Hateful message written on mosque door in Upper Providence Township under investigation
UPPER PROVIDENCE Township, Pa. (CBS) -- Congregants of the Khair Community Center mosque in Upper Providence Township, Montgomery County, arrived Friday morning to find a message of hate written on one of the entrance doors.
"There was already fear within the community just with the general atmosphere of what's going on in the world," Ahmed Bakran said.
Leaders have condemned this act of hate and came together on Saturday to call for community solidarity.
Security video from the center shows a person walking up to the entrance door. Then they reach into their pocket and take out a marker before writing the hateful message on the glass.
"This property and our values of what we stand for is peace, safety, and security as well as vibrance in this community," Bakran said.
Bakran is on the center's board of directors. He said the name of the center, Khair, means good or well in Arabic. The opposite of what the person in the video was trying to assign to his community.
The Upper Providence Police Department is now investigating.
In a statement to CBS News Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations condemns the "hateful act" saying "the kind of vile attacks and speech we have seen directed against Khair community have become all too common."
Bakran said no message of hate will keep the center from its goodwill and being part of the community they love.
"We're gonna stand strong," he said."We are going to be resilient and we are not going to be intimidated by anyone."
An earlier web version of this story stated Upper Providence Township is in Delaware County. The error has been corrected.