DANVILLE (WSLS10) - Muslims across the nation, including the president of the Danville Islamic Center, are condemning the weekend shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Fl. that left 50 people dead, including the suspected gunman, and more than 50 others wounded.
President Kalil Khan made it very clear Monday that he and everyone else associated with the Danville Islamic Center in no way, shape, or form condones what happened in Orlando or that type of violence in general.
He showed us a letter he wrote to the local newspaper after the San Bernadino shooting last year.
The letter emphasizes that violence, especially on such a large scale like San Bernadino or Orlando, is against everything that Muslims are taught in the Quran.
He says the people who commit these acts of violence and call themselves Muslims anger him because all they are doing by calling themselves Muslims is making life more difficult for the overwhelming majority of the Islamic community who practice the non-violence he says the Quran teaches.
"We do not condone things like this. We abhor things like this. We do not like it. It upset me and it should not be," Kahn expressed.
In the wake of the shooting in Orlando, Khan encourages people to read the Quran.
He says this is so important because he knows that many people already have the perception that all Muslims are terrorists and that the religion of Islam is inherently bad and the shooting in Orlando only seems to verify that, but he says that perception is completely unfounded.
He emphasizes that the Quran, which is the Islamic equivalent of the Holy Bible, preaches peace and tells Muslims to love and respect their fellow human beings.
He says media coverage of events like Orlando or San Bernadino don't focus on this enough, or sometimes at all, and therefore people need to take it upon themselves to educate themselves about what the religion is really all about.
Hopefully, he says, through that people will understand that events like Orlando and San Bernadino do not represent the religion.
"Read from the Quran. See what the Quran says. Listen to the different Imams," Khan emphasized. "Read upon it, make research and you will see that these cases of labeling all Muslims are very unfounded."
People are also encouraged to call their local Islamic Center and ask questions.