Muslims Buy Billboards to Create Awareness Around Islam’s True Meaning
- By Kelly Frazier --
- 09 Sep 2015 --
100 billboard ads are on display in major cities throughout the U.S. in hopes to dispel misconceptions of Islam.
A Muslim advocacy group has put up 100 billboards throughout major U.S. cities with messages describing Islam and its prophet, Muhammad, as teaching peace and justice rather than violence and submission.
The Associated Press reports the billboards are part of an outreach effort by the New York-based Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA).
Wow. Billboard up in Oakland California. ❤️ #WhoIsMuhammad pic.twitter.com/TvKGhl0RrC
— Jenin (@Jenin1hunnid) August 30, 2015
Naeem Baig, president of the ICNA, said the January attack on the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo and a kosher deli in Paris that killed 17 people was the inspiration in starting the outreach campaign.
“As a Muslims, it hurts me when I see someone abusing my faith, abusing the teachings of the prophet.” Baig said terrorists are, “people who are lost, who have no direction in their life, people who have their own challenges in their life, who are using faith as an excuse.”
When pressed on how the Muslim outreach campaign would fare in a city like Boston – where Muslim brothers Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev murdered three Americans and wounded hundreds more during the 2013 Boston Marathon – Baig said, “That’s the whole point of the campaign; there are extremists in all communities.”
Billboards were erected in major cities – including Boston, New York, Seattle, Memphis, Denver, and Las Vegas – throughout the summer according to multiple media reports.
Messages on the billboards include, “Islam: The Message of Abraham, Moses, Jesus, & Muhammad” and “Muhammad believed in peace, social justice and women’s rights.” The messages also include a contact information and the offer of a free Quran or other literature.
The ICNA is not without controversy. Anwar al-Awlaki – a senior al-Qaeda operative who worked with three of the hijackers on 9/11, Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan, and the Christmas Day bombing suspect – spoke at an ICNA convention in Baltimore in July of 2002 before the organization formally denounced the terrorist in 2010. In 2009 and 2010, the Anti-Defamation League accused the ICNA of inviting extremists and anti-Semites to speak at their conferences.