Muslims attending Friday prayer at Masjid Al Noor, or Mosque of Light, in Hazel Dell were met with flowers, notes and donations. Several non-Muslims attended the service to show support in the wake of the terrorist attack that killed 49 people at mosques in New Zealand.
“We’re really blessed to live in an area where it is inclusive,” said Shirin Elkoshairi, board president of the Islamic Society of Southwest Washington. “I sense that people are sad and angry on our behalf.”
The Friday sermon is prepared in advance, so it didn’t fully address the shootings. However, Elkoshairi said, they talked about strengthening spirituality to deal with tragedy.
The Islamic Society emailed its followers Friday morning regarding the attack.
“It is with heavy hearts we pray for our 49 brothers and sisters that were senselessly murdered. We also pray for a quick recovery for those that are injured,” said the email. It reminded people to be vigilant of suspicious activity and to report anything unusual to local law enforcement.
“It is critical that Muslims continue to work actively to educate those around them about Islam,” the email said.
The Islamic Society of Southwest Washington has about 110 members, though a larger number of people attend services. An October shooting at a synagogue in Pittsburgh prompted the Islamic Society to contract with the Clark County Sheriff’s Office to post a deputy on the corner of its Hazel Dell property during Friday prayer.
When Elkoshairi attended services Friday, after the shootings in New Zealand, he saw three police vehicles on-site.
Clark County sheriff’s Sgt. Dave Nelson said deputies are being proactive about having a presence at places of worship and other religious facilities.
“We have not been asked to make extra patrols, but we’re aware of the tense situation because of the shooting in New Zealand,” Nelson said.
The deputies’ presence is meant to provide comfort to people coming and going from sites such as the Islamic Society of Southwest Washington, he said.
Nelson went to a Jewish school Friday morning and said a number of parents at the school approached him.
“People were thankful I was there, and they asked about local threats. There are none,” he said.
The proactive efforts will continue for as long as needed, Nelson said.
Just like in the Jewish synagogue shooting, those at prayer Friday in Christchurch, New Zealand, were “sitting ducks,” said Arif Humayun, who attends the Islamic Society.
During congregational prayer, people are in a different state of mind; they’re focused on stillness and introspection rather than what’s going on in the world outside.
“It’s a sad thing. It rocked the whole world,” he said.
Humayun was surprised to learn through news reports that the attack had been planned over the course of two years. A 28-year-old Australian man was charged with murder in connection with Friday’s mosque shootings. Humayun, who often travels abroad for work, spent three years living in a small town south of Sydney and is familiar with Australia’s struggles with hyper-nationalism.
“They had some harsh immigration policies where they would arrest these immigrants coming by boat on an island off Australia,” Humayun said.
He’s seen pictures of the hateful markings and messages scrawled on a weapon used in the mosque shooting. The rhetoric around white supremacy is the same hateful rhetoric used by the Taliban, but more emphasis has been put on Muslim radicalism, he said. They’re just different flavors of hate.
“Similar rhetoric has been building up over the last several years, and we need to be careful how far we take it,” Humayun said. “We have to come together and talk about these issues.”
Humayun co-founded Circle of Peace, an interfaith group that holds talks to address misconceptions of Islam.
“We are all responsible for not bringing these things up publicly. We have to discuss these things,” Humayun said. People can get the wrong idea based on their limited knowledge of events or history and become radicalized. “We have to act before they act.”
Reporter Jerzy Shedlock contributed to this story.
