A Florida minister says he is backing off his plan to burn copies of the Quran Saturday on the ninth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. The President of the Muslim Student Association at Iowa State University, Aisha Azher, says it has been a big issue for her fellow students.
Azher says the know the act is “kind of intolerant”, but they also say that it should not be representative of America and Christians. She says America was founded on the basis of diversity, but she says in every nation there are people who are intolerant. Azher and the members of the association will observe the Islamic festival of Eid beginning Friday for three days as a conclusion to the holy month of Ramadan.
She said the association’s members have received a lot of support from non-Muslims on the I.S.U. campus. She says most of her friends do not agree with the Florida pastor and she says most people are pretty tolerant regardless of their religion. Azher is a native of Pakistan. She said an act such as burning the Quran would not be tolerated in her home country and other Islamic nations.
Azher says they hold the personality of their prophet and the holy book. She says if anyone abuses those, it “hurts us deeply” and many Muslims would be upset. Azher says she doesn’t think it is right to react violently. Reverend Terry Jones said late Thursday he would cancel the Quran burning ceremony at his Florida church after he learned a proposed Islamic Center near the ground zero site would be moved.
By Pat Powers, KQWC, Webster City