As most of America celebrates our country’s independence, some are giving back to the community. As part of their 75th annual convention in Richmond this weekend, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community cleaned up parts of town.
Deiony Colon drove about 90 miles from Prince William County to participate in the Jalsa Salana, the Annual Convention of Ahmadiyya Muslim Community USA. “Jalsa Cares” is the day of service which proceeds the event. When I spoke to him, he’d just left a local historic cemetery he and his friends in the faith had helped clean up as part of their day of service.
The sun is shining, temps are already over 90 degrees, and I asked Colon what inspired him to give back.
“Cause for one, my faith tells me to. That’s the easiest answer to say. But also, there’s just a lot of things going on in the world, so doing the little things like this, probably can help us come together and look past the bad things that’s going on and try and unite us," Colon said. "So that’s the reason why I try to help out.”
The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community is a progressive sect that believes God sent Hazeat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, like Jesus, to end religious wars, condemn bloodshed and reinstitute morality, justice and peace.
It’s a message Danial Butt tries to practice every day.
“It’s not just meant to preach, it's meant to help uplift our fellow man,” Butt said.
Danial and Deiony will be joined by nearly 10,000 other Ahmadiyya Muslims over the weekend-long convention.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
