Mosque leader’s cure for hate: education

Islamic Center of Palm Beach to open doors for a Q&A session on Saturday.

The leader of a North Palm Beach mosque condemned terrorists who kill in the name of Islam and described education as the cure for hate at a news conference Tuesday.

Sharif Elhosseiny, the Islamic Center of Palm Beach’s president, said Muslims have been “painted with a broad brush” as people see reports of terrorists such as the Islamic State and Boko Haram killing in the name of Islam.

So he can understand why people are angry.

“Islam completely and utterly condemns” those acts, he said.

The doors of the mosque at 101 Castlewood Drive in North Palm Beach will be open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday so people can ask questions and come with issues they might have with verses from the Quran, Elhosseiny announced.

“Unfortunately, there are those out there that are misrepresenting Muslims and the religion of Islam. We want to clear the smoke and erase the ignorance,” by giving everyone an opportunity to come, he said.

The center’s event comes after police say Joshua Warren Killets, 27, broke into and vandalized the mosque on Dec. 4. Killets, 27, faces one charge of burglary of a structure with damage in excess of $1,000 while evidencing prejudice and one charge of criminal mischief to a place of worship, according to court papers.

The windows of the prayer hall were broken, and the room was torn apart. The mosque was professionally cleaned of blood, and Elhosseiny hopes to have the windows replaced by the end of this week.

Those who worship at the center have already started to move on, Elhosseiny said.

“We’re going to continue doing what we’ve been doing, and that’s educating the people, helping the community,” he said. “We’re going to continue to be here for the community.”

Before the news conference, Elhosseiny said another big misconception they hear is that Islam is oppressive to women. People from both genders are viewed as equal in the sight of God. They remain separate in the mosque so they can focus on prayer, he said.

The mosque has separate entrances for men and women, and female reporters were asked to sit in the back of the prayer hall during the press conference, which Elhoisseny said was because of the sanctity of the mosque as a house of worship.