The founder of the Islamic Institute of Boston says now is the time for Muslims to plan a massive march on the nation’s capital to denounce the escalating terror attacks — a springtime demonstration to deliver a simple message to extremists: “Go to Hell.”
Imam Talal Eid, founder of the Boston center, told the Herald he has reached out to Muslim leaders throughout the United States to start planning for a march on Washington, D.C.
“I would carry the largest banner ever saying: Not in my name. Go to Hell,” he said. “Muslim scholars need to say anyone who participates in such killings, the Islamic centers will not provide any burial services. We Muslims need to be clear as Muslims.”
Eid, a graduate of Harvard Divinity School who was born in Lebanon, said the message from a united Muslim community needs to be clear: “This shooting of innocent people cannot be accepted.”
Eid said the slaughter of 14 in San Bernardino, Calif., this past week and 130 in Paris last month is calling out for a response.
“Things are escalating. Paris, Tunisia, Lebanon, the United States. What are we waiting for?” added Eid, who recently left the Bay State to lead a Muslim center in Toledo.
Fox News Host Bill O’Reilly has proposed the idea of a “million Muslim march” to condemn the extremist violence here and abroad.
“There’s a lot of people that are getting a little fed up with this. And I think they’re getting fed up because they don’t see a mobilization of the good Muslims,” O’Reilly said last month. “You need a Million Muslim March in Washington, with national coverage to speak out against ISIS so the whole world can see it.”
Isa Hodge, a Muslim activist and radio host who failed to pull off a 2013 march on Washington, told the Herald he agrees “100 percent” that it is time for another try — especially as hateful rhetoric and violence toward Muslims grows, he said.
“As an American Muslim, my Constitution gives me the right to do this, and it’s my responsibility to speak the truth,” he said. “Our prophet tells us: If you see an injustice you have to stop it with your hands. If you cannot stop it with your hands, stop it with your mouth. If you cannot stop it with your mouth, stop it with your heart.”
Hodge said he is working to organize a march on Washington for September 2016.
There’s a debate, however, among Muslim leaders and experts about whether a march would help with the dialogue.
John Robbins, of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Massachusetts, said he’s “not sure what such a demonstration would contribute” since American Muslims from the leadership to regular citizens have publicly denounced the attacks for years.
Cambridge City Councilor Nadeem Mazen said, “I don’t think anyone would disagree about the need for American Muslims to come out in solidarity against any type of violence in America, whoever it’s perpetrated by. Muslims in America repudiate violence of any kind in their hearts, categorically.”
Smaller rallies have already been held in Toledo, Chicago and Portland, Maine.