MUSLIM UNITY PICNIC, JUNE 24TH 2007

‘Solidarity’ was the theme that brought the group together, men, women and children at Dearborn’s Ford Field on Sunday, June 24th, 2007.

It’s a theme that ‘Our Arab American Story’ intends to celebrate.

Among the joy of the children in their face paint, enjoying fruit smoothies and a wide array of food, both traditional and contemporary (hummus to hamburgers), and the adults playing chess and sampling a multitude of barbecued items from a long row of cookers, there was a real sense of the closeness of Detroit’s Arab American community.

Interviewing Dr. Kallil Kazan and Muhammed Beydoun of the F12 Program, we were intrigued to discover that the so-called rivalry between Shiite and Sunni factions in Iraq, which so dominate the headlines, are much less of an issue here in Detroit than they are in Iraq.

Says Kazan and Beydoun, “Here, we pray together, eat together, have with our families.  We worship the same; believe in the same God…”

The picnic was proof of the unity that can and does exist among the vast majority of Muslims, not just here, but world wide.