Oahu’s only mosque Hundreds of calls of support have clogged the message machine at Honolulu's only mosque this week, and about two dozen non-Muslims attended the weekly service yesterday to demonstrate solidarity with the religion's followers who have been attacked elsewhere in the backlash of this week's terrorist attacks.
flooded with public’s
supportive messages
Some Hawaii Muslims have been
castigated, but mostly the reaction
has been sympatheticBy Mary Adamski
madamski@starbulletin.comAbout 200 men knelt at the main Islamic prayer of the week, which coincided with special midday services held throughout the community in response to President Bush's call for a national day of prayer and remembrance for the victims.
"These people that perpetrated this act, they have no heart. Because obviously they planned for it, and not for a single second came to them the teaching of all religions: Be kind to thy neighbor," said Hakim Ouansafi, president of the Muslim Association of Hawaii, in a sermon during the hourlong service.
He attacked the "un-Islamic, unreligious, unhuman act" of the terrorists who killed thousands in New York, Washington, D.C., and Pentagon attacks."Terrorism whether big or small, killing innocent people or breaking a window, should never be tolerated," said Ouansafi.
Referring to mainland attacks on mosques and Muslim-owned businesses, Ouansafi said: "We wish and pray the American people do not associate the behavior of one person with the behavior of the 2 billion-plus Muslims -- worshippers, peaceful people, generous people, caring people. Our American friends will have to remember what this beautiful religion is about. Insulting this religion is insulting all religions, because it is teaching the same morals."
Ouansafi said there have been no serious threats in Hawaii but that mosque leaders hired security guards to ensure the safety of members, and undercover law enforcement officers were present. The Islamic Center in Manoa is in a large converted house with only a modest sign to distinguish it from neighboring residences.
He urged members to answer any belligerence in the spirit of the Koran, which teaches to "respond to threat with peace."
"Let's not fall into the same mistake of what we call ignorant people. We do not want to be called that. So if one person says something, remember hundreds of people, hundreds of calls, so much so that we limited attendance today."
He said the mosque had received "calls from Japanese Americans crying over the phone leaving a message, black Americans crying to leave message, from white Americans, Christians and Jews, all religions, all the faiths."
Some Hawaii Muslims have received negative attention.
Army Master Sgt. Saeed Rasool said a teenage schoolmate told his son to "go back where he came from." But Rasool said he was satisfied with the response from all the adults involved. The boy's mother called to apologize, and a teacher and the ROTC advisor at the public school intervened.
"Talk about where he came from. ... My son was born in North Carolina," Rasool said.
Computer technician Rashid Abdullah said there were fewer women in attendance yesterday than usual. He said his wife and other Muslim women have stayed at home this week because they are identifiable by their headgear.
"She is refusing to go on a trip we planned," he said.
Omar, a Pakistani student at Hawaii Pacific University who declined to give his last name, said he was asked to produce identification at the school library.
"I was singled out in the midst of all the students. I guess it was good they are being concerned about security."
A. Karim Khan, an assistant history professor at Leeward Community College, said: "Some of us have received (belligerent) phone calls. We understand."
Khan, who is of the same Pashtun ethnic group as the Taliban extremists in Afghanistan, said, "Like any religion or ethnic group, some of us go crazy."
Visitors on the porch included clergymen and representatives of several churches.
Joan Evans, a retired Hawaii Visitors Bureau executive, said she came "to tell them that not all this country is bigoted and that I honor them and thank them."
