MIDDLETOWN, N.J. (AP) - Sometimes it was a simple smile or a nod of the head. Other times two people of different faiths would stop for a handshake, a picture and a brief chat.
In any form, these kind gestures and interactions were meant to impart a sense of harmony between the Islamic community and those who had come to the Masjid Al-Aman in Middletown on Friday to show their neighbors that they were united in grief.
Just one week ago, a gunman murdered 50 Muslims as they gathered for communal prayer on a Friday afternoon in Christchurch, New Zealand.
The near constant police presence outside the Middletown mosque since then has been appreciated, members said, but also a harsh reminder of unfathomable violence.
“We are concerned because there are a lot crazy people in the world,” Mohamed Mosaad, board president at Masjid Al-Aman, told the USA TODAY NETWORK New Jersey on Friday.
Police officers were on guard outside the mosque again Friday, but they weren’t the ones drawing attention. Some 130 people from area temples and churches joined hands in a circle - “a ring of peace” as they called it - around the mosque on Red Hill Road.
Rabbi Marc Klein of Monmouth Reform Temple in Tinton Falls coordinated the event with 20 some other houses of worship, but was unable to attend because of a funeral, according to Rabbi Laurence Malinger of Temple Shalom in Aberdeen.
Similar events were going on outside mosques around the world.
“We have no tolerance for hate and we will support each other in good times and bad,” Malinger said outside the mosque on Friday afternoon.
“For me personally, the Islamic community really came out after the Pittsburgh massacre several months ago and this is our way of saying we’re standing with you just like you stood with us,” he added, referring to a terror attack at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh in October.
The mosque opened its doors to their guests and invited them inside for the Jumu’ah, the Friday afternoon prayer, and for a tour of the Islamic center.
“Absolutely it helps,” Mosaad said when asked if community support makes a difference. “It is American to be in solidarity together against any terrorist.”
Middletown and Monmouth County feel safe and secure to the members of Masjid Al-Aman, Mosaad said.
“It’s getting better,” he said of the dialogue between Muslims and their neighbors of different belief systems, “except for this terrible act in New Zealand, killing 50 people for no reason except they are different from you.”
On March 15, 49 people were gunned down by a terrorist at the Al Noor Mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand. The shooter then drove a couple miles to the Linwood Mosque where he murdered seven others before being scared off by one of the worshippers.
Another victim later passed away at a hospital, bringing the death toll to 50. Fifty more were injured, including some who remain in critical condition.
The youngest victim of the massacre, 3-year-old Mucaad Ibrahim, was buried on Thursday afternoon, according to the New Zealand Herald.
The suspect, a 28-year-old Australian, livestreamed the shooting spree on Facebook. He was later arrested and subsequently charged with murder.
A white supremacist, the shooter’s motivations were spelled out in a manifesto circulated minutes before the attack: He claimed that the immigrants and refugees were “invading” Western countries and replacing European traditions.
An estimated 3 percent of New Jerseyans identify as Muslim, according to the Pew Research Center. That’s a greater share than in any other U.S. state.
“It’s every Muslim’s nightmare to hear that while they are facing to pray to God they will be shot in the back. … New Zealand is a very peaceful place so if it could happen there, it could certainly happen here,” said Omar Awad, CEO and president of the Islamic Center of Passaic County, during an interview with the Network after the shooting.
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Information from: Asbury Park (N.J.) Press, http://www.app.com
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