The September 11th attack
Church delegation offers assurances in mosque visit
By Karen Blakeman
Advertiser Staff Writer
About 20 Christian students and members of several O'ahu churches, remembering the hardship of Japanese Americans after the attack on Pearl Harbor, visited members of the Muslim Association of Hawaii at a mosque in Manoa yesterday, delivering lei and messages of support.
Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser
"We, the Christian community of Hawai'i, want to stand united to say to our Arab brothers and sisters on this island and abroad that we will not tolerate, condone or support anyone or any group that tries to undeservedly marginalize any Muslim or person of Middle East descent," said Jim Miller, a member of Intervarsity Christian Fellowship.
Hakim Ouansafi, leader of the Muslim Association of Hawai'i, receives a hug and lei from Jim Miller of the Intervarsity Christian Fellowship during the visit in Manoa.
Miller read the message of unity from a written statement that he said had been endorsed by members of most of the major churches of O'ahu.
Miller and the others gave the lei to Hakim Ouansafi, president and chairman of the Muslim Association; Raufa Ahrary, a woman who fled a communist regime in Afghanistan 19 years ago; Nasir Gazdar, an environmental activist from Pakistan; and Abdullah Palar, a student from Singapore.
Muslims in the United States have become targets of bigotry since the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon last week, but Ouansafi said most non-Muslims in Hawai'i had been very supportive.
