Dalton residents turn out to meet their Muslim neighbors

Published 12:04 am Sunday, April 8, 2018

Nancy Williams says she’s driven by the Dalton Islamic Center many times.

“I’ve always wondered what it looked like on the inside, and Islam wasn’t something I learned about in school, so when I read in the paper that they were having an open house I thought I would stop by,” she said. “I’m really glad I came. Everyone has been so welcoming and eager to answer any questions I might have.”

On Saturday, Williams and dozens of other Dalton area residents packed the building at 2054 Dug Gap Road for a “Meet Your Muslim Neighbors” open house.

Inside, visitors found members of the center ready to welcome them and colorful posters explaining both the tenets and history of Islam. On those posters they would learn that about one fifth of the world’s population is Muslim and Indonesia has the world’s largest Muslim population.

In addition, the center gave away free literature on Islam, including copies of the Koran which is the central religious text of the religion.

“We believe it is our job to show you who we are and what we believe,” said Hussein Mohamed.

The Dalton Islamic Center has been in its current location since 2008 but it first opened more than two decades ago in 1991.

Jamal Awad has been a member for about 25 years.

“We think communication is important,” he said. “We want to show the community who we are. We want to show them what Islam is all about. Sometimes it is misrepresented in the news. We feel we owe it to our neighbors to reach out to them.”

This is the third year the Islamic Center has hosted the open house.

Awad says the most frequent questions are about jihad.

“Jihad is about improving yourself,” he said. “It is probably one of the most misquoted or mistranslated terms in English. It is called holy war. But it is actually the struggle to do better, to make yourself better.”

Carol Swann said she was impressed by the beauty of the building.

“The architecture is lovely and everyone has been so friendly,” she said.

Mohamed said that anyone who was unable to come to the open house is welcome to come to their Friday worship service.