Source: inews.co.uk  | By Serina Sandhu

What Ted Hakey Jr learned after Muslims at the mosque he shot at forgave him Ted Hakey Jr at the 68th Annual Convention (Jalsa Salana) of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community USA

On the night of the Paris terror attacks, former US Marine Ted Hakey Jr, enraged by what he saw on television, drunkenly took a high-powered rifle, and fired 30 shots at a mosque.

Now nearly nine months later, he’s gone from harbouring an “extreme hatred for Islam” to becoming something of an honourary member of the Ahmadiyya community, the version of Islam practiced at the Connecticut mosque he once tried to attack. He has apologised to them and the Muslim community there have embraced him as a “brother”.

Last weekend, he even attended and spoke at the 68th Annual Convention – Jalsa Salana – of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community USA with members of the mosque.

Although Hakey Jr will go to prison on 15 August for six months on charges of destruction of religious property, his story is one of forgiveness and reformation. It is also one of lessons. The 49-year-old says he has learned a lot about Islam, the Ahmadiyya community and how terrorism has no link to the religion.

The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community: This is a sect of Islam, founded in 1889 by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian. They believe the Messiah has already come, in the person of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad.

Ahmadi Muslims face persecution in many countries as orthodox Muslims consider some of their views as heresy. ‘Drunken stupidity’ Hakey Jr deeply regrets his actions on the night of 15 November 2015. It was a knee-jerk reaction to the atrocities – claimed by extremist group Isis – in Paris, which killed 130 people. Of the 30 shots he fired at the Baitul Aman Mosque next to his … read the rest @ inews.co.uk