Leonard Kniffel’s eyes welled up when he heard his own Catholic faith represented as Kiran Ansari read on Saturday from the Quran about the angel Gabriel’s visit to Mary.“The angel said, ‘I am only a messenger from your Lord, (to announce) to you the gift of a righteous son,’” Ansari, the interim executive director of the Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago, read to about 20 people in downtown Chicago.
The gathering, hosted by the American Library Association at its headquarters on East Huron Street, was held in response to what had been a Florida pastor’s plans to burn copies of the Quran on Saturday night before he announced earlier in the day that he had changed his mind.
The reading instead turned into a celebration of books and the connections people can find in them.
for instance, Kniffel, editor of American Libraries magazine, said that as a Catholic, he couldn’t help but choke up when Ansari mentioned Mary, calling his tears “automatic.”
Ansari said she chose the passage to stress the similarities between the Quran and Bible.
“ A lot of people don’t know the Quran talks about Mary, Jesus, Noah and other biblical figures,” Ansari said.
“ A lot of people don’t know the Quran talks about Mary, Jesus, Noah and other biblical figures,” Ansari said.
The idea of burning any book as a form of protest is tantamount to fear-mongering, said Barbara Jones, a library association director.
“Book burning is the most insidious form of censorship, and such an action or threat should not be taken lightly,” Jones said. “Today it might be the Quran; tomorrow it might be the Bible. Free people read freely.”
Kniffel said that reading the Quran and learning about Islam would lead everyone to a better understanding of “the world we share.”
“We urge those who believe in book burning to use your matches to ignite the pilot light of understanding and education,” he said. “Illuminate your mind.”
Source :chicagobreakingnews
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