'Love Thy Neighbor': Christians And Jews Help Muslims After Mosque Fire

Christians and Jews in Victoria, Texas are working side-by-side to help their Muslim neighbors after their mosque was destroyed by a fire. 

Victoria Islamic Center was burned to the ground last Saturday, but the cause of the inferno remains unknown. 

"We are praying that it is an accident because the thought of actually somebody doing something terrible like that is beyond imagination," mosque member Abe Ajrami told the Advocate.

So far, four churches have offered space for the Muslims to hold their services. 

"Jewish community members walked into my home and gave me a key to the synagogue," Dr. Shahid Hashmi, a co-founder of the Victoria Islamic Center, told The New York Times.

The tight-knit community of about 65,000 rallied together to emphasize "love and peace."

Earlier this week, children from a local Catholic school marched to the mosque in what the Islamic center called " a human chain of love and peace," The Huffington Post reported.

"They are literally our neighbors," Gretchen Boyle, an English teacher at St. Joseph High School, told the Victoria Advocate. "We are responding to the call, 'Love thy neighbor.'"

Students from the school also presented the mosque with a tree. 

"The tree will be planted in the grounds of our new mosque & prominently displayed to remind us of this beautiful moment," the center wrote on Facebook. "This is the spirit of love where the cross hugs the crescent."

A GoFundMe page was set up for the mosque and has raised more than $1 million so far.  

"Our hearts are filled with gratitude for the tremendous support we've received," wrote Omar Rachid, who organized the campaign. "The outpouring of love, kind words, hugs, helping hands and the financial contributions are examples of the true American Spirit and Humanity at its best with donations coming in from all over the world."