This is pretty cool.

A group working to promote understanding in an open positive way.

Maybe some haters here would benefit from some information.

So here it is:

Ever wonder what the Quran has to say about terrorism? Why Muslim women wear veils? What Islam teaches about Jesus?

Ask a Muslim. All you have to do is call 1-877-WHY-ISLAM.

A billboard advertising the toll-free number sprang up last month on FM 1960 near Interstate 45. Similar ones have also been posted in San Antonio, Dallas, El Paso and two dozen other U.S. cities.

The billboards are part of a nationwide campaign by the Islamic Circle of North America to educate non-Muslims about Islam and promote interfaith dialogue.

Calls to the hot line are answered in New Jersey by ICNA volunteers, who field an average of 1,000 queries a month on everything from the life of the Prophet Muhammad to the definition of jihad. The billboard also advertises a Web site, www.whyislam.org, where people can e-mail questions, participate in discussion forums, request free copies of the Quran, or schedule a visit to a mosque.

“The idea was to help answer the questions that people have about Islam,” said ICNA board member Hanif Harris, a 38-year-old Realtor from Clear Lake. “This way, they’ll get the answers directly from Muslims.”

Harris, who grew up in Philadelphia, converted to Islam in 1991. Over the years, he’s often had to correct misconceptions about Islam among co-workers and family members.
Funded by local chapter

Shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, his mother called him up and asked if he was thinking of becoming a suicide bomber. Harris was dumbfounded. “I said, ‘Mom, you know, suicide is a sin! No, I’m not thinking about being a suicide bomber.’ I said, ‘Don’t judge Islam by what you see in some Muslims. Judge Islam by what’s in the Quran. There’s nowhere it says in our Quran to kill and murder innocent people.’ ”

Of course, most people can’t simply call up a Muslim relative to discuss Islam. That’s why Harris hopes ICNA’s toll-free number and Web site will help Muslims and non-Muslims talk to each other.

“When you watch CNN or MSNBC, you hear so much that is negative about Muslims, so for somebody who doesn’t know much about Islam, they would turn on the news and think, ‘Wow, Muslims, they really don’t like us,’ ” he said. “So this is a way for us to really build bridges with people of other faiths and let them know we’re not like what you might hear on the news.”

ICNA’s Houston chapter paid $3,000 for the billboard in north Harris County with donations from local Muslims, said ILyas Choudry, coordinator for the group’s charitable arm, Helping Hands. The 44-year-old civil engineer from west Houston said he hopes to raise enough money to keep the billboard year-round, moving it to different locations throughout the Houston area every three months.

The goal is to counter stereotypes about Muslims and spread God’s word, not to convert anybody, Choudry said.

“The Quran says, ‘There is no compulsion in religion,’ ” he said. “Our job is not to convince people, our job is just to convey that message.”
Treated with respect

Although most callers to the hot line are polite and curious, a few do have axes to grind, said Ashfaq Parkar, assistant coordinator of ICNA’s “Why Islam” project.

“Sometimes you find that people will start out a little bit aggressive or hostile, but it’s important for people answering the calls to think, ‘Why are people like this?’ They have certain impressions and that’s why they’re calling,” Parkar said. “We treat everyone with respect, and we try to understand their views and engage with them.”

lindsay.wise@chron.com

hello im iain and im not a Muslim hater


although i don't like an awful lot of Muslims and i really don't like what the Quran has to say and the views it expresses. and the reason why i don't like there faith is because, there treatment of animals, aka dogs in particular, and there treatment of women, and children. to name but a few
and a lot of there views aimed towards us westerners are extremely bad. minority only of course

the Quran says one thing and like all bibles be interpreted a thousand times over. i know there is a minority that want to see all westerners dead etc, but they can believe in there 30 virgins in there afterlife, i do feel sorry for the other Muslims who get caught up in all this. what i would like to see more of is, the Muslims stop telling us how good there faith is, and start preaching the rights from wrongs of what there counterparts are doing. and then when they control the laughing stock of a reputation there faith has developed i'll be the first one to call.

hi, my name is brooke and I am not a muslim hater....

their faith is their faith...I aim to understand my own not theirs.

BUT to all that have hate in their hearts for americans and the western way of life.......be fair.

give them a number to dial

I couldn't help thinking of minorities other than Muslim, and much closer to home as I read your post 'ianminty2'.

Try it 'ianminty2'!!!

Substitute the thought of Muslim, for a number of other groups, much more like 'us', and much closer to home. You'll see, it's uncanny how it fits to 'us'.

Oh! and try and give that 'other' group a call.

Nothing feels better than a first open-minded step to discover that what we hold to be true about others, is really what ends up being true about 'us'.

Have a blast my friend, and come back to tell us all about that call.

Unless they're up front about abrogation and Taqqiya, I wouldn't believe them either.

1-800-dial-a-terrorist


please connect me operator

thanks for your advice but im fairly in tune with everything i do and say, but im always acceptable to getting things wrong like everyone, but i'll wait out a little longer before calling them up.

thanks again

Can't say I am surprised...even a little...by the replies here.

Have you checked your bible lately in respect to the treatment of women?

Well I have visited the forums, just my initial observation ...

Oh man if you think it's frustrating here, just go there.. lol

There's a thread about a bus driver how refused to drive a bus with an atheist ad on the side that says God possibly does not exist.. or something like that..

Typical:
Christians find it offensive
Muslim finds it offensive
Atheists remind about free speech
Muslims believe atheist have agenda to steal faith of Christians and Muslims.
Muslims come in and preach to Muslims to pay close attention to their faith and ignore mean old atheists...
Muslims come in and say thread does not belong in their site.. so much for free speech..

Oh and the thread Was Jesus Really a God.. Rolling eyes.. just more of the same arguments endless. Just as Christians tell Christians they are wrong here, there you just have more Muslims telling Christians they don't have it quite right.

Promoting understanding? Nah, promoting more confusion and anxiety between faiths is more like it...

Sad!

... but nailed!

She keeps telling us the sky is not blue. You sound like Lord Obama. LIES! Like man made global warming.

So 'Logan',

... do you propose a 'nuke 'em all' kind of game???

or would rather opt for a game like, 'stand on guard, the RUSSIANS (Muslims, Chinese, etc,) ARE COMING???'

Just curious in understanding your point correctly.

Thanks.

Do you know how to use the quote button? Need to if we are to know who you are reffering to.

Lynann. I was thinking it might be cooler to have the whole world fall sleep and wake up with no knowledge of god or religion.