UPDATE: Cypress Mosque Hate Crime

Related: Cypress Masjid Hate Crime

I had a follow up meeting with the Masjid officials and the Police Department. The meeting was a great example of something I call "CIVIC ENGAGEMENT".

This topic seems a bit "pie-in-the-air" stuff, but I can not emphasize it enough. A good example is the story of the Masjid in Bakersfield (picture on the left). The article "Southeast Mosque Vandalized" reports that:

(June 10, 2009) Three boys were arrested Wednesday for allegedly trespassing onto a mosque and desecrating several religious artifacts. But the investigation indicates the act was not a hate crime, police said Wednesday night....The boys were cited for trespassing and vandalizing a place of worship. The matter will be referred to the District Attorney's office, police said.

What hurts is that, no one just "jumps a fence and begins vandalizing", especially at a place that is "visibly" a mosque. Unfortunately, this is not the first time such an incident occurred at a Mosque in Bakersfield. During Ramadan of 2007 racial slurs were used in an attack on a Muslim sister during the last ten days.

Six days after the Cypress Masjid hate crime, Bakersfield experiences a "trespassing and vandalizing a place of worship" incident. While given the connection media has made to the Obama speech in Cairo, I dont think this created a general atmosphere of "anti-Muslim" behavior in the US.

The lesson to be learned though is from the Cypress Masjid, not even the fact that its a "hate crime" and sounds worse then a "trespassing and vandalism" incident". Rather, the Cypress community had developed a wonderful relationship.

At the follow up meeting Imam and President of the masjid shared with me the numerous cards and calls they had received since the incident, showing support for the Cypress Muslim community. How local churches reached out to extend a hand of support. The fact that the Police Chief and City elected officials sent a clear, immediate and unequivocal message that such crimes will not be accepted in the community comes from the very notion that people in Cypress get the Constitution. They understand that our rights and liberties are not special to one segment of the population, or another; that they need to be aggressively stood for in the face of the smallest amount of marginalization and intimidation for any segment of the community.

Muslim need to learn from the example that is set here. First a reminder through transference:

The Messenger of Allah (sallaAllahu 'alayhi wasallam) was sitting with a group of the sahabah (RAA) in the masjid and he said "A man will now enter [who is] from the people of Paradise." and a sahabi walked in. Later it happened again, and then a third time. 'Abdullah ibn 'Amr ibn al-'aas (RAA) wanted to find out what was so special about this man, so he asked the man if he can stay over his house for 3 days. (He made up an excuse). The man allowed him to stay. 'Abdullah noticed that the man didn't do anything out of the ordinary: He didn't fast all the time, he slept some of the night and prayed some of the night, and so on. So after the 3 days, 'Abdullah told him the real reason why he requested to stay with him, and he asked him what it was that could be the reason why he was from the people of Jannah.

The man (RA) couldn't think of anything, but after a bit he said "Every night, before I go to sleep, I forgive whoever has wronged me. I remove any bad feelings towards anyone from my heart." (Something similar to that)

I want to focus in on the fact that the lesson we can apply in this situation is about "best practices". I think if masjids as institutions can look at the Cypress Masjid Hate Crime incident as a way to take away "best practices" they can implement locally in their communities I believe its a worthwhile proactive step that can get results out of a horrible situation.

Why not learn from the situation, like this Sahabah, and work on ways that we can not only protect our community, institutions and religious rights, but also use this as a form of showing how Muslims are part of their communities?

While the Cypress PD had very few leads to go on, they are vigilant and will be providing extra patrols, especially as the month of Ramadan comes in. But this is a good time for communities to reach out, begin organizing Open houses and Ramadan iftars, not just for city officials but even for their neighbors and community friends. This is a great time to partner up with local faith based institutions to invite them to the masjid and to get to know each others community (please do not APPROACH THIS LIKE YOU ARE GOING TO CONVERT PEOPLE, just imagine your reaction if the basis of any relationship was focused in on converting you from Islam?)