Muslim leaders denounce conference of Holocaust deniers

WEST ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Louisiana — Local Muslim leaders denounced on Sunday the recent international conference in Iran attended by many who deny the existence of the Holocaust.

Spokeswoman Ghazala Hayat read a statement at the annual general body meeting at Daar ul Islam mosque in West County.

“We, the community of the Islamic Foundation of Greater St. Louis, denounce questioning the authenticity of the number of Jewish deaths in the Holocaust. … Unimaginable crimes were committed by the Nazis during World War II. Denying the pain endured by millions of human beings only intensifies it,” she said.

About 100 participants listened while she read the statement.

Erbab Majeed, principal of the Sunday school at the mosque, said the statement was necessary to distinguish between the views of Muslims here from those in other parts of the world.

“They made their statement, and we’re making ours,” he said.

Gulten Ilhan, vice president of the St. Louis chapter of the Council of American Islamic Relations, said she had heard reports of Iran’s president trying to justify the conference as a matter of freedom of speech — just as many said the Danish cartoons about the Prophet Muhammad were.

“I was very saddened by the cartoons, and I am also very saddened by the act of (President) Mahmoud Ahmadinejad,” she said. “Two wrongs do not make a right.”

Karen Aroesty, spokeswoman for the Anti-Defamation League in St. Louis, said she welcomed the message from local Muslims.

“I think it will be a very heartening message for many in the Jewish community,” she said.

Ilhan said her faith directed her to speak out against injustice, even if meant acting against one’s own kin. She said she appreciated that the statement made reference to Islamic teachings when it said, “We condemn any attempt by any group to belittle atrocities against Jewish or any other ethnicity, realizing that even one single life lost should pain the whole of humanity.”

Original title: Muslim leaders here denounce conference of Holocaust deniers

Read Another Article

Europe’s Muslims face rising Islamophobia, new EU report warns
Former U.S. Detainee in Iraq Recalls Torment

Related News Articles Topic(s): Holocaust • Islam Subscribe to Religion News Blog updates Subscribe to Religion News Blog [What is this?] Get Religion News Blog's headline by Email [What is this?] Follow Religion News Blog at Twitter Find Related Information Use our custom search engines to find additional research resources on religions and cults: ApologeticsSearch.com: Search for apologetics articles, books, videos, and other research resources across 135 Christian apologetics websites and blogs. CounterCultSearch.com: Search for information about (religious) cults, cult-like organizations, and cults experts -- as well as paranormal-, New Age, and pseudoscientific claims -- across 260+ websites, blogs and forums dedicated to cult research, spiritual abuse, ex-cult counseling & support. Find Related Religion & Spirituality Books at Amazon.com Holocaust Possibly related... or Most Popular Religion News Articles Kent Hovind: Evangelist arrested on federal charges Beast’s real mark devalued to ’616′ Muslim Woman Gives Sex Advice on Arab TV Michael Jackson Confirms Conversion to Islam Kent Hovind, ‘Dr. Dino,’ guilty on all counts The fall and rise of Carlton Pearson Search False prophet Harold Camping sets another date for rapture: May 21, 2011 Watch the film Theo van Gogh was murdered for Kent Hovind — Dr. Dino — sentenced to 10 years in prison

Search Religion News Blog