In a peaceful reaction to the ongoing challenges facing US Muslims, dozens of people from different faiths gathered on Friday, Nov.18, outside an Austin mosque, in Texas, to show support and solidarity with the city’s Muslim community.
The event was organized by a newly-formed group called “MuslimSolidarityATX”, and aimed at highlighting problems facing Muslims many of who have been gripped with fears that a Trump administration will infringe on their freedom, reported KVUE.
As they stood, lining up shoulder-to- shoulder, outside the Nueces Mosque, members of the group were all in green, holding placards that urge tolerance and peace.
‘I love my Muslim friends and family,’ read one of the signs.
There have been series of such solidarity gatherings across the US since the results of the US elections, following the spates of racial slurs against different minorities, in addition to negative rhetoric against Muslims in particular.
Another important event was also organized in Washington DC on Friday with the national Christian and Jewish leaders joined their Muslim colleagues at Masjid Muhammad for the Jumah prayer service.
The event was aimed also to call on the incoming administration to protect religious liberty and defend Muslims against violence, hate speech and discrimination.
The peaceful gathering at the Austin Mosque also designed to denounce the idea that US Muslims be required to register and be tracked by the federal government. The idea has been put forth by one of the surrogates of Donald Trump.
Many Muslims across US have voiced concerns about this idea of a Muslim registry, noting that a similar procedure, which was in effect from 2002 to 2011, resulted in few leads on terrorism, but many deportations.
During the campaign, Mr. Trump himself made several frightening remarks about Islam and Muslims; he made statements like “Islam hates us”, and proposed suspending immigration by Muslims or people from some Muslim-majority countries.
Though he has recently seemed to be backing off from some of those remarks, local Muslims said they do not feel reassured.
“Any kind of ban like that is not an improvement, it’s not going to make us any safer from terrorism. It’s also just a wedge by way to say this one group of Muslims is bad,” said Matt Korn, leader of Muslim Solidarity ATX.
