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AssalamuAlaykum Dear Community,
In light of the attacks on Jewish cemeteries and the threats to Jewish centers nationwide, I sent the note below on behalf of MAPS to local rabbis and Jewish leaders committing our support and standing in solidarity. Many friends from the Jewish community told us when our own sign was vandalized that "an attack on MAPS is an attack on us all." Likewise, an attack on any Jewish center or cemetery is an attack on us all! Please reach out to your Jewish colleagues, neighbors and friends and voice and offer your support. Providing ease at the time of difficulty is a Prophetic tradition:
"Whoever helps ease someone in difficulty, God will make it easy for him in this world and in the Hereafter" [Prophet Muhammad pbuh]
Mahmood Khadeer
MAPS
President _________________________________________________ Dear Diane and Rabbi Daniel, The Muslim community is appalled by the spate of hate crimes targeting the Jewish community. Last year our facility received threats from an anonymous caller and those few phone calls kept many of us awake and worried for several nights. We are so saddened that so many Jewish centers across the country have been receiving such threats lately. Including in our own community This is totally unacceptable. Further, desecration of Jewish cemeteries is an ignoble and evil act. The perpetrators of such acts are cowards and criminals and we pray that they get arrested very soon. In December last year, the sign at our mosque in Redmond, the Muslim Association of Puget Sound (MAPS), was vandalized in an act of hate crime. The Muslim community received countless emails, calls and visits from members of the Jewish faith both in-state and from out-of-state. Several rabbis reached out to me personally and to our Imam with kind words and support. And whole congregations of local synagogues visited us. We will never forget the support that the Jewish community extended to MAPS at times of difficulty. You remain our very close friends and neighbors. Our thoughts and prayers are with you. We will stand with you in solidarity against any such heinous acts. On behalf of the MAPS community, please accept this little token of $3000 that we hope will go towards apprehending the criminals or towards restoring the tombstones. Please let me know the name and address to send the check. Thank you, Mahmood Khadeer MAPS President
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