Video: Religious Understanding In Starkville

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Starkville, Miss. (WCBI) — Dr. Rani Sullivan, who is the faculty advisor for the Muslim Student Association at MSU, spoke to WCBI and says the Muslim community is in shock about what has happened.

“This is an opportunity for me to restate and say how strongly and clearly we condemn the actions of any and all of these terrorist groups that are so countered to our Islamic faith…”, declared Sullivan.

She hopes this incident involving the arrests of two Starkville young adults doesn’t further add to what she considers misconceptions of her faith.

We are very peace loving people…”, said Sullivan, “…the actual word Islam its root word is Saalam which means peace so peace is injoined upon us, taking care of humanity is part of our faith…”

Sullivan says Muslims yearn for the same things people of other faiths wish to have in their lives.

“We want what other people want. We want to live in a safe environment…”, Sullivan said, “…it is incumbent upon us as human beings, as Muslims, to provide that and to facilitate that kind of environment.”

She also said as an American, she hopes the community can learn from this to make sure it never happens again.

“We share this concern…”, Sullivan said, “…we are alarmed by this event. We want to know why, we want to know how, by knowing this and by having accurate information we may be able to thwart future such incidents.”

Sullivan also believes the community must work to eliminate anti-Muslim bigotry to create an inclusive environment for detached youth that turn to groups like ISIS.

Both Sullivan and the FBI tell WCBI terrorist groups such as ISIS target and reach out to young people who want acceptance or feel shamed by who they are and their faith.