2015 was a year that images of shootings by Islamic extremists invaded the living rooms of millions of Americans. But in Culver City, 2016 started with an event designed to emphasize the similarities between Culver City residents and others, Muslims and Christians and potential alliances between former gang members and law enforcement.
The King Fahad Mosque on Washington Boulevard, now approaching its 18th year in the “Heart of Screenland,” welcomed visitors of all faiths to a Jan. 2 multi-faith celebration on Christian and Muslim reflections called “To Honor the Life of Jesus and Mother Mary.”
A large number of non-Muslims do not realize that Jesus is a tenant in the Muslim faith, said Mahomed Khan, the mosque’s interfaith and public relations director. “We’re all in the community together. It’s good to share the commonalties of our faiths and not always focus on the differences,” said Khan.
The events also had a multi-ethnic flavor: Suhail Abbas, the co-president of Culver City High School’s Muslim Student Assn., a Syrian peace activist and a Pakistani Islamic scholar were all invited to address the audience.
Khan said members of the Culver City Police Dept. also attended the event, as did Los Angeles County Sheriff Jim McDonnell.
While recent actions in the Middle East and the Dec. 14 terrorist attack in San Bernardino by Islamic fundamentalists that killed 14 and wounded 22 have dominated news coverage, domestic terrorism also struck the United States last year in the form of the murders of nine people at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in South Carolina on June 17 by white supremacist Dylann Roof.
“No religion has a monopoly on extremism,” Kahn said.
Culver City Unified School District Board Member Kelly Kent did not attend the event but agrees wholeheartedly with the message of tolerance, unity and cohesion. “They are some of my guiding, fundamental principles that I hold,” Kent said. “We need to realize that even in some small corners of Culver City there are sections of exclusivity that people have created.”
The mosque has taken part in several civic engagements in the past, including sending a representative to interfaith panels as part of Culver City’s annual Martin Luther King Jr. celebration. King Fahad also contributes to the school district’s “Backpacks for Kids” program that provides needy students with a backpack of food or their families every Friday.
Kent is the mosque was an important voice for what she would like to see in Culver City, which is a conversation about the value of having different ethnicities and religions and how they can enrich a community. Kent, who won her school board race in November despite being the victim of a concerted effort to defeat through a campaign of insults and rumors, would also like to see a renewed emphasis on how language can create an environment of hostility and how children can often mirror the actions of adults.
“As a school board member and as a parent, that’s something that I would like to see us pay more attention to because certain words can be used to make some feel less than or unwelcome,” she said.
Khan said the Jan 2 get- together was a “very spiritual event” and touched on the eight beatitudes of Jesus that are listed in the Gospel of Matthew, 5: 3-10. Some of them are familiar to churchgoers:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”
The mosque plans to hold another multi-faith event the week after Passover.
Gary Walker contributed to this story.