RNA - Friday was a day of prayer and a show of solidarity for a Fresno mosque targeted by hate in recent days.
"Early this week, unfortunately, we got this hate letter that you all know about. Obviously this made a lot of us concerned and worried," said Seyed Ali Ghazvini, Iman.
Leaders of the Islamic Cultural Center of Fresno said they are overwhelmed by the support they have received locally after someone sent them and several other mosques across the country an identical hate-filled letter that warned Muslims to leave the country or face genocide.
"We're going to remain united no matter what kind of tensions there are or what kind of anxieties there are right now," said Reza Nekumanesh, Islamic Cultural Center Director.
Despite the threatening letter, the mosque won't back down.
City and spiritual leaders from across various religions were welcomed to the Islamic Cultural Center Friday for a special prayer service and to talk about the chain-letter that arrived just days prior.
"It's important to show solidarity and what we saw here today was people from across the city standing together to basically say one thing-- love your neighbor as yourself and that's what we stand for in Fresno," said H Spees, Community Activist.
The letter, postmarked from Southern California, made national headlines
since its arrival Monday. Members of the community have rallied behind the mosque. Some showed their support with flowers and words of encouragement left at the center's doorstep.
"Our community immediately inundated us with beautiful messages which allowed us to not have to focus on one hateful message when we were just blanketed with beautiful messages," said Nekumanesh.
No arrests in the threatening letter have been made but the FBI is said to monitoring the situation.
847/940