(This story is by Emily Greenberg, a freelance writer in Charlotte who contributes to several Vermont-based publications. She has also written for periodicals in Washington state and New York state.)
[C]OLCHESTER — Vermonters of various faiths are showing their solidarity with the Islamic Society of Vermont after it received a letter expressing disdain for the Muslim religion.
About 150 nonmembers gathered to pray with the Muslim congregation Friday, and many have sent messages of support in response to the letter.
“This was classic hate mail. The person was so brave that they chose to remain
anonymous,” said Farhad Khan, president of the Islamic society, referring to the original letter received Dec. 1. “It’s overwhelming, though, that when anything hateful happens we have such an outpouring of love.”
News reports say mosques in several other states received hate mail in late November; Khan said the letter had been sent to more than 100 mosques. It called the behaviors of Muslim people un-American, and the writer vowed to try to prevent the further entry of Muslims into the United States.
Khan said he’d heard concern from the congregation over the recent presidential election. The letter echoed statements by President-elect Donald Trump regarding Muslim immigrants. With the arrival of the letter, members have since been advised to be extra cautious and aware. Khan also told members the same thing he told his 8-year-old daughter.
“We will not panic or be afraid,” he said. “These are trying times, but we’ve been through them before.”
As a way to show support for the letter’s recipients, members of 36 other congregations from towns across Vermont joined the Islamic Society of Vermont in its weekly Friday prayer session in Colchester. Vermont Interfaith Action, a coalition of more than 40 congregations that promotes religious tolerance, organized the “Prayer in Solidarity.”
Islam Hassan, the imam, or faith leader, led a sermon. He spoke about the Islamic law of charity and about showing hospitality to those who are wayfaring and displaced, like the refugees of Syria.
“Our rule as Muslims is to open our doors to them,” Hassan said. “Every day you open your window and you see the sunshine. You don’t see a rocket come through your window.”
Many members of the congregation come from war-torn countries themselves. Sefik Gosto, who has lived in Vermont for 19 years, fled Bosnia during the conflict that would go on to claim hundreds of thousands of Muslim lives. Gosto sees religious and racial tolerance, as well as the acceptance of those seeking refuge, as uniquely American.
“That’s our American way and society: to help,” he said. “Even with the new (Trump) administration, there’s something good that will come out of that. Just like this one letter, which brought something good.”
In the weeks following the letter’s arrival, more than 270 messages of love and support for its recipients were written and delivered to the Islamic Society of Vermont. Members from different congregations around Vermont wrote the letters, “in hopes to drown out the one,” said the Rev. Mara Dowdall of the First Unitarian Universalist Society in Burlington.
Dowdall was one of the guest speakers at Friday’s observance, joined by the Rev. Earl Kooperkamp, of the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd in Barre, and John Blatt, congregation president of Ohavi Zedek Synagogue in Burlington.
The Islamic Society of Vermont began in the early 1990s, and its five founding members practiced in basements, hotels and churches. They bought the Colchester building and transformed it into a place of worship in 1999. Since its inception, the organization has grown to more than 2,000 members.
The recent anti-Islamic letter is not the first time the congregation has experienced intolerance. Founding member Taysir Al-Khatib recalled a time when a disgruntled neighbor came to the building with a gun, outraged by the attacks on Sept. 11, looking for someone to blame.
“We talked to him and calmed him down,” Al-Khatib said. “The cops came and wanted us to press charges, but we chose not to. Violence never wins.”