By John Burton
MIDDLETOWN – Recent terrorist attacks in France have stunned and outraged everyone, with members of the local Islamic community joining the condemnation of such acts.
The Islamic extremists’ attacks on the Paris offices of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo that left 11 dead and 11 others wounded Jan. 7 and other violent attacks in France in its aftermath have been condemned by Reda Shata, the imam, or religious leader, of the Islamic Society of Monmouth County.
“This is 100 percent against the Muslim faith,” Shata, an Egyptian, said through an interpreter in an interview with The Two River Times on Tuesday.
Shata joined some members of the mosque at 496 Red Hill Road to talk a little about their faith, current events and where they and their religion stand on the acts of violence, following their regular Tuesday night prayer service.
Shata regularly visits other mosques to conduct services and discussions. Following the events in France earlier this month, Shata, in a mosque in New York expressed his objections to the violent acts and the faith’s overall aversion to violence, said Ayman El-Sawa, a Highlands resident and member of the Middletown mosque who served as Shata’s interpreter.
And Shata would offer his condemnation when he held regular prayer services at this site on Friday, Jan. 23, and invited The Two River Times to attend, according to El-Sawa.
“Islam is the most against killing of any religion,” the imam maintained. But the media and many others concentrate on the actions of less than 1 percent of Muslims who embrace an extreme radicalism, he said. “What makes it sad is that the media and everyone else listens to the 1 percent,” Shata continued.
The Quran states the only justification for killing is a punishment under rule of law for killing or other extreme violent acts, explained Mohammed Wasim Khan, Old Bridge, a mosque member and Quran scholar. Khan quoted a Quran passage which states “whoever kills a soul…it is as if he’s slain mankind entirely.” Conversely, the passage continues, “And whoever saves one – it is as if he has saved mankind entirely,” Khan noted.
“On the other hand,” Shata noted, “we believe insulting the Prophet, no one agrees with,” referring to the magazine’s pejorative illustration of the Prophet Mohammad, believed to have instigated the violence.
“Any disrespect to him is painful to us,” Shata added.
But Shata still believed the response shouldn’t have been violence. At a recent service Shata told worshippers: “Whoever wanted to defend Mohammad should do it with Mohammad values,” meaning peacefully.
The correct response should have been with discussions, peaceful demonstrations and writing letters to publications. “There are hundreds of ways,” said Tarek Sharaf, Piscataway.
“Human life is more sacred than the Kaaba,” Sharaf said, quoting the Quran, referring to Islam’s most sacred mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia.
“People should get to know each other,” as a way of hopefully preventing additional bloodshed, Sharaf continued.
“We don’t want people to judge us by the 1 percent,” of their faith who embrace violent extremism, Shata added.
The Islamic Society of Monmouth County has been at its Red Hill Road location for about 25 years. It has roughly 1,500 members, mostly from Monmouth County, but also coming from northern New Jersey and from New York to attend prayer services and community activities, according to Shata, who has been with the mosque for 10 years.
New Jersey has “no less than 1 million” Muslims, said Shata, noting only New York, Michigan and Illinois having larger populations.
