Gov. Jay Inslee spoke about peace and fellowship to almost 2,000 King County Muslims at the Muslim Association of Puget Sound’s (MAPS) mosque in Redmond Wednesday morning in celebration of Eid al-Fitr, which marks end of the holy month of Ramadan.
“We will not allow fear and hatred in the state of Washington,” Inslee said.
Inslee’s greeting comes at a time that a number of area mosques have been targets of Islamophobia, including direct threats to MAPS, an anti-mosque campaign in Mukilteo and an an arrest in Seattle.
Inslee has made similar statements before, pledging support for Muslims, Sikhs and Hindus in Washington who have been recent victims of hate crimes, and decrying those hate incidents.
Inslee noted the many contributions that local Muslims have made to the community.
“I see people who built Microsoft. I see people who built Boeing. I see people who built Google. I see people who built Amazon,” he said.
Mahmood Khadeer, president of MAPS, told members of the Redmond mosque, “At this time, we need our members to build bridges.”
