The Islamic Center of Virginia put up a sign last month responding to many positive letters and calls from local residents and officials in the Richmond area. (Photo courtesy Islamic Center of Virginia)
Several months ago, someone threw hundreds of leaflets in the driveway of the Islamic Center of Virginia in Bon Air. Bearing Nazi and Ku Klux Klan symbols, the leaflets contained messages of hate directed not only at Muslims, but also at Jews and African-Americans. Islamic Center leaders reported the incident to police, but otherwise kept quiet about it.
“We chose not to publicize it at the time, because maybe these people wanted this kind of attention,” says Imad Damaj, chairman of the Islamic Center’s outreach committee and a professor with the VCU Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology.
Damaj says that the Islamic Center viewed the leaflets as an isolated incident.
“We were obviously not happy,” he says, “but we put it in perspective.”
Still, it’s cause for concern at a time when the FBI is reporting a rise in hate crimes against people based on religion, race, ethnicity and sexual orientation. Attacks directed at American Muslims showed the largest increase, reaching the highest levels since the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. In recent weeks, mosques in at least five states received threatening letters referring to President-elect Donald Trump as “a new sheriff in town” and stating, “You Muslims would be wise to pack your bags and get out of Dodge.”
Here in the Richmond area, however, messages of hate have been far outnumbered by expressions of love and solidarity. Damaj says the Islamic Center has received letters and calls from local residents and organizations, congressmen, state officials and county leaders, churches and synagogues. Virginia’s attorney general called. The basic messages were: “Whatever you need, we’re here. We’re all in it together. Anything you need help with, let us know.”
A sampling of the messages of support received by the Islamic Center (Photo courtesy Islamic Center of Virginia)
During the second week of November, the Islamic Center put up a banner thanking the community for its support.
Tonight, the community will return some of the thanks to the Islamic Center in the form of the Beacon of Light Award, given by the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy during its annual meeting at the Virginia Holocaust Museum.
The Rev. Charles Swadley, faith outreach coordinator for the Virginia Interfaith Center, says he’s worked with Islamic Center leaders over the past decade as they participated in numerous interfaith dialogues, pitched in on community rebuilding projects and hosted health care clinics. When the Westboro Baptist Church came to town and tried to stir up anti-Semitism at the Holocaust Museum, the Islamic Center was there to support the Jewish community, he says.
“It’s been really inspiring because they’ve made intentional efforts at every opportunity to connect with the larger community,” says Swadley, a former interim director of the Virginia Interfaith Center who is retiring this month and is being honored by the group as Citizen of the Year.
The Islamic Center has also worked with Richmond Metropolitan Habitat for Humanity, served meals to the homeless as a partner with CARITAS and planted trees during James River cleanup efforts. And each year at the end of Ramadan, the Islamic Center holds a celebration that’s open to the community.
“We’re very grateful and pleased by this award honoring the work of the center,” Damaj says. “We feel it’s good timing because I think it highlights more what the community is doing. There is still a lot of misunderstanding, misconceptions about the Muslim community and the faith.”
Many people don’t understand Islam's similarities to Christianity and Judaism, he says: “We believe in one God. Muslims believe Jesus Christ is the Messiah. We believe in many of the common tenets of the Abrahamic religion. … We don’t pray to Muhammad. He’s a prophet for us. We pray to God, the creator.”
Damaj also wants Richmonders to know that the Muslim community here is diverse and well-established. “We have people in our community who have been here for generations,” he says, noting that the Islamic Center got its start in the 1960s on what is now Virginia Commonwealth University’s Monroe Campus, and built its mosque in Bon Air in 1985. “Twenty to 25 percent of the Muslim community is African-American. We also have new people who literally got here yesterday, refugees.”
Richmond-area Muslims are small business owners, physicians, engineers and lawyers. They fight fires, work in law enforcement and teach in public schools. They value education and religious liberty.
Above all, Damaj says, “I’d like for people to know us more. We’re their neighbors.”
