By Suzanne Khazaal
Accommodating thousands of visitors at the Los Angeles Festival of Books at UCLA, WhyIslam Southern California handed out a record 4,640 copies of the Qur’an at the biggest and busiest booth to teach about Islam, this past weekend on April 24-25. This is the 6th consecutive year for the booth.
After hauling a ton of publications from Houston prior to the festival weekend, an estimated 36 WhyIslam volunteers, located in two different booths, were determined to reach out to all visitors and tourists attending the festival.
“I felt appreciation [upon seeing the WhyIslam booth],” said Maribel Enriquez, 34, of Long Beach. “I think it’s important to clarify misconceptions about Islam and Arabs [and it is important] to be accessible.”
WhyIslam serves English and Spanish speakers, by providing publications in both languages to better help the public learn the truth about Islam.
It was promising to see so many people eager to learn about Islam and get a translation of the Quran,” said Hassen Morad, booth Manager. “I know we effected the hearts and minds of the thousands of people we interacted with.” said Tariq Khan, manager for another booth.
“I think it helps to learn [about Islam] because of the stereotypes. It’s always good to learn about new cultures and religions and get a good understanding about it straight from the source,” said Jesse Owens, 34, of Pomona.
Opening box after box, both booths were motivated to keep up with the flocks of visitors wanting to receive a free copy of the translation of the Qur’an in English or Spanish, along with free pamphlets, bookmarks, business cards and the Qur’an recitation on audio CDs.
After visiting the booth, Jasmine Mortaya, 19, of Lancaster said she learned about the prophets in Islam. “I’ve been interested in wanting to read the Qur’an, so I plan on reading it to learn more about Islam,” said Mortaya.
Astonished when volunteers mentioned all publications were free of charge, visitors mentioned they were thankful and glad WhyIslam was at the festival to clear misconceptions surrounding Islam and its followers.
“Every time I’ve heard about Islam it’s always been negative because of the news, which is all lies, and the way I believe to learn is by picking up a book and reading about it,” said J.C. Carrillo, 33, of Downey.
This is a rare moment when I can be proud of being a Muslim and an American. Good Job!
SubhanAllah…this is the best way to reach out to all and clear off misconceptions about Islam and Muslims. Great job WHYISLAM!
Samy
Mashallah May Allah reward all your efforts and hard work
Great event coverage, Thanks a lot.
Masha’Allah! This is so encouraging. May Allah reward every brother and sister involved in this amazing effort. JazakAllah Khair!
Bismillah
As-Salaamu’alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatu
WAllahi, reading about this effort brought tears to my eyes. As a Muslim, I am so proud and thankful for all of your incredible efforts for the sake of Islam and therefore for the sake of Allah. Masha’Allah, I am incredibly impressed and moved. May Allah reward all of you in this life and the next and may He bring continued success to your efforts. Just by reading about this effort, I would like to get involved in some way or another, so please get in touch with me if I can be of any assistance here in the midwest (Ohio). Jazakum Allahu khairan. Wa-Salaamu’alaykum.
when are you coming to Miami to do the same thing here we really need to do dawa .I will volunteer Inshaallah.Please let me know.
Assalamoualaikum Brothers and Sisters in Islam.
I am a Muslim born from Mauritius (Indian Ocean). My two spoken languages are English and French.
Recently I have joined a beginner Course in Modern Standard Arabic as I am a non-Arabic speaking Muslim. Yet I am motivated in learning the Arabic vocabulary and Islamic terminology used in the Qur’an Shareef, Hadith and Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad (SAW). My main aim is to understand my religion and help my brothers in doing dawah.
Below is my address, I should be thankful to Allah if you, people at ICNA Org could send me your books, lessons and Arabic Materials intended for beginners in Arabic Language.
Hope that my mail would be taken into consideration.
Jazah Allah Khair.
Masha Allah Al Hamdulillah wa Allahu Akbar am a Latino convert to Islam shahadah in 1979. It’s the greatest thing in my life.