Left to right, Jim and Susan Hasselle, of Lawrence, speak with Lamin Barrow, holding his son Yusuph Barrow, 3, at the Islamic Center of Lawrence on Sunday, March 17, 2019. The center held an open house and tribute to victims of shootings at mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, that left at least 50 people dead and injured dozens more.

Tragedy on the other side of the world compelled the Islamic Center of Lawrence to open its doors to the community on Sunday afternoon.

Despite the somber occasion for the event, members of the center engaged in stimulating conversations with more than 50 visitors representing many different faith groups, including several denominations of Christianity and Judaism.

Last week, a white supremacist attacked two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, leaving at least 50 people dead and injuring dozens more, the Associated Press has reported.

• • •

When Asma Zaidi, the center’s social director, read the news late Thursday night, she realized it was “prime time” on Friday for those in New Zealand. Muslims pray five times per day, she explained, but on Fridays, everyone who can comes together for prayer and socialization.

“When you pray as a group, there’s just something else; you just feel this unity, this beauty of religion coming together,” Zaidi said. “… I’m a tough person, but I cried. I just cried.”

The New Zealand gunman had written a manifesto, and the planned and coldhearted nature of the crime shocked and terrified many members of the center, Zaidi said. That Friday in Lawrence, law enforcement officers from both the FBI and the Lawrence Police Department visited to offer their support and “allay the fears people had,” she said.

“I think organizing this open house today was very important for us to show the rest of Lawrence that the Islamic Center of Lawrence is going to stand up against the message of hatred and violence, and to show the people that Islam really is a religion of peace,” Zaidi said.

photo by: Mackenzie Clark

Visitors and members of the Islamic Center of Lawrence talk during an open house at the center on Sunday, March 17, 2019. The center’s leaders organized the event in the wake of a mass shooting at mosques in New Zealand that left at least 50 people dead on Friday, March 15, 2019.

Lamin Barrow, who has lived in Lawrence for the past two years and is originally from Gambia, held his 3-year-old son Yusuph Barrow on his knee as he spoke with Jim and Susan Hasselle, of Lawrence, who were visiting the center on Sunday.

Barrow said he spends a lot of time in the center, sometimes coming to pray five times each day.

“It’s wonderful to realize there are people who are concerned about you,” Barrow said. “… We aren’t alone in this.”

He also stressed the need to come together and do good for each other.

Susan Hasselle agreed: “We’re all part of the human race, and so we need to unite and love one another,” she said. “Love is the answer.”

Barrow said no one could be prepared for what happened in New Zealand. “It was shocking to me, but I was kind of thinking, ‘What can we do in our society before things like that happen?'” he said.

photo by: Mackenzie Clark

Susan Hasselle, of Lawrence, and Lamin Barrow, a member of the Islamic Center of Lawrence, speak at an open house event at the center as Barrow’s son Yusuph Barrow, 3, snacks on a cookie, Sunday, March 17, 2019.

• • •

Lahsen Jakmouj, director of the center, said it was awesome to have support from a surprising number of people in the community who showed up to the event, which had been planned abruptly the night before and conflicted with the St. Patrick’s Day Parade downtown.

“Just their presence, being here in itself, it’s very telling,” Jakmouj said.

The center is planning to hold active shooter training for members in the next few weeks, and leaders are reviewing security plans, Zaidi said. They’re also planning to organize gatherings to ensure that members feel supported.

“The Islamic Center goes beyond the religion and the religious needs of the people,” Zaidi said. There are educational and social components, and particularly with its 19th Street and Naismith Drive hub so close to the University of Kansas campus, it serves as a home away from home for many international students. “… The beauty is that there’s a lot of values that are like the religious aspect of it that is Islamic, but then on the other hand, it makes it more rich to bring in all of the different cultures.”

She said with students coming to the center from different countries all around the world and mingling with the Lawrence families who have been part of the center for many years, the boundaries are dissolving — “and we share a common cause, and we’re all in this together.”

But she wants her message to extend well beyond the center’s walls.

“We’re all human beings regardless of what faith we belong to, what ethnicity we come from, what nationality or what background or area of work,” Zaidi said. “… We have the same desires, the same aspirations — and the same fears, unfortunately. So my message would be just unity and positivity and love.”

photo by: Mackenzie Clark

Visitors and members of the Islamic Center of Lawrence talk during an open house at the center on Sunday, March 17, 2019. The center’s leaders organized the event in the wake of a mass shooting at mosques in New Zealand that left at least 50 people dead on Friday, March 15, 2019.