Adam Soltani remembers the anti-Muslim rhetoric that seemed heightened during the 2016 presidential election.
Soltani, executive director of the Oklahoma chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said his agency has created a new guidebook that was purposely timed, in part, to counter another possible round of such rhetoric in the months leading up to the 2020 presidential election.
CAIR-OK’s first “Guide to Islam and Muslims in Oklahoma” is a 32-page resource that includes a glossary of Muslim terms, Oklahoma Muslim demographics and information on Muslim social and civic involvement. The guide also include Islamic theology and how it relates to other faiths, plus commentary on “Islamophobia” and its effect on Oklahoma.
In a listing of Islamic centers and schools, the guidebook shares information about a new mosque, the Crossroads Islamic Center of Oklahoma’s Masjid Al-Madinah, that recently opened near the former Crossroads Mall in south Oklahoma.
“We realized there was no proper resource to hand to people,” Soltani said of the new booklet.
“The goal is to keep this book updated on an annual basis so it can be a continuous dynamic resource for people to use.”