A mosque in Niagara Falls is reaching out to the local community after the terrorist attack in San Bernardino. Time Warner Cable News Reporter LaMonica Peters shows us the effort to open the door to understanding and healing.
NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. -- The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community is reaching out and opening its doors to the local community.
The mosque held an open house Wednesday to provide information about its faith and to begin a dialogue about anti-Muslim sentiments after recent terrorist attacks around the world.
"Instead of going into a corner, although Muslims are being vilified, Muslims are being compartmentalized," said Hamid Malik, the mosque's imam. "We're not going to close up and go into a corner. In fact, we're opening up even more so and becoming even more transparent so that people can come and see and observe and know who true Muslims are."
Last week, Masjid Mahdi hosted a prayer vigil attended by people of all faiths to honor the victims of the terrorist attack in San Bernardino. Now the mosque wants to keep the communication and personal interaction going so healing in all communities can continue.
"We are not in the business of converting people," said Nasir Khan, president of the mosque. "We are not in the business of convincing people. We are here to provide them with an opportunity to ask questions from the true sources and we'll provide them with the answers."
The Masjid Mahdi mosque will host an open house at 6 p.m. every Wednesday.