Posted on 03/04/2010 3:52:17 PM PST by TaraP
WASHINGTON -– The silence in the great hall of the Congress was deafening as imam Abdullah Antepli started delivering the opening prayer for the House of Representatives on Wednesday, March 3.
"Asalam alaikum… peace be with you," Antepli, the Muslim chaplain at Duke University, told the attendees who stood and bowed their heads in respect.
"O God of all nations, look with favor upon this esteemed Congress. Guard these important decision-makers with your divine light," he said.
"Be the source of strength and comfort. Enable them to serve you and glorify your names by serving the citizens of this great nation and to the entire humanity regardless of their gender, ethnicity or religion."
This was only the third time a Muslim religious leader was invited to deliver the opening prayers of the Congress since the tradition began in 1789 with the first Continental Congress.
It was such a humbling moment," Antepli, who joined Duke University as its first ever Muslim chaplain in 2008, told IslamOnline.net.
He believes that inviting him to deliver the Congress opening prayer sends a message at a time Muslims and Islam are at the center of attention in America.
"The news that a Muslim imam is delivering opening prayer for the Congress came as a breath of fresh air," says Antepli.
"It lifted some of the burden off the hearts and minds of many Muslims who have been wounded by post 9/11 realities in the US."
Though there are no official figures, America is estimated to be home to nearly 7-8 million Muslims.
Many believe they have become sensitized to an erosion of their civil rights since 9/11 attacks.
Proud
Members of the Muslim community and leaders of Muslim organizations came to attend Antepli’s prayer. Congressman David Price of North Carolina praised Antepli, the founder and executive board member of the Muslim Chaplains Association and a member of the National Association of College and University Chaplains.
"Throughout his two years as Muslim chaplain in Duke University he has done great achievements in terms of spreading understanding and diversity," he told the session.
"It is a great honor to have him here delivering the opening prayer."
The Congress hall was full of members of the Muslim community and leaders of Muslim organizations who came to attend the prayer delivered by Antepli.
Aisha Yasin says she was thrilled to know a Muslim is going to give the prayer this time.
"It is quite amazing," she told IOL correspondent who attended the ceremony.
"It is a great feeling to have a Muslim imam delivering such tradition deeply rooted in the American history."
Dr. Mohamed El Sanousi, director of community outreach and communications for the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), was equally impressed.
"It is very significant for the community to have this sense of pride to feel included in the society," he told IOL.
"It gives a message that despite all that is happening, and what is written in the media about Muslims, still there is hope," said the community leader.
"Muslims are part of the fabric of the American society and will not be ignored."
Fascinating, yet disturbing.
What's next? Homosexual "marriage" at the Pentagon chapel?
The damn democrats are enough to make me vomit.
“Asalam alaikum… peace be with you,”
I don’t know Arabic. But that first word sounds similar to Islam. But most authorities agree that Islam is more accurately translated as “submission” than “peace.”
As I say, I’m ignorant of the language. But that’s my suspicion. Sholem Aleichem means something rather different, because the Jewish God is very different from Allah.
He believes that inviting him to deliver the Congress opening prayer sends a message at a time Muslims and Islam are at the center of attention in America.
What message? That we accept what is being done to us in the name of their religion? Thats the message I got from this.
Nothing the Obambi administration does surprises me. This is simply one more indicator of the totally corrupt pack of traitors we have in our White House.
Did you not hear the new commandment?
*Thou shall steal* (authorized by Government discretion)
Tragic!
“Dear allah, please make all infidels as rock-stupid as the morons in this chamber”
Is this from the Onion? not..
Unbelievable!
Right; can you IMAGINE if a Catholic priest said the open prayer at the court of the Saudi Arabia kingdom?
Well, he did say that we are not a Christian nation, afterall.
NO..It’s on a couple google sites
Amen!!
I’m pretty sure it is one of the more common Arabic greetings and does in fact translate “Peace be upon you.” I don’t think it’s spelled right in the article, however.
Jesus will continue to be scandalous, because in an ever-increasing humanistic society, there is no room for good news of unmerited grace, mercy, freedom, and affection.
None of them were Catholics or Jews*, and many were what we call today secular humanists.
That being said, I am not a fan of Islam, nor of their view of religion in relation to the state. Any faith that doesn't believe in the separation of the spiritual and the secular, or wants me to subsidize their medieval superstitious faith with my tax dollars.
< *John Carroll was not a major "founding father" and the Anglo-Catholic population at the time largely backed the UK. The Jewish population did in many cases financially and otherwise support the revolution (especially in Philadelphia and points south).
WTH?
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