{"id":3856,"date":"2012-11-16T10:32:02","date_gmt":"2012-11-16T02:32:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/muzlimbuzz.sg\/?p=3856"},"modified":"2012-11-16T10:32:02","modified_gmt":"2012-11-16T02:32:02","slug":"roses-of-peace-2012","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/simplyislam.sg\/muslimbuzz\/roses-of-peace-2012\/","title":{"rendered":"Roses of Peace 2012"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\u201cTo promote peace, love and harmony,\u201d was the main objective of some 200 youths who came together on 10th November 2012, distributing 3000 roses nationwide. Inspired by those in the UK, Australia, Norway and other parts of the world, a group of young Muslims came together inspired by this initiative.<\/p>\n

The night before 10th November was spent preparing the roses for distribution the next day. Greeting cards with empowering words from the beloved Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), also Buddha, Confucius, Jesus Christ and Gandhi accompanied the blooming roses.<\/p>\n

Equipped with a basket of roses and smiles, we gave a rose to just about anyone willing to receive one. Surely a group of young men and women clad in white and blue with a bunch of roses isn\u2019t a common sight \u2013 causing most members of the public to be intrigued. The questions received gave an opportunity for us to let them realize the reality of our religion \u2013 peace.<\/p>\n

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The recent portrayals and speculations in mass media has escalated the attention on Islam, for various reasons. While similar initiatives which took place in other parts of the world by youth groups may be a form of response to such recent happenings, this one was to simply better promote social cohesion within a multi-religious society upon the emphasis of Islamic values \u2013 which are also universal.
\nThe initiative was felt, albeit carried out in smaller scale for the other countries. However in Singapore, it was a rather revolutionized movement \u2013 where the manpower and resources involved were up-scaled to ensure more than just a \u201cpresence\u201d was felt.<\/p>\n

That day \u2013 people didn\u2019t just recognize Muslims who are young and involved. They also recognized empowered, proactive and peace-lovers in them.
\nAfter the distribution process, volunteers attended an appreciation dinner which was graced by member of parliament \u2013 Mr Zainal Saparin. In his speech, he reiterated the spirit of volunteerism which he graciously integrated with young age.<\/p>\n

This was a movement that took place \u2013 massive enough for the general public to notice. If previously they were living in the \u2018lurch\u2019, then this definitely brought \u2018us\u2019 to light for them. The speech by Mr Zainal and the organizers reminded me of the various youth empowering sessions which often emphasized the point of activism within a society. Activism requires a point of interaction with members of the society to integrate a common cause. It may require more than just giving roses and putting smiles on the face of others \u2013 but if anything, \u2018Roses of Peace 2012\u2019 definitely has placed a point across beliefs and races to re-emphasise co-existence.<\/p>\n

Putting Singapore into context, it was as if the roses meant to say \u201cHey, we exist!\u201d But more so to say \u201cHey, we exist and we love you,\u201d something lesser looked upon when such an initiative is brought to public discourse.<\/p>\n

Perhaps da\u2019wah is too touch\u00e9 a term, considering that there were non-Muslims who came forward to offer their spirit and energy to help in this event \u2013 but it certainly is a core aspect of this trend-setting movement, only more universally phrased. We surely saw a lot of smiles from those who received the roses but no one really knows what goes beyond those smiles. No one really knows the impact we have on each other but we certainly know kindness goes a really long way. As Mr Zainal said in his speech, \u201cNever underestimate an act of kindness.\u201d That rose might have saved a life or two, or it may have saved prejudice for a whole lot more love.<\/p>\n

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For more information on Roses of Peace 2012, you can visit their website at\u00a0www.rosesofpeace.com<\/a>. Do also be updated with them on Facebook at\u00a0www.facebook.com\/rosesofpeace.sg<\/a>.<\/p>\n

You can view more pictures from this event on their Facebook Page as well.<\/p>\n

[divider]<\/p>\n

Nazeera Mohamed<\/strong>
\nA\u00a0flawed servant with a voice to and for trust.\u00a0Your sister in\u00a0faith, your friend in deen and your\u00a0Ummah in congregation.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cTo promote peace, love and harmony,\u201d was the main objective of some 200 youths who came together on 10th November 2012, distributing 3000 roses nationwide. Inspired by those in the UK, Australia, Norway and other parts of the world, a group of young Muslims came together inspired by this initiative. The night before 10th November […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3857,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[113,53],"tags":[2110,2111,10,710,709,630,857,2112,2114,2113,2034],"class_list":["post-3856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-event-review","category-news","tag-rosesofpeace","tag-rosesofpeace2012","tag-featured","tag-islam-in-singapore","tag-muslims-in-singapore","tag-ntums","tag-nusms","tag-roses-of-peace","tag-sim","tag-singaporef","tag-smu"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/simplyislam.sg\/muslimbuzz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3856","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/simplyislam.sg\/muslimbuzz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/simplyislam.sg\/muslimbuzz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/simplyislam.sg\/muslimbuzz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/simplyislam.sg\/muslimbuzz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3856"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/simplyislam.sg\/muslimbuzz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3856\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3860,"href":"https:\/\/simplyislam.sg\/muslimbuzz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3856\/revisions\/3860"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/simplyislam.sg\/muslimbuzz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/simplyislam.sg\/muslimbuzz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/simplyislam.sg\/muslimbuzz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/simplyislam.sg\/muslimbuzz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}