Seasonal & Holidays

Hudson County Muslim Students Hand Out Valentine’s Day Roses (VIDEO)

Can love and roses triumph over hate and terrorism? These North Jersey students wanted to prove that the answer is "yes."

JERSEY CITY, NJ — It may be a cliché, but that makes the sentiment no less heartwarming… the best way to fight hate is with love.

On Monday, for Valentine’s Day 2017, students from the Muslim Student Association (MSA) of Hudson County Community College handed out roses to passerby in Jersey City’s Journal Square in a display of human empathy aimed at showing that “Islam is love.”

According to student organizers, the gathering was intended to “demonstrate a counter-narrative to President Trump’s vitriol.”

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“Muslims are committed to peace and love, not terrorism and hate,” said Jessica Berrocal Abdelnabbi, chairperson of the MSA. “I am a proud Latina-American Muslim, and my parents are proud immigrants from Colombia and Peru. I am part of MSA so I can take action with other Muslims for positive change."

Abdelnabbi said that she was born in Queens, New York after her mother fled Colombia in the 1970s.

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"As the daughter of an immigrant from a country ravaged by civil wars, and as a proud Muslim, the president's policies hit close to home,” Abdelnabbi emphasized. “Immigrants, slaves, refugees and victims of persecution built the United States. We can't exclude people in our country."

Photos: Muslim Student Association of Hudson County Community College

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