Friday sermons were held across the country, representing a wide array of Muslim communities, all echoing a message of solidarity with the Palestinians. Worshipers flocked to a gold-domed mosque in Tempe, Arizona, with Israel and Gaza violence weighing heavily on their hearts and minds. They donned “Free Palestine” T-shirts and black-and-white kaffiyeh scarves, scrolling through the latest war updates as they awaited the sermon.
Imam Omar Tawil, from the Islamic Community Center of Tempe, delivered an impassioned message condemning the killing and displacement of Palestinian civilians as Israel’s war against Hamas expanded. He urged worshipers to respond with prayer, protest, and support for the victims.
“You should be angry,” Mr. Tawil said. “What have the children of Gaza done? What have the civilians done?”
While the Hamas attack united the diverse American Jewish communities in shock and grief, the escalating airstrikes and humanitarian crisis in Gaza stirred common feelings of anger, sorrow, and grievance during Muslim prayer services on that Friday. Muslims from different sects, ethnic backgrounds, and regions across the country, including African Americans in Washington, D.C., Somali refugees in Minneapolis, Indonesian immigrants in Maryland, and Syrian Americans in Los Angeles, were all focused on the rising death toll in Gaza.
Friday prayer, an important day of worship when imams often address current events, coincided with Hamas’s call for Palestinians and Muslims worldwide to protest. Rallies were held in major cities, with more planned for the weekend.
Imam Abdussamad Madad at the Indonesian Muslim Association in America in Silver Spring, Maryland, stated, “The events that are happening in these days are affecting not only our brothers and sisters in Islam in one small spot of the earth,” but “affecting each and every one of us.”
In sermons and post-prayer discussions, Muslim leaders and congregants grappled with whether to speak out or remain silent, attend public rallies to support Palestine or avoid potentially volatile demonstrations, follow every horrifying development in the news or disengage.
Jaylani Hussein, executive director of the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, mentioned that Islamic centers in the Minneapolis area had been hesitant to hold vigils and other public events to honor those killed, as many were concerned for their safety in a city where mosques had been attacked in recent years. Few direct mentions were made of the attack by Hamas in Israel on October 7, in which at least 1,300 people were killed and 150 were taken hostage, provoking the latest military response from Israel. Instead, speakers and worshipers focused on Israel’s blockade of Gaza and past military actions against Palestinians and criticized American politicians who declared solidarity with Israel while ignoring decades of Palestinian suffering.
However, in Los Angeles, the guest speaker at the Islamic Center of Southern California chose to reach across religious divides and focus on compassion and the sanctity of all innocent lives, including Jews. Dr. Saleh Kholaki, a Syrian-born dentist in Los Angeles, urged congregants not to let their grief and anger erase one another’s humanity.
Credit: Mark Abramson for The New York Times
“In Islam, we cannot carry out any violence against innocent civilians,” Dr. Kholaki said. “It makes no difference if the civilian is a Muslim, Christian, or a Jew. Aggression against one is aggression against all.”
But he and other speakers at mosques around the country acknowledged that they felt particularly despondent on the cusp of what could be a full-scale war in Gaza. The Palestinian Ministry of Health has reported that at least 1,900 Palestinians have been killed in the current conflict.
“They are being killed by the thousands,” Dr. Kholaki said. “And the world is not moving to save them.”
Muslim leaders reported an increase in threats and reports of anti-Muslim harassment over the past week, reminiscent of similar spikes after the September 11 attacks and terror attacks in San Bernardino, California, and Paris in 2015.
Many mosques and synagogues already have regular armed guards and maintain close contact with the police. On that Friday, several Muslim leaders mentioned they had added extra security. In Minneapolis, two additional armed security guards patrolled the grounds of the Islamic Center of Southern California as worshipers removed their shoes. In Tempe, Arizona, a police cruiser was parked at the main entrance of the mosque for most of the day. In Washington, D.C., worshipers passed through a metal detector on their way into the Masjid Muhammad to hear a visiting imam urge unity and warn that “war is nothing to play with.”
In interviews, many religious leaders and worshipers expressed feelings of helplessness over the past few days, unable to take any action from thousands of miles away to stop the killing or help friends and family in Gaza. At mosque after mosque, they emphasized that the answer lay in God and prayer.
“You’re not going to solve the problem by being glued to the news,” encouraged Sayyid Sulayman Ali Hassan at the Imam al-Asr Masjid, a Shiite mosque in the D.C. area. “You’re not going to solve the problem by speaking out in emotion.”
Mr. Hassan aimed to convey to his congregation that recognizing the humanity of everyone was essential.
“I strongly believe it’s in the interests of the United States, both in terms of our immediate interest and our long-term interest, to be perceived by not just people in the Middle East but around the world as believing in the values that we speak of, rather than just using them when our interests are served,” he said. “We’re having this conversation because there’s a tragedy that’s befallen an ally of the United States.”
He noted that attacks on Palestinians did not receive the same attention as attacks on Israel from U.S. media and political institutions, stating, “We hear tragedies from people we identify with in a different way than people we don’t identify with.”
In Minneapolis, the bloodshed was on everyone’s mind at a Friday afternoon service organized by the University of Minnesota Muslim Students Association. Taher Herzallah, a university graduate student, delivered a sermon calling the bombing campaign targeting sites in Gaza “a genocide unfolding in front of our own eyes.”
Mr. Herzallah, who has relatives in Gaza, labeled Israel as the principal aggressor in the conflict and argued that the United States, due to its support for Israel, was complicit “in the murder of Muslims.” He urged the young Muslims in attendance to be vocal in the days ahead.
“Every Muslim needs to get out of their comfort zone,” said Mr. Herzallah, who serves as the director of outreach and grassroots organizing at American Muslims for Palestine. “We will shut this city down if we have to.”
Still, the act of prayer provided some solace for Palestinian Muslims who had been terrified about the fates of relatives living—or feared dead—in Gaza.
Mohamed El-Sharkawy, 63, shared that one of his nephews had been killed on the first day of Israel’s airstrikes, and two of his nieces’ homes were destroyed. He wakes up at 2 a.m. to try to reach relatives but cannot get in touch with anyone.
He came to Friday prayer at the Islamic Community Center in Tempe for a spiritual outlet for that fear, outrage, and grief.