Interfaith Council members show solidarity with area mosque
Rev. Sarah Halverson-Cano, with fellow Interfaith Council members, hugs a member of the Islamic Educational Center of Orange County in a gesture of religious solidarity and support in light of recent events in Paris and San Bernardino.
In what some thought may have been its own divine sign, clouds ceased to drop rain and the sun shone through by the time Newport-Mesa-Irvine Interfaith Council members came to show support for a Costa Mesa mosque Friday morning.
Nearly 30 assembled in front of the Islamic Educational Center of Orange County, near John Wayne Airport, as a demonstration of solidarity after the attacks in Paris and San Bernardino whose perpetrators have ties to Islamic extremism.
The participants held signs that read “God is with you and we are too” and “You are not alone. We stand with you.”
Another sign read “Christians standing alongside cousins. One God = one family.”
“This turnout from people, which was almost in the rain, is a demonstration of how people are aching to do something,” said the Rev. Sarah Halverson-Cano, of Fairview Community Church in Costa Mesa. “This is a powerful commitment to our interfaith work together.”
Halverson-Cano said she felt emotional when, in an effort help the Muslim worshippers feel welcome in the community, they in turn went out of their way to make them feel welcome at the mosque.
“They couldn’t stop offering us food,” she said.
“We are very overwhelmed with this outpouring of support from our interfaith brothers and sisters,” said the center’s imam and founder, Moustafa Al-Qazwini. “It means a lot to us.
“I think this is the true face of America. It’s about social cohesion and it’s about solidarity, dignity and freedom for all religions.”
Al-Qazwini said the mosque — which recently celebrated its 15th anniversary of being in Costa Mesa — usually has between 200 and 250 people attend its Friday prayer service. Last Friday, however, after the San Bernardino attacks, those numbers dropped.
“Some people fear the backlash, unfortunately,” Al-Qazwini said.
On Thursday, he said he told his mosque “that you should not fear. This is your country, this is your home, and you should reach out to the American people and tell them that this is not real Islam, what is happening. Those people do not represent the true message of Islam.”
