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The Shawnee Mission Post recently posted a story about a new mosque – the Shawnee Mission Islamic Education Center (SMIEC) in Merriam – that was vandalized within one month of opening.
The mosque opened in September in a renovated building previously used as a Korean church. Currently the center is able to hold small prayer gatherings on Friday nights, but much of its programming and educational classes are on hold due to COVID-19 restrictions.
SMIEC Board Member Farrukh Jamal told the Shawnee Mission Post that the center plans to begin holding programs, events, and classes once it is safe to do so. Education is the main focus of the center, which will offer General Education Development training and English language instruction classes.
Within one month of opening, the building’s new sign was vandalized. More from the Shawnee Mission Post:
“The mosque became aware of an act of vandalism on its sign in late October after Merriam Councilmember Jason Silvers called them about it.
Someone spray painted a partly illegible message that included the word ‘Trump’ on the sign, which sits along 49th Street.
Jamal said the mosque informed the Merriam Police Department. Officers reviewed surveillance footage around the time of the alleged incident and were able to see a person defacing the sign, but the suspect’s face could not be identified.
Jamal said the mosque chose not to pursue the case.
‘We decided that these things happen when people don’t know [about Islam], there’s a little fear in their heart or their mind or something,’ Jamal said. ‘We didn’t want to make a big deal of it. The police had been notified and the proper steps had been taken, and we just dropped it.'”
SevenDays® and the Faith Always Wins Foundation would like to extend an act of kindness to the SMIEC community through our Cultivate Kindness program.
We are asking for your support – by donating to our We Teach Kindness campaign, you are contributing to a direct kindness act that will be performed by the SevenDays® team.
An example of an act of kindness performed through this designated fund is a Kindness Basket filled with SevenDays® t-shirts, kindness socks, and a note from us representing each of you who assist with the funds for this gift. The more donations we receive, the bigger our garden grows and the more ripples of kindness we can spread throughout the community.
When you donate, please leave a comment with your donation specifying it is for the Islamic Center – feel free to add your own words of encouragement and support. We will include copies of all notes we receive with donations in the gift to SMEIC.
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