Members of the Hillside Islamic Center on Sunday said the violence in Iraq, Syria and Gaza is creating a false image of Islam to the world.
“All these modern terrorist groups present themselves as Muslim related but what they’re doing has nothing to do with the teachings of the faith,” said Marzuk Masub, a congregant of the New Hyde Park mosque who lives in Brooklyn.
Masub said Islam condemns all forms of innocent deaths whoever is doing the killing.
But the congregants, speaking after noon prayers, also criticized U.S. support of Israel during the current crisis in Gaza between members of Hamas and Israel.
“We cannot support anyone with our money and blood who is indiscriminately killing people,” said Abdul Aziz Bhuiyan, president of the Hillside Islamic Center. “The entire world is looking for our leadership. When they see the hypocrisy, they’re not going to follow us.”
Israeli forces have been engaged in a violent military confrontation with Hamas, a Palestinian Sunni Islamist organization that has governed the Gaza Strip since 2007. The confrontation began after the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers by men in the West Bank who Israel alleges belong to Hamas, followed by the kidnapping and murder of a Palestinian teenager, reportedly by an anti-Arab group of Israelis.
The New York Times reported that as of Aug. 8 1,881 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have died as a result of the violence, while 67 Israelis, the large majority of whom were members of the military, had died.
Speaking at the center’s temporary mosque on Hillside Avenue, Bhuiyan said U.S. leaders are “blinded” by money and special interest groups in the coverage of the conflict in Gaza and Israel.
The U.S. government’s role in supporting what Israel is doing, he said, will ultimately hurt this country’s standing in the eyes of other nations.
Bhuiyan said the humanitarian crisis in Gaza should be deplored by people of all faiths.
“Now civilians, women and children, are being killed,” he said. “They took their land and they’re killing these people. Places of worship are being destroyed.”
Bhuiyan also condemned the blockade Israel has imposed on the Palestinians in Gaza, which he said is blocking vital necessities from reaching residents.
He also said Egypt is deliberately undermining the Palestinian initiative to establish self-rule for its own political motives.
“They are opposed to any democratic uprising because this upsets their power,” Bhuiyan said.
Congregants gathered at the temporary mosque said the media has not presented an accurate picture of the fighting in Gaza and Israel.
There is a “double standard” in the media reporting of what is going on in Gaza, congregant Nawaz Rupani said.
“This is an oppression. The Palestinians have been forced out of their houses,” Rupani said.
He said the U.S. continues to supply arms to Israel “but nobody is saying anything about killing civilians.”
If the circumstances were reversed, he said, his sympathy would rest with Israel.
“If the situation is exactly flipped, I’d support the Jews,” Rupani said. “This is not about religion or race. It’s about humanity.”
Masub agreed that the fighting in the Middle East was more abut human oppression than religion.
“Personally I feel the issues in Iraq and Syria and Gaza are human issues more than a religious issue. People all over the world should feel some compassion for what’s going on,” Masud said.
Bhuiyan said given the obvious imbalance of power between the Israelis and the Palestinians, it is irrational to compare the two sides. But he said the underlying issue is the need to establish the sort of peace that once existed between Jews and Muslims in the region.
“History tells us we can live peacefully together if we do not commit aggression,” he said. “Nothing justifies innocent people dying on either side.”
Congregant Israr Hasan said Muslims must be patient with the situation, which he said is a repetition of past injustices against them.
“For most Muslims this is not the first time this is happening in the history of the world,” Hasan said. “The world has to wake up. These things affect generation after generation.”
But, he said, he believes that the vast majority of Israelis and Palestinians simply want to live their lives in peace.
