The Christian Post website reports today (March 8, 2012) that a New York City imam has declared that he will start a campaign on April 22, 2012 to make the April 26 birthday of the prophet Muhammad a national holiday celebrated by Muslims and Americans of other faiths.
Mohammad Abdul Qayyoom -- head of the Muhammadi Community Center in Jackson Heights in the NYC borough of Queens -- asks in the petition for an establishment of April 26 as a federal holiday, "so that we can enjoy this day like the joy of Christmas."
April 26 was proposed because it is the day recognized as the day the prophet Muhammad was born in 570 AD, the imam said.
He emphasized that the holiday would invite people of all faiths to celebrate together, "because Prophet Muhammad said, 'I am not the prophet of only Muslims. I am the prophet of all human beings.'"
