LEWISTON — Inside the Baraka Store on Lisbon Street on Thursday, Somalis talked about the Florida Quran-burning planned for Sept. 11, which was called off and then reconsidered late Thursday.

“This is our holy Quran,” said Mohamed Heban as he and his wife, Ardo Mohamed, waited on customers. “For someone to burn it is unacceptable.”

People came into his store wondering why Gainesville, Fla., minister Terry Jones would do such a thing.

“America is a peaceful country; America is a Democracy,” Heban said. “Our Quran does not allow us to burn the Bible or Torah. (Pastor Jones) is just doing it to make more problems.”

Even though the Quran-burning may be called off, nationally, intolerance of Muslims is growing this year as the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks approaches. The rancor is demonstrated by the Florida pastor’s plans and opposition to a mosque near the 9/11 site in New York City.

Maine Christian leaders released a joint statement Thursday, saying they were appalled and saddened by the rhetoric.

Those who spread negative stereotypes or commit acts of violence “do not speak for the gospel of love, mercy and justice that we know and cherish,” said the statement from the Maine Council of Churches, Maine’s Roman Catholic Diocese, the Center for Preventing Hate, the Episcopal Diocese of Maine and the Maine Conference of the United Church of Christ.

Lewiston Somalis insist that such discrimination hasn’t been a problem here.

Naimo Abukar, whose husband owns RMC Coffee and Groceries on Lisbon Street, laughed when asked whether Muslim intolerance is on the rise locally.

“Not at all,” she said. “It’s been very quiet.” Everyone is focused on getting ready for the Eid feast (marking the end of the fasting month of Ramadan) on Friday, a celebration as big to Muslims as Christmas is to Christians.

Abukar recently moved to Lewiston from Minneapolis. “I feel comfortable here,” she said. “There’s a lot of Muslim people. You just fit in.”

Reshid Shankol, a former doctor in Ethopia who volunteers at the Jubilee Center food pantry in downtown Lewiston, said he spent Wednesday night and early Thursday morning praying at the downtown mosque.

He has followed the controversy over the Quran-burning and the opposition to building a mosque near the 9/11 site. He hasn’t seen evidence of intolerance here. “I don’t expect it,” he said.

“For the Lewiston people, it’s not a big issue,” Shankol said. “Nobody’s worried about that. People are talking about the holy day.” Local Muslims will celebrate Eid al-Fitr on Friday at the Central Avenue armory.

One local Christian fundamentalist who has burned Harry Potter books for promoting wizardry said he supported the Florida pastor’s plan to burn copies of the Quran.

“I’m all for it,” said Brother Doug Taylor of the Jesus Party, an inner-city children’s ministry. “We live in America. We live in a democracy. He has the right to burn the Quran on his property. He isn’t carrying out an act of violence.”

Maine Christian leaders disagreed, saying talk about burning the Quran or spreading Muslim hatred is contrary to the Christian gospel and values of religious freedom. Americans of every religion share the losses of Sept. 11, 2001. People of all faiths, including Muslim Americans, lost loved ones or ran to the World Trade Center in Manhattan to help that day.

The Rev. Jill Saxby of the Maine Council of Churches said Maine seems to be more tolerant than the rest of the nation. Religious leaders want to keep it that way.

“We’re concerned,” she said. “The anti-Muslim rhetoric is not completely unknown in Maine.”

The council released its statement to encourage religious tolerance, mutual respect and civil discourse. Talk of burning texts held sacred by other faiths helps spread the atmosphere of fear, Saxby said.

“It’s dangerous for a civil society, and does nothing to fight terrorism,” she said.

bwashuk@sunjournal.com

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