RNA - Driving down Dallas highways lately, you may have noticed an unusual billboard tucked among the more expected ones advertising Christian churches.
"ISLAM = Racial Equality," read the 12 billboards that have popped up around Dallas and Fort Worth. They provide a hotline phone number and website for "Why Islam?"
The billboards were funded by the Dallas chapter of Islamic Circle of North America, using local mosque donations. The group has run these campaigns nationwide for years, but this one, which started Oct. 24, has stood out.
It has prompted more hate calls than the group has received in other cities.
"We need to do more of these [campaigns] in Dallas, given the amount of hatred we got this time," said Imam Jawad Ahmed, who manages the hotline call center in New Jersey. "They would just curse the Muslims in general and say things like racial slurs, go back to your country, or get out of America, things like that."
The group's local spokesman, Furqan Ansari, of Irving, said the group decided to buy the billboards in an effort to combat what he sees as widespread misinformation about Islam that coincided with the rise of President-elect Donald Trump, and to show solidarity with people of color.
"We wanted to show DFW residents the things said in the election campaign were not true," Ansari said. The political rhetoric, he said, "made people have a lot of hatred and discrimination against Muslims."
The response to the billboards has mirrored the division of the country.
In the five weeks that the billboards have been up, the group has received 75 phone calls. Some of those were people who wanted to yell about Islam and hang up. Another 11 people chose not to speak to a person and just left a hate-filled voicemail.
"Phone is a very good medium of expressing your hate because you can easily just say what you want and hang up," said Ahmed. "Whereas if you face someone face-to-face you might have apprehension."
But the majority of callers were non-Muslims who were genuinely curious about the religion, Ahmed said. A few even just wanted to say that they support Muslims during these tense, divided times.
Many asked similar questions: Does Islam really promote racial equality? What about equality between men and women?
When people ask about Islam's view on terrorism and the Islamic State, or ISIS, the volunteers are trained to tell the callers that the religion promotes peace and does not condone any violence. The group does not view ISIS members as being Muslims, Ansari said.
847/940