Posted on Sep 28, 2009 | by Staff WASHINGTON (BP)--Thousands of Muslims gathered Sept. 25 on the west lawn of the U.S. Capitol for prayer in what may have been the first such event of its kind at the site.
Although organizers announced on the "Islam on Capitol Hill" website their expectation of a gathering of 50,000, the attendance appeared to be no more than 7,000 to 8,000. The U.S. Capitol Police do not make crowd estimates, a spokeswoman told Baptist Press.
The event included recitations from the Qur'an, a sermon and the Friday prayer observed by Muslims. Those attending sat segregated by gender on the ground facing east toward the Capitol and Mecca, the scared site of Islam in Saudi Arabia.
During his sermon, Abdul Malik encouraged Muslims while trying to reassure Americans of their support for this country.
"I want the American people to know: We love you.... America, this is our country. We are with you," said Malik, a New York imam who plans to move soon to Washington to serve as chief executive officer of Islam on Capitol Hill.===>Click headline to access the entire article . . .
* Type keywords in "Search This Blog box" above
* Visit http://www.IBSA.org/prayer.php for more articles and resources
* To receive monthly updates on new postings, email phil@nppn.org
* Coaching? Teaching? Preaching? on prayer ... Contact Phil@nppn.org
0 comments:
Post a Comment