What started as a disaster has transformed into a community effort to help Denton Islamic Society restore and repair damage following catastrophic flooding at the city’s lone mosque.
When the winter storm hit the Texas mosque, it left it with tens of thousands of dollars in damage.
However, it brought faith communities together after a Denton church raised close to $50,000 in a GoFundMe campaign for the Denton Islamic Society, WFAA reported.
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“It makes you feel good about the community you live in,” said Faraz Qureshi, president of the board of the Denton Islamic Society.
“People really from all over the world are sending in donations. Honestly it restores faith.”
The First United Methodist Church of Denton raised the 50K amount in only six days.
“We know what’s been going on in the last few years, just some of the extremism hate that you see, and so it can sometimes color your perception, so speaking on behalf of myself personally, it restores your faith in people,” Qureshi said. “It’s really heartwarming to see.”
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Gratitude
The mosque website has also shared a message of gratitude to the community.
“We greatly appreciate the support of our Denton, TX, and larger communities, especially the gofundme fundraiser put together by David Smith and the First United Methodist Church,” a statement read.
“We cannot express our gratitude enough.”
Islam is the third-largest religion in the United States after Christianity and Judaism.
There are a total of 3.45 million Muslims in the United States, according to a 2017 study, comprising about 1.1% of the total US population.
American Muslims are one of the most racially diverse religious groups in the US with no majority race, split as 25% black, 24% white, 18% Asian, 18% Arab, 7% mixed race, and 5% Hispanic.