The Islamic Center of Lompoc (ICL) will host an “Ask a Muslim” event next month, making an effort to maintain ICL’s relationship with the community in a time of turbulence for American Muslims.
The past year has seen a string of high-profile Islamic extremist attacks across the globe, occurring as far-off as Somalia and as nearby as San Bernardino. Rising concerns about Islamic extremism in the United States has produced fearful prejudice against many peaceful Muslims, a sentiment known as “Islamophobia,” according to religious scholars.
Last month, Donald Trump called for the United States to ban Muslims from entering the country. Earlier in the year, Fox News’ Andrea Tantaros said issues surrounding Islam would only be solved “with a bullet to the head.” Vandals have targeted mosques across the nation, including a December 2015 incident in which someone set a Coachella mosque on fire while people prayed inside.
Still, ICL Vice President Peter Lucero said Lompoc remains largely untouched by anti-Muslim sentiment.
“I have never personally found it to be a big problem,” Lucero said. “However, I think there’s always on some level some underlying concerns. That’s what we want to do—just be proactive. We want to share and continue to have a good relationship.”
Lucero said prejudice against Muslims comes from fear, and fear comes from lack of knowledge. ICL’s forum is the center’s way of combating Islamophobia, by teaching non-Muslims about the religion.
“We basically just want to be a part of the community and assure anybody who has any questions or any kind of worries about our true purpose,” Lucero said. “We’ll be sharing about our past and our faith with people who aren’t Muslim and with each other. We share the same goals as everybody else: family, liberty, and things like that.”
The event, scheduled for 1 p.m. on Feb. 13 in the Lompoc Public Library, will invite the public to voice their questions and concerns regarding Islam—anything from curiosities to criticisms.
The forum will also include six speakers from ICL to tell personal stories of how Islam has impacted their lives.
“We’ll discuss our own faith and how we arrived to be Muslim,” Lucero said. “We’re not all from the Middle East,” he said. “We’ll also discuss how the faith itself has improved our lives, and its challenges.”
ICL will provide free copies of the Qur’an and other literature at the forum.
This article appears in Jan 28 – Feb 4, 2016.