His mosque was burned to the ground in the early morning hours of Saturday, but on Sunday night his heart was full of hope. “We are so overwhelmed,” said Imam Fazal Hassan, looking out over the crowd inside Sammamish High School in Bellevue, Washington. Some 400 people had gathered there to show support for the local Muslim community, according to mosque board member Tanvir Rahman. Outside the mosque, Hassan said, other non-Muslims in the Seattle area left gifts: flowers, balloons and cookies. “They were still warm!” Hassan said of the cookies, and the crowd burst into laughter.

Source: Huffington Post January 17, 2017 00:15 UTC