Community Corner

Muslims for Life Blood Drive Honors 9/11 Victims

With the upcoming 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community plans to save 30,000 lives by collecting blood donations nationwide in September.

Blood drives in remembrance of 9/11 victims are being held across the country as the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attack approaches.

While most of blood drives might take a day, a Muslim organization has coordinated a month-long campaign to collect 10,000 pints. One pint can save up to three lives.

With about 70 mosques around the county, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community and institutions of other faiths have organized about 220 locations — from Capitol Hill in Washington D.C. to San Jose. UC Berkeley will join the blood drive on Wednesday, Sept. 7 in the from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m.

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Red Cross blood donation appointments are available across the Bay Area. To register online, just search under sponsor code CODERED. Using the code, your donation will be credited towards the 10,000 goal that the Muslims for Life campaign hopes to reach. 

The concept behind Muslims for Life came from a desire to promote peace and understanding after 9/11. Naseem Mahdi, national vice president and missionary in-charge of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community said he first came up with idea while he was in Canada at the time of the attacks.

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"When I saw this heinous crime against humanity, I was in state of shock," he said. "My thought was if this had been done by so-called Muslims, this would be a bad day for us and Islam. Unfortunately, this was a bad intro to Islam by people who had no authority to use the word Islam."

Many houses of worship such as churches and synagogues, not just Muslim, are hosting blood drives as part of Muslims for Life, said Mahdi.

Mahdi himself had the opportunity tell President Obama at the annual iftar dinner held at the White House in which he was invited.

"He came to our table, and I had two-and-a-half, three minutes for a one-on-one, " said Mahdi. "He commended our efforts. 'This is very timely what you are doing.' So we had encouragement from President of the U.S.A."

With 16,000 letters sent out to officials at the local, state and federal levels, and about 220 locations lined up, now donors just need to volunteer.

With two blood drives on Capitol Hill, one on Sept 7 at the Rayburn House Office Building and on Sept 9 at the Cannon House Office Building, Mahdi said he hopes the president will donate too.

"I have invited the president to come to one of these blood drives to show his support and solidarity with us," he said.

For more information, visit http://muslimsforlife.org.


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