The way Hazeem Pudhiapura sees it, Islamic terrorists did more than hijack planes and kill thousands on Sept. 11, 2001. They stole something else, too.
“They also hijacked Islam from mainstream Muslims,” said Pudhiapura, president of the Georgia chapter of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, the nation’s oldest Muslim organization. “We want to take that back from these terrorists and return it to those who are promoting sanctity, peace and loyalty.”
This Muslim community has a motto: “Love for all, hatred for none.” In that vein, Pudhiapura encourages moderate Muslims and those of other faiths to donate blood to honor the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on U.S. soil.
You’d be partaking in a national campaign that moderate Muslims, in conjunction with the American Red Cross, bills “Muslims for Life.” Several blood drives are being held across metro Atlanta to promote the effort.
The inaugural drive takes place from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. today during the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Decatur Book Festival. (Visit www.muslimsforlife.org. for details on other venues.)
If you can’t donate on specific dates, arrange to donate at any of metro Atlanta’s American Red Cross blood banks. Explain that you’re a donor for the Muslims for Life campaign.
This month, blood drives will be hosted at Ahmadiyya mosques and prayer centers across the United States. Organizers hope to collect 10,000 units of blood which, Pudhiapura said, could potentially save 30,000 lives.
Last year, the Ahmadiyya community conducted a “Muslims for Peace” campaign in the United States and the United Kingdom. Its purpose: To show that Muslims stand for peace. Believers distributed fliers door to door and approached people in public spaces to spread their message. That’s pretty gutsy, given some of the blatant anti-Muslim rhetoric that surfaces when mosques are opposed in some communities.
“People have accepted us, most of the time,” Pudhiapura said. “Most supported us, but there are people — because of lack of knowledge and the knowledge they get from extremists — who don’t. We are trying to do small stuff, good stuff, to promote peace, but they don’t hear about that.”
Chapter 5 of the Quran includes a verse that’s antithetical to views expressed by Muslim extremists. It states: “Whoever unjustly kills a single person it is as if he had killed all of mankind; and whoever saves the life of one person, it is as if he has saved the life of all of humanity.”
Said Pudhiapura: “The message is very simple. We want to take Islam back from these terrorists and return it to those who are promoting sanctity, peace and loyalty. We have to fight the ideology of extremism within Islam, and we are doing it.”
Pudhiapura admitted that it has been a few years since he’s given blood. This go ’round, he hopes you join him.
“We need fellow Georgians, not just moderate Muslims, to join us,” he said. “Go to any Red Cross Center and use the Muslims for Life campaign. It will help us defeat the extremists.”
Rick Badie, an Opinion columnist, is based in Gwinnett. Reach him at rbadie@ajc.com or 770-263-3875.
