A Muslim leader in Sanford says his mosque has never preached violence against gays, despite a recent visit from a controversial scholar who has said homosexuality should be punished by death.
The Husseini Islamic Center has become the target of vandalism and verbal attack since a gunman pledging allegiance to the Islamic State killed 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando.
“This anger was stoked further by widespread misinformation and false allegations that a guest speaker at our center fanned the flames of homophobia and inspired the attack at the Pulse nightclub,” center president Inayat Walli wrote in a guest column for the Orlando Sentinel.
The Pulse shooter, Omar Mateen, was not a member of the Husseini Islamic Center and never visited, Walli wrote.
However, the center in March did invite a visit from Muslim cleric Farrokh Sekaleshfar, who was recorded in a 2013 lecture saying “death is the sentence” for homosexuality. Sekaleshfar spoke at the center on religion and sexuality, according to Walli.
“The session focused on a scientific explanation of sexual orientation in children and promoted open communication in families on topics of sexual identity and gender,” Walli wrote. “Participants were specifically encouraged not to isolate LGBTQ or gender-fluid youth within our community.”
Following the Pulse shooting on June 12, the Islamic Center immediately condemned the attack and took action by giving blood, organizing prayer vigils and raising funds. Walli said that the mass shooting was carried out by a “disturbed individual” and that his congregation rejects violence or hate against any group of people, including the LGBTQ community.
But the mosque has faced criticism in the wake of Sekaleshfar’s visit, and someone recently vandalized the mosque by painting "#stopthehate” on an outside wall, the center president wrote.
Instead of letting the incident further alienate them from their neighbors, the Muslim community is determined to strengthen ties, Walli added.
He invited people of any race, nationality or sexual orientation to visit the mosque and learn more about the congregation.
"[W]e invite the Orlando community and all of America to stand up with us and stop the hate together,” he wrote.