Impressions from ISNA

During the Ramadan a fresh breeze blew through the city of Columbus. The arrival of thousands of Muslims who had settled in America, coming originally from Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Somali, indeed, from every corner of the world, created this breeze. The Muslim presence, something that has existed for centuries, left a fruit in this city that was 45 years in the making.

The Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), in their 45th year, brought the Muslims who live in America together to celebrate Ramadan. They met in the largest conference center in the city of Columbus, and their families filled the surrounding hotels. They were aware of a feeling of confidence that arises from being a majority, rather than the feeling of being the minority which they experience in the cities where they live. Their children experienced the feeling of being members of an Islamic society. They introduced their children to the joy of the prayer mat, and the enlightened road of being a courageous representative of the religion - an active Muslim. They met in a group that included people from every continent, and most importantly their efforts caused Islam to be lived in a dynamic way.

The Muslims in Ohio also experienced a moment of unity, as happens whenever Muslims meet wherever they are in the world; a moment that builds a bridge of hearts to the center of the world; the first tarawwih prayer of Ramadan was prayed by the community together and we were there. We took our place in the rows of this growing link in a world that is increasingly growing smaller.

We have informed you of this beautiful atmosphere before, through the Lastprophet.info stand, and we promised to share our impressions of this greatest meeting of Muslims of America. From today onwards, for the next month, we will try to share the subjects that inspired the agenda at the ISNA conference in the form of weekly files. First we will present to you our ISNA experience and share with you what we witnessed there. We will listen to what this meeting meant to the Muslims of America in their own words.

Inspired by the ISNA meeting and the NGO experience in America, adding to this the spirit of the Ansar, we will describe the new wind that has brought a Muslim NGO to the changing face of America. We will try to shed light on the American experience of representing Islam in a time when the Central European architects are designing transparent glass mosques. And in this way we will touch on the story of the spread of Islam in America and the prisons where this spread is most effective. We will search for the answer why the hearts of people who are physically imprisoned in tiny cells find their freedom in Islam. In a society where the crime rate increases everyday we will witness the efforts of the Muslims who struggle to eliminate the roads by which people find themselves in prison. And we will examine how Muslims raise their children in this cosmopolitan country, and how their Islamic identities become stronger through attendance at an Islamic School.

Dear readers,

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