San Diego (special) -- Despite pleas expressed by religious and civic leaders at two unity prayer rallies for San Diegans to come together and forego scapegoating, paintballs were spattered Sunday on the Abu Bakr mosque in the Clairemont area.  Angry slogans also were scrawled on the Islamic edifice, prompting police to step up protection of Muslim community shrines.

The desecration of the religious structure came in the wake of revelations that three of the estimated 19 hijackers who had participated in the terrorist plot against New York City and Washington had lived quietly in San Diego in a neighborhood near the mosque. Two of the suspected hijackers also resided for a time at the Lemon Grove home of local Muslim leader Abdussattar Shaikh, who told authorities he had thought they were just ordinary foreign students.

Some people driving by the mosque in the Clairemont area of San Diego have shouted angry words, and others have set off firecrackers, heightening a sense of fear and unease in the local Muslim community.

In response, police have stepped up patrols around the mosque and said they considered the vandalism to be a hate crime, which could be punishable by extra terms in prison if the culprits are convicted.

The three suspected hijackers who had lived in San Diego were Nawaf Alhazmi, Khalid Al-Midhar and Hani Hanjour, all of whom were on the flight that slammed into the Pentagon.  The FBI was conducting an investigation into their lives and associations in San Diego.
 
 

Police estimated that more than 10,000 people jammed a patriotic rally on Sunday, Sept. 16, at the Organ Pavilion in Balboa Park.  Various speakers urged love, not hate, in the wake of Sept. 11's audacious quadruple airplane hijackings and kamikaze-style crashes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.  Hijackers on one of the planes were thwarted in what authorities believe was a plan to crash into the White House.  After an apparent struggle with passengers, the fourth plane plummeted into a field in rural Pennsylvania.

In calling for fairness towards the peaceful members of the Islamic community, Rabbi Ben Kamin of Congregation Beth Israel urged his fellow Jews to remember that "Abraham our father is the same Ibrahim of the Koran of the Islamic heritage.  My sisters and brothers in Christianity, remember that Jesus the Christ was inspired by this same man, the father of monotheism."

Kamin's reference to Jesus as "the Christ" caught some members of the Jewish community by surprise because "Christ" means the "Messiah" - a theological role which Christians, but not Jews, ascribe to Jesus.  Kamin later told the HERITAGE that the terminology was simply a courtesy to his Christian listeners, not an expression of his theological beliefs.  In interreligious meetings, he said, it similarly is not uncommon to hear Christians refer to "Moshe Rabenu (Moses our Teacher)."

Sheriff Bill Kolender, another member of San Diego's Jewish community, reiterated the theme when he told the crowd, "As we go forward and we ask for retribution and justice, may we remember that we are all Americans.  It does not matter if we are an Arab ... Whatever our religion, we are Americans and we stand together to fight this evilness."  

But Kolender also received tumultuous cheers when he condemned televangelists Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell, whom he described without saying their names as "a couple of national religious leaders who blamed us in America for that attack. 

"To those two men who said that we committed in their minds a sin, and that God is paying us back, this is not God's will," Kolender declared. "He is a loving God and he will give us the strength to get through this.  This is man's evilness toward man and I pray for our future, and God bless you."

At the same rally Imam Wali Fardan of the Masjidul Taqwa offered "greetings of peace" and drew applause when he said: "I am a Muslim, but I am also an American-a proud American."

In denouncing violence, the imam also directed apparent criticism at past American actions in World War II and the Vietnam War. "No real Muslim can drop an atomic bomb on active civilians; no real Muslim can drop napalm on vegetation that people will have to depend upon and destroy the natural environment and cause deformity in children for generations to come," he said.  "No Muslim could do that unless they are out of their Muslim mind."

Bishop Robert Brom of San Diego's Roman Catholic Diocese told the crowd "love and only love is the only way to true and lasting peace...The future belongs to those who love, not to those who hate," he said, then repeated the sentiment in Spanish.

Rev. Mark Trotter, the retired pastor of the First United Methodist Church in Mission Valley, took issue with commentators who have said America will never be the same.  To the contrary, he said, America's values are enduring.  The World Trade Center buildings may be gone, but the Statue of Liberty nearby still stands.

A standing ovation and tears of sympathy greeted the introduction of Susie Ward Baker, a San Diegan whose son Timothy died in the attack on the World Trade Center.

One of the loudest cheers came for Fire Chief Robert Osby who said he awakened that morning to the sound of helicopters flying over his home.  But instead of being annoyed--as one of the neighbors near Miramar Marine Corps Station affected by noise from the choppers-that morning he "waved at the choppers and said Semper Fi" - a reference to the Marine Corps motto meaning "always faithful."

Osby had been among the speakers who also participated in a smaller, but quite similar rally held Friday afternoon, Sept. 14, in the City Concourse in response to President George W. Bush's call for a national prayer and remembrance.  Mayor Dick Murphy, Deputy Mayor George Stevens, Police Chief David Bejarano and the imam were among those who spoke at both events.

At that earlier rally, Rabbi Martin Lawson, spiritual lead of Temple Emanu-El, eloquently represented the San Diego Jewish community in his capacity as this year's president of the San Diego Rabbinical Association. He began his remarks by offering a "prayer in a time of pain" as he addressed a gathering estimated to be more than 1,000 strong. 

"In the midst of our preparation for the Days of Awe when tradition tells us that the fate of human beings and nations are weighed in the balance," Lawson said, "we feel the added burden of the violence, suffering and death that have been unleashed upon so many hundreds of people.

"We pray that this time of rage and destruction pass quickly for us all. We ask God that healing and comfort come to those who have been injured and who grieve. We pray above all for wisdom for the leaders of our country. Give them the strength at this time of sorrow to help bind our nations wounds and begin the work of reweaving our country's rent fabric. 

"And we ask You, Holy One to spread over us, our people and our nation, Your sheltering presence."

The attentive, somewhat subdued Concourse audience was first addressed by Mayor Murphy, with members of the City Council, other city officials, and  representatives of four major faiths seated behind him on an outdoor stage.

City employees leaned out of opened windows from the City Administration tower and the Concourse parking structure. As at the Organ Pavilion, the Navy Band played and American flags, posters and clothing bearing American Flag emblems were in abundance. There were tears and strong applause for most of the speakers with the exception of the imam, who was received with silence.

Murphy called for America to "find order in the midst of chaos, love in the midst of hate, healing in the midst of hurt, peace in the midst of pain, hope in the midst of despair." 

Stevens, who is deputy mayor and also an ordained Baptist minister, addressed the crowd remembering the crash victims hurt and lost in Washington, New York and the fields of Pennsylvania. He offered what he termed to be "a healing prayer" which called for love, not revenge. "Begin to love now," he said, "love the hell out of everybody." 

Fire Chief Osby and Police Chief Bejarano both praised the heroic efforts of the New York Fire Fighters, Police, Paramedics and rescue workers, noting the huge human toll taken by this disaster.

The Fire Chief closed his remarks with a fervent appeal to patriotism: "Are we really justifiably the peace keepers in the world?" he asked. "We will accept that assignment. We will move will move forward as one nation under God!" 

In keeping with President Bush's request, the crowds at both events observed a moment of silence for the flight passengers, the World Trade Center and Pentagon victims, the rescue workers and "for all those who must live with the memory of this (tragedy) this day forward." At both rallies, the silence was broken by the playing of bagpipes and many a tearful sound. 
 
 

Perhaps the poem read by Rabbi Lawson, when he concluded his remarks, best summed up the prayer and remembrance session. The poem, composed by Debbie Pearlman on Sept. 12, was titled "Aftermath, A prayer for Recovery."

Help us to preserve the memory of the fallen,
Taken not in battle, but in innocence;
Comfort us, Holy One, as the images sear,
As we try to comprehend the unfathomable.
 
We have become rescuers sifting the rubble,
We are searching for meaning in the whirlwind,
No preparation can be made for this disaster,
We push aside debris, looking for answers.
 
Show us Your face in compassion,
You are our beacon of consolation,
Focus Your healing light through acrid smoke,
Clearing a path through our tears.
 
Begin with us the task of recovery,
Renew our resolve to pursue righteousness;
Secure us again in safety and peace,
Our nation's soul forever changed.