On Massachusetts' third annual Open Mosque Day on Sunday, 18 mosques across the commonwealth opened their doors to the larger public as members answered questions and gave their neighbors a chance to get to know their local Muslim community.
After prayer and a video presentation, Kashif Syed, who represents the outreach team at the Islamic Society of Boston in Cambridge, opened the floor for questions.
One woman raised her hand to ask about oppression: “How does your community deal with that?”
“We put our trust in God,” Syed answered, “and do the things we do every day.”
After the past few weeks have held targeted attacks in places of worship in New Zealand, Sri Lanka and California, the message of the day was clear: despite everything, do not give in to fear.
This year’s event held a special interfaith significance to the Islamic Society of Boston, located right around the block from their Jewish neighbors at Temple Beth Shalom.
“We stand with them,” Syed said. “I would say to all the Muslim mosques in America: Reach out to [your] Jewish neighbors and build bridges with them.”
After Saturday's deadly shooting at a synagogue in Poway, Calif., Hoda Eltomi, a member of the Cambridge mosque, has made a point to reach out to her Jewish neighbors.
"I read about the shooting that happened at the synagogue, and I said to myself, 'I need to be better about reaching out to my Jewish friends and neighbors and my Christian friends and neighbors and telling them — our mosques are open,'" she said. "If you don’t have a place to pray, you can pray here."
The suspect in the Poway shooting is also being investigated in relation to an arson at a nearby mosque, authorities said.
Read more: Poway Shooting Latest In Series of Attacks On Places Of Worship
Bari Brodsky, a member of Temple Beth Shalom and an interfaith religious group, came to the Islamic Society to show support.
“As a Jew watching what’s going on in the world, this is terrifying,” Brodsky said. “I see how, in this country, Muslim-Americans are treated. This was how Jews were treated. This is very personal to me and my family.”
Open Mosque day, according to Brodsky, is an opportunity to connect, in the form of a five minute walk around the block.
“I do this because I share humanity with people of all religions, and because I see what’s happening to people of other faiths and other ethnicities,” Brodsky said. “This happened to my people.”
Rabbinical student Ryan Leszner said he came to the mosque for the same purpose, for interfaith outreach.
“As a Jew, I definitely feel it when there are shootings in synagogues,” he said, “but I feel it just as equally when they’re happening in mosques and when they’re happening in churches.”
The FBI reported a 17 percent increase in hate crimes last year, and an uptick for three consecutive years since 2014.
“The only way that we’re going to combat that hatred is to open our doors to each other and learn from each other and grow from each other and realize that we’re all here for the same reason,” Leszner said, “to be humans and to love one another.”
