Community welcome?: Snoqualmie Muslim Association open house event draws standing-room-only audience

Published 3:58 pm Tuesday, February 2, 2016

They found common ground in faith, celebrities and Disney, Saturday at Snoqualmie’s City Hall. The Snoqualmie Muslim Association’s first-ever open house drew a standing-room-only group for a morning of learning about Islam and its followers.

“Look, she’s just like you,” a mother whispered to her daughter during Alaa Badr’s presentation. Badr, an Islamic scholar from Redmond, had just shown a slide describing his three daughters and their career aspirations; his youngest, age 4, wants to be a Disney princess.

It was an immediate ice-breaker for the large and receptive crowd, as was his slide on well-known American Muslims, among them Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Muhammad Ali, Malcolm X and Janet Jackson.

Badr, with Snoqualmie Muslim Association president Mujeeb Mohammed who started the proceedings, both discussed their faith in terms of its similarities with many Christian teachings, emphasizing their obligations to serve a greater good. Mohammed said he and his family, like many members of the association, were Americans, “living the American dream.”

Guest speakers Stephen Matlock and Snoqualmie Mayor Matt Larson talked about communities of faith and of the fearful perceptions that surround Muslims in the U.S.

Matlock noted that a huge diversity of people live together peacefully in the Valley. Larson, quoting from the poem at the base of the Statue of Liberty and from Ben Franklin, talked about fear and the potential that in response, Americans call for closing U.S. borders.

“If we close that door, there’s nothing exceptional or unique about America any more,” he said.

More than 200 people attended all or part of the event, which included a question-and-answer session following the presentation.

Guests were given free copies of the Quran, the holy teachings of Islam, and various informational flyers. The most popular, organizers said, were “Jesus in Islam” and “Women in Islam.”

Mohammed said the association hoped to host additional events like the open house in the near future. For more information about the Snoqualmie Muslim Association, visit www.snoqualmiemosque.org.

Mujeeb Mohammed welcomed more than 200 people visiting the Snoqualmie Muslim Association’s open house Saturday.

Guests at the Snoqualmie Muslim Association open house Saturday listen intently to a discussion of Islamic teachings.

Guest speaker Stephen Matlock invited everyone at the open house event to “get to know one another.”

Speaking at the Snoqualmie Muslim Association open house, Snoqualmie Mayor Matt Larson quoted from “The New Colossus,” the poem on the Statue of Liberty: Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door.”

Alaa Badr, an Islamic scholar from Redmond, holds a bilingual Quran as he discusses Islam with some 200 guests at the Snoqualmie Muslim Association open house Saturday at Snoqualmie City Hall.

Sadia Khan, Maryam Iqbal and Beena Zaman talk with visitor Ray McCready at a table of gift bags, featuring sayings from the Prophet Muhammad.