Santa Rosa Muslim community deeply saddened by New Zealand massacre

The massacre that killed 50 people in two New Zealand mosques haunted Mir Ali, 49, when he came home after the Jummah prayer Friday afternoon.

Ali’s 5-year-old son, Raihan, told him he would like to go to the afternoon prayer sometime.

“I didn’t know what to say,” Ali said Saturday, just before doing his nightly Isha prayer at the prayer hall of the Islamic Society of Santa Rosa.

“It’s scary. I don’t know if I can take him,” Ali said. “It was the prayer of Jummah. That’s the prayer the guy went to and got all those people.”

Two days after the twin attacks at mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, members of the Santa Rosa Muslim community are confronted by fear, sadness and hope, as they are buoyed by support from their non-Muslim friends. Authorities said the killings were perpetrated by an admitted white supremacist, who called President Trump a “symbol of renewed white identity.”

Ali, who has been living in Santa Rosa for 10 years, attended the Isha prayer Saturday with more than a dozen other Muslim faithful inside the local Islamic Society’s modest prayer hall in the city. In the back of the room, there was a vase filled with flowers delivered Friday by a stranger, a Santa Rosa woman who apologized for the killings.

Ali said he is frightened by the tone of today’s “patriotism” in the United States.

“Today, patriotism is expressed by hate,” he said. “It’s, ‘I love America because I hate everyone else.’ ”

Sameh Hussein, president of the Islamic Society, said Saturday the local Muslim community is deeply saddened by the killings in New Zealand. The 50 people who died, among them children, were in the thoughts and prayers of those seeking spiritual refuge at the city Islamic center Friday and Saturday.

“We are family to them, too. We’re all brothers and sisters,” Hussein said. “We feel their pain. We talked about what the immediate family must be feeling, talked about what we can do to help out.”

Hussein said members of the Islamic center have received “tremendous support” from local residents who are not part of the Muslim community, particularly members of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation located near the center.

The Rev. Christopher Bell, Unitarian Universalist Congregation’s senior minister, attended a prayer at the Islamic Society prayer hall on Friday, in a show of support and solidarity, Hussein said.

The two spiritual leaders have set a meeting March 22 at the nearby UCC Glaser Center, where people can learn more about Islam and the Muslim community. Hussein said the gathering will give local residents an opportunity to come together after the tragedy.

“It’s kind of like an opportunity, even though this is a sad event,” he said. “Events that are associated with grief, they bring with them some risks and opportunities.”

The most crucial of these “opportunities,” he said, “is to see our relationship to each other in humanity. We all must remember that we are brothers and sisters in humanity, no matter what.”

Hussein said the center has received a number of sympathetic messages from local Sonoma County residents since the mass shooting.

“Whenever something happens, our experience in Sonoma County is always one of support and love. That’s been the case 100 percent of the time,” he said. “We feel secure.”

Despite the absence of such acts of violence in Sonoma County, Hussein said he told Islamic Society members they still have to be vigilant and careful. He said he and other members noticed a large police presence near the center.

“We didn’t call them. We didn’t ask them for anything,” he said. “We just noticed more activity than normal.”

Ibrahim Ibrahim, an Islamic Society member, said he’s saddened by the attacks, which are increasingly becoming the “norm now.”

“Just a few months pass and this happens again, whether it’s our community or another, like the Jewish community,” he said. “I don’t want to say that this is the norm, but it feels like it’s the norm now.”

Ibrahim said he was walking out of the mosque Friday morning and saw a woman on the street carrying flowers. The woman said she was looking for the address of the mosque.

“She had a bouquet of flowers,” Ibrahim said. “She immediately apologized and said she was sorry for what happened.”

Ibrahim thanked the woman, put the flowers in a vase and announced the gift during Friday prayers. Meanwhile, more local residents came by the mosque with flowers and well wishes and apologies. The mosque received texts messages and phone calls throughout the day Friday, he said.

“It was kind of very heartwarming to hear about these kinds of actions,” he said. Ibrahim said he hopes that people reject the hate-filled rhetoric espoused by the suspect in the New Zealand shootings.

“These calamities bring people together, and I think that’s one of the biggest fruits of events like these,” he said.

You can reach Staff Writer Martin Espinoza at 707-521-5213 or martin.espinoza@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @pressreno.