When Mohanned Qutu, the president of the Sachse Muslim Society in Sachse,Texas, was reviewing blueprints for a new mosque, he noticed the designincluded a wall of full-length windows
When Mohanned Qutu, the president of the Sachse Muslim Society in Sachse, Texas, was reviewing blueprints for a new mosque, he noticed the design included a wall of full-length windows.
Nezar Hamze is a deputy sheriff, a field trainer and a trained rescue driver with a crisis intervention team based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. In the past four years, Hamze has traveled to over 170 mosques across the U.S. to deliver safety and security trainings and assessments, hoping to help members of the Muslim community safeguard their lives as well as their mosques.
The Florida-based officer said the massacre in New Zealand distressed him but did not surprise him. He is concerned similar attacks could happen in America. “It just became more critical for us to take more organized steps to ensure that something like this never happens here, or if God forbid it does come to happen, to minimize [the outcome],” Aboumahadi said. “It’s tips we hopefully never have to use, but God forbid something happens, we at least have an idea what to do.”
The Austin mosque has since strengthened its security measures, and is working closely with law enforcement in an effort to apprehend the arsonist and deter other attacks. The imam told HuffPost the center has already spent thousands of dollars on security this year alone. With Ramadan in full swing, the mosque has also implemented 24-hour surveillance and hired private security.
But given the ongoing attacks on U.S. mosques, and in light of the New Zealand massacre, Gewida said it was too risky not to take action. He has hired private security to guard the entrances and exits to the mosque every night. The mosque holds daily iftars, or meals for breaking one’s fast, followed by taraweeh prayers that almost 200 Muslims attend, many bringing parents, children and relatives of all ages and backgrounds.
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