Local Muslims pray for innocent people of Iraq

Tuesday, March 18, 2003 | 9:43 a.m.

Zafar Ali Anjum, the imam of a Las Vegas Muslim mosque, on Monday night handed out copies of a special prayer that the Islamic prophet Mohammed recited in times of crisis.

"He (Mohammed) would keep praying to Allah (God) to bring the peace and establish the justice to protect the people throughout the world," Anjum told 20 men and boys attending Isha, the fifth and final prayer of the day at the mosque on East Desert Inn Road.

The brief service was conducted three hours after President Bush told Americans that war was imminent to rid the Islamic nation of Iraq of its dictator, Saddam Hussein.

The special prayer from the Qunuut Al-Witr chapter of the Koran asks God for guidance, a pardoning of sins and a blessing for allies. "For surety, he whom You show allegiance to is never abased and he whom You take as an enemy is never honored or mighty," the verse reads in part.

But some of the Islamic faithful, who were either born in America or have become U.S. citizens, expressed concerns that America's military might will take an awful toll on the innocent people of Iraq.

"My biggest fear is for the loss of Iraqi citizens," said Omar Anwar Ouassini, 20, a native Las Vegan and senior at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. "As a humanist I am against all war, but now it seems so finalized. And America's military might is so powerful that the threat to human life is so great."

Khalid Khan, an India-born American citizen who serves as president of the Las Vegas Islamic Society, said he is does not tell people he is a U.S. citizen because so many nations worldwide are upset with the United States over the pending war with Saddam Hussein.

"What fascinated me about America before I came to this country was that whenever there was a disaster in any part of the world, the first planes arriving with help were from America," Khan, 60, said. "America's generosity is so great. Yet now we are called ugly Americans or arrogant Americans.

"I dislike Saddam Hussein. The people of Iraq hate Saddam Hussein. But they have never asked the United States for help (to get rid of him). That is because they realize he is their problem. They do not want someone else to come into their country and remove him."

Khan said there are concerns among the local Islamic community that some Las Vegans might view the local mosque as a symbol of the enemy.

"We are in close contact with Metro Police and the FBI, and there are extra patrols at times like the Juma prayer on Fridays (the holiest day when 400 to 500 Muslims pray at the local mosque)," Khan said.

"But we also believe that Las Vegans will do the right thing. After Sept. 11, we got a couple of hate crime calls, but we also received 60 phone calls from local non-Muslims supporting us, telling us they know we have nothing to do with terrorism.

"This is our home too. This is our country."