura Council. He further added that “there cannot be a better time than the last ten days of Ramadan for Muslims in Southern California to demonstrate their solidarity with the Muslims in Joplin.”
 
Shura Council will gather all of your donations for the Mosque in Joplin and send one check to the Islamic Society of Joplin on behalf of all the Muslims in Southern California.
 
We ask that you donate today and avail any option of your choice:
 
1. Donate online by credit card or paypal.
2. Donate by check. Payable to Shura Council and write Joplin Mosque in the memo. Our address is 2115 W. Crescent Ave., #261, Anaheim, CA 92801
3. Call us at 714.239.6473

By Adil James, TMO

1,000 Detroiters attended a Sikh Temple (or Gurduwara) on Monday August 13th to commemorate the horrific violence against the Oak Creek Temple on Sunday morning, August 12, 2012, during which a white supremacist killed six innocent Sikhs (five men and one woman) he encountered at the temple.

Wade Page, the army soldier who had served before 9/11, and received an honorable discharge, but who had been demoted prior to discharge, used a legally purchased handgun to commit the murders and to kill himself after he was wounded by police.

Detroit Muslims attended the memorial service, the Muslims being in part organized by the Michigan Muslim Community Council and the Interfaith Leadership Council of the Metropolitan Detroit (IFLC). 

Attendees included many members of other faiths as well., and along with many other major Muslim community groups MMCC issued a press release condemning the horrific attack.

“Our heartfelt sympathies go out to the victims of this senseless tragedy.  May God grant much patience to the families of the victims.  To God we belong and to Him is our return. (Baqara: 156)” said Dr. Muzammil Ahmed, Chair of the MMCC.

Ghalib Begg, Senior Advisor to MMCC, spoke as well, saying “This attack was intended for Muslims, but our Sikh brethren became the victims, bringing home this traumatic, tragic, horrible act of violence close to Muslim American hearts.” 

“We stand together today in mourning.”

Many prominent Muslims were in attendance, including Eide Alawan, Shahid Tahir, Qaid Saifee, Dr. AS Nakadar, and others. Some of the Muslims broke their Ramadan fast at iftar time at the temple to show solidarity with the Sikh community.

Dr. Tirlochen Singh, one of the leading members of the temple, said it is unfortunate that we are gathered here for such an unfortunate reason. He emphasized the importance of compassion and mutual devotion and understanding.

14-34

By TMO, based on Al-Arabiya articles

Emine Erdoğan, the Turkish prime minister’s spouse, seen in tears in her visit to the troubled Rohingya Muslims with Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu in Myanmar. (Photo: AA)

The Burmese Muslims, or Rohingyas, have suffered greatly recently from the horrific actions of other Burmese, Buddhist monks and the Burmese army.  However, according to reports from the past, Burma apparently also suffered from a relatively unknown atrocity by the British during WWI.

Recently, on August 9, a Turkish delegation led by Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu arrived in Burma with relief goods for the Rohingya Muslims of Arakan province who have been devastated by Buddhist mobs and Burmese troops.  After giving relief goods to the Muslims, the delegates also went to Buddhists affected by the conflict and gave them goods too. The Turks said they were doing this because “we want both Muslims and Buddhists to live together in peace.” [Source: RTT News.]

On August 10, Prime Minister Erdogan’s wife Emine went to Bandubda refugee camp where the Muslims worst affected are living. Sis. Emine could not control her tears when she saw the conditions of the oppressed Muslims.

In Turkey, 3.4 million TL was collected for the Rohingya Muslims. [Source Zaman newspaper of Turkey.]

The irony of this situation is that Davutoglu is also engaging with abuses against Burmese soldiers during WWI, nearly 100 years ago.

1500 prisoners are said to have been killed by the British during that event.

The Turkish delegation, while organizing new ties with Myanmar, is also exploring the information about the 1500 prisoners, who were executed by the British in the war against Turkey in World War I, transported all the way to Burma and EXECUTED there. Transportation of prisoners out of the area of war, as the US has done in Gtmo, is a violation of international law and humanity.

14-34

By Parvez Fatteh, Founder of http://sportingummah.com, sports@muslimobserver.com

File:  Habiba Ghribi, Tunisian Silver-Medalist

Tunisian middle and long distance runner Habiba Ghribi became her country’s first female medalist at the 2012 London Games. Ghribi finished second in the women’s 3000 meter steeplechase, garnering the silver medal.

Ghribi, who started her career as a cross country runner, represented Tunisia at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, finishing thirteenth in the first ever women’s Olympic steeplechase race. She was subsequently voted the Best Sportswoman of 2009 by the Arabic daily newspaper Assahafa.

However, radicals on social media networks have put a damper on the country’s celebrations by calling on the government to strip Ghribi of her nationality because her running gear was too revealing.
Tunisia’s only two other medals at the 2012 London Games were won by male swimmer Mellouli Oussama, who won the bronze medal in the men’s 1500 meter freestyle. But Oussama brought home the gold for Tunisia in the men’s 10km marathon.

14-34

By Josh Levs

(CNN) — When 20-year-old Ashley Carter heard about a mosque burned to the ground in her town this week, she was shocked.

“I was very saddened,” she told CNN on Wednesday. “I thought it was very evil.”

So Carter, a student at Ozark Christian College in Joplin, Missouri, texted a friend, suggesting they organize an event “promoting acts of love.”

But quickly, the idea changed: They would organize a “rally of people coming together, from all walks of life, all religions, a really diverse group of people trying to promote this radical love.”

She called Kimberly Kester, spokeswoman for the Islamic Society of Joplin, whose worship house serving about 50 families in the southwest Missouri city burned down Monday. Investigators have not determined the cause, but the mosque has been attacked in the past.

Kester supported the idea. So Carter and some of her friends created the plan for the rally and announced it on a Facebook page. The next day, Tuesday, word began to spread. By Wednesday morning, more than 400 people had posted that they would attend the event, scheduled for Saturday, August 25.

Carter said she was inspired by “my love for Jesus. And I know that Jesus calls us to love people.”

“With everything that’s been happening in the news this week” — which includes a shooting Sunday at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin that left six worshipers and the gunman dead — “I was pretty discouraged,” Carter said. “Regardless of what you believe, I think everybody’s entitled to loving whoever.”

Kester told CNN she and other members of the mosque plan to attend the rally.

The response to the burning from people throughout the community has been “outstanding,” she said. “There were representatives from different churches, different organizations at the site that afternoon speaking to the Imam. People have been calling anyone that they know that has been involved with the mosque, offering to help.”

St. Philip’s Episcopal Church in Joplin is hosting an iftar — a meal eaten by Muslims after dark during Ramadan — on Wednesday evening. The Council on American-Islamic Relations announced that speakers will include members of the interfaith community. Sponsoring groups include the South Joplin Christian Church, the United Hebrew Congregation, the First Community Church and Peace Lutheran Church, CAIR said.

Representatives of various Islamic groups will attend, Kester said. They will discuss the future and what provisions are needed to continue Sunday school and prayers.

The mosque is holding daily prayers at someone’s house now, and expects to rent a new place as soon as this week, although numerous religious institutions have offered their facilities, Kester said.
“We’re hoping for security and that type of support from our community,” she added.

Members say this is an opportunity to kind of start over and improve on things that we’ve always wanted to improve upon, like our security system or Sunday school facilities,” she said. “It’s a time for us to unite and focus on supporting each other. And yes, it’s a tragedy … but we want to focus on coming together and building a stronger community.”

No final decision has been made on whether the mosque will move to a new location, but there is a consensus to move inside the city limits, Kester said. “We feel that the response time for fire employees would be less if were in the city limits and it would offer us a little bit more protection and security.”

No definite plans will be made before an investigation is completed into the burning, said the mosque’s treasurer, Navid Zaidi. “We need to get this crime solved, before we do anything.”

He said he hopes the rally is safe and that authorities keep everyone protected. Assuming the fire was arson, the perpetrator “is out there — he is loose,” Zaidi said.

Zaidi described the support coming from the community as “tremendous.”

A fundraising effort to help rebuild the mosque is off to an auspicious start.

The website of the official campaign shows a goal of $250,000, with more than $40,000 pledged by Wednesday afternoon.

A video for the campaign refers to the mosque as “our refuge in a crazy and hectic world.” It shows what the mosque looked like, followed by images of the charred wreckage.

Arsalan Iftikhar, an international human rights lawyer and founder of TheMuslimGuy.com, tweeted that he will donate a dollar for every retweet of his message. He quickly got hundreds of retweets.
Iftikhar is a frequent contributor to CNN.com.

Carter says she expects donations to be taken at the rally. And anyone who wants to donate money to cover the costs of staging the rally can through the Facebook page.

Different kinds of bands will play, including religious bands, she said. And speakers will talk about “promoting love.”

“When there’s an act of hate, you have a choice to make it something beautiful. So that’s what this is all about: making things beautiful from things that aren’t.”

CNN’s Anna-Lysa Gayle contributed to this report.

14-34