Rockford Muslims in Illinois host 11th Annual Event on Women in Islam

Rockford City, Illinois - The Muslim Association of Greater Rockford (MAGR) in Illinois hosted recently the 11th annual event on women in Islam, which is aimed to remove misconceptions about being Muslim.

"The event primarily is to invite members of the community, who may have heard a little bit about Islam and who are curious," WREX-TV reported quoting MAGR Member Lamis Diab said.

Local Muslim women hope this event brings people together respecting each other's differences and sharing similarities.

Rockford resident Diab said it's that curiosity that brings women of many different religions together this weekend. "People are speaking using hate speech to unite the country," event participant Isha Shaheem said. "It’s very dangerous and so for me I would love dialogue."

The religion of Islam, which is what Muslims practice has sparked conversations across our nation even as a topic that presidential candidates discuss. "Especially with the elections," Diab said. "It’s getting a lot of publicity."

Local Muslims said the more publicity the more rumors there are to dispel. Also many misconceptions stem from extremists.

Diab said. "There are isolated incidents all over the world that happen every day where people use the name of religion for their own agenda."

"Most Muslims are just perplexed of how are they saying this message of hate, how are they saying this message of violence because we are not allowed to harm anyone," Guest Speaker Lisa Killinger said.

This event starts an important conversation about topics like violence education even items of clothing.

"They see me wearing my scarf and they automatically assume I'm oppressed, I was forced, I'm uneducated I cannot speak English, and if I do speak English I have an accent," Isha Shaheem said.

"I think it’s important to remember that the religion, that the foundation of every religion is peace," Diab said.