Before Muslims prayed Wednesday evening in a bullet-singed Pike County mosque, before Gov. Josh Shapiro arrived and promised he had their backs, Imam Fahid Mahmood pondered the gunfire that brought them all together.
Early Sunday morning, only hours after worshippers gathered on the fourth full day of Ramadan, Islam’s most holy month, someone fired multiple bullets into the 6-month-old mosque in Westfall Twp.
Mahmood couldn’t understand why anyone would shoot at a mosque, but he showed a minister's empathy for the shooter.
“The person who did it, maybe he has some mental problems, some emotional (problems) maybe something going on in his personal life, so he wants to take it out somewhere,” the imam said.
Mahmood pointed out that the shooter fired when no one was around, a sign he did not intend to hurt anyone.
“You know, sometimes people, they go through a lot in their personal lives, family lives, and they don't know how to deal with it,” he said. “So, this is how they take it out.”
The Eastern Pike Regional Police Department continues to investigate. Police ask anyone with tips to call 570-491-4040 or email cadams@eprpd.org.
The Philadelphia chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations is offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction. The council is the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization.
As worshippers trickled in Wednesday for the Iftar – the post-sunset meal during Ramadan that breaks Muslims’ daily daytime fasts – an elderly mosque member who spoke little English eagerly pointed out reminders.
The glass on a door on the Mountain Avenue East side remained spider-webbed with blue painter’s tape holding it together and covering the hole where a bullet entered.
In a ceiling chandelier, light shined out of a jagged hole.
In a shoe rack across the room – worshippers must remove shoes in a mosque – a bullet hole overlooked scattered wood chips.
In the glass door on the room’s other side, new glass replaced the shattered, but a metal grid bar still had a disfigured twist.
For years, Pike County’s small Muslim community relied on a mosque 30 miles away in Middletown, New York. Members began looking for their own place a few years ago. The Pike County Islamic Center, the mosque's formal name, opened in August.
“So, it is a blessing for us to have a mosque here so we can come and pray and have a congregation here,” said Dr. Noor Shamim, 62, a local dentist, who has lived in nearby Milford for 26 years. “So, it's a long time we've been hoping for (a mosque).”
Mohammed Jahangir, 65, who owns a small restaurant in nearby Port Jervis, New York, said he’s lived in Matamoras for 35 years without anyone objecting to his presence.
“I have a good respect,” Jahangir said. “I have good neighbors. Everybody knows me. Everybody is beautiful ... I know all the cops and everybody. So, whatever is happening, it is unbelievable.”
As unbelievable as the gunfire was, Jahangir felt gratitude to God. Allah will take care of the shooter, he said.
“But I think because of that, at least people know us. Now we have Allah's house here,” he said. “People now know, everybody knows what we are doing here, what we do. You know everybody knows all this. Look at that, all the neighbors ... That's unbelievable.”
In the rear of the center, about three dozen people of other faiths gathered. The men had removed their shoes, the women wore scarves, a respectful nod to the Muslim tradition of women covering their heads outside the home. Two men wore yarmulkes, the traditional Jewish skullcap.
The gathered included Rose LoDolce, 25, a substitute teacher and waitress from nearby Hawley.
“This is going to sound bad,” LoDolce said. “I don't want to say I wasn't surprised something like this happened or could happen in this area, but it was still like, oh, yeah, that's a real thing that can happen. And it did happen. It didn't happen far away, either. It happened right in our own backyard.”
She felt emotional about the strong turnout of support from non-Muslims and the collegiality among everyone.
“It's a bit of a tension-filled time politically in our country, where I think people at this stage are really happy to go out and show support for what they believe in and stand up for people who they think need to be stood up for,” LoDolce said. “And unfortunately, we have a great example as to why exactly we should be standing up for people ... Sometimes, you know, scary, bad and dangerous things happen to our neighbors, and it's an opportunity for you to, in return, be a neighbor.”
After an imam led the faithful in prayers dotted with the traditional phrase “Allahu Akbar” – God is most great – Shapiro spoke.
The governor, who is Jewish, recalled the firebombing of the Governor’s Mansion last year as his family slept only hours after celebrating Passover. The attack on the mosque touched him “in a very personal way,” he said.
“It was done in a way to try and wreak havoc in a community,” Shapiro said. “It was important for me to be here today to look you in the eye and to tell you have nothing to be afraid of. This community will not be defined by an individual who went out to try and harm us, and that we stand together in this community, Muslims, Christians and Jews, those who worship and those who choose not to worship, and that we will stand together in the face of this type of unacceptable attack on a religious community.”
The governor recalled his wife, Lori’s family, beginning a Jewish congregation in their home’s basement and later moving to a local VFW as the congregation grew.
“I want to see this congregation grow and thrive over many years, and I'm going to be there with you every step of the way,” Shapiro said. “I don't want anyone in this room to feel scared. I don't want anyone in this room to feel alone. I don't want anyone in this room to feel intimidated. I want everyone in this room to feel as though you belong here in Pike County and here in Pennsylvania.”
Earlier, Mahmood, the imam, sounded unafraid as he explained how he would handle an encounter with the shooter.
“In this present time, people, they are going through a lot,” he said. “So, if I see him, I would like to sit with him and talk with him and try to console him, comfort him. I will try to ask him what's going on in your life. How can I help you? How may I help you deal with that situation, whatever you are going through in life?
“A normal person will never do this kind of stuff.”
