Minute Rave: Muslims Raise Money To Rebuild Burned Churches

Muslims are terrorists. We all know that. Muslims flew plans into the Twin Towers; Muslims crashed into the Pentagon. Muslims, Muslims, Muslims. Okay, I kid, because I know that Muslims aren’t terrorists — terrorists are terrorists — and Muslims are just people of a different faith than maybe yours, or mine, or whomever.

But one thing Muslims, some Muslims, are doing that maybe some other people, some other faiths, some other churches, might want to try is raising money to help rebuild the eight black churches that have mysteriously burned since the Charleston shootings.

So far Muslim charities, using LaunchGood, have raised over $20,000 for the repair and rebuilding of those churches:

“All houses of worship are sanctuaries, a place where all should feel safe, a place we can seek refuge when the world is too much to bear.

We are calling on you to help add our support to faith communities across the country pooling their resources to rebuild these churches.

As Muslims we know the importance of protecting the vulnerable and respecting people who call on God in their various tongues.

We must always keep in mind that the Muslim community and the black community are not different communities.

We are profoundly integrated in many ways, in our overlapping identities and in our relationship to this great and complicated country.”

This makes me happy, because I remember those days after 9/11 when people who were assumed to be Muslim were attacked; Muslim–owned business were torched; Muslims were the new ‘them,’ people to fear, people to hate. People of the Muslim faith could have just sat by, watching these churches burn and done nothing, remembering how people of other faiths attacked them 14 years ago, but they didn’t. They stood up and gave because it was the right thing to do.

Where was the charity back then? Perhaps we should have thought more like Muslims and been more open and willing to help and understanding of the fact that one’s faith does not automatically make you a criminal.

Being a criminal makes you a criminal. 

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