On May 19, hundreds gathered at Lindbergh Park to stand in solidarity and honor those impacted by a deadly shooting at the neighboring Islamic Center of San Diego.
Religious leaders, elected officials, advocacy organizations, and community members mourned the deaths of Mansour Kaziha — nicknamed Abuliz — Nadir Awad, and Amin Abdullah. Throughout the vigil, speakers conveyed a common message: The community will not allow violence and hatred to define its future.
The shooting occurred on May 18, the first day of Dhul Hijjah, a holy month when the first 10 days are widely regarded by Islamic scholars as the most sacred period of the Islamic lunar calendar. The month is a time to gather, give charity, and forgive. Kaziha, Awad, and Abdullah died protecting the ICSD’s students and teachers — including Awad’s wife — during the attack.
For many attendees, the vigil was not only a moment of mourning but also a reminder of the values that united the community long before the tragedy.
“When we move forward as a community, we should really focus on the love that we have between each other,” Mathias Pretet, vice president of the Muslim Student Association of UC San Diego, said in an interview with The UCSD Guardian.
Shaykha Muslema Purmul — the religious director of The Majlis, a nonprofit focused on religious education and service — spoke about the three victims during the vigil. Purmul said that the victims’ actions demonstrated their devotion to both their faith and those around them. Pretet reflected on the message in her remarks, noting that the love reflected by the community will not be vanquished.
“We don’t want hate to overcome that love,” Pretet said. “At the end of the day, the thing that is so moving for all of us with brother Amin, brother Nadir, with Abuliz, is that it’s their love for the children in that school, for the mosque, for their community, that led them to give up their lives in defending that.”
The following day, students and community members gathered at UCSD’s Silent Tree in front of Geisel Library. Representatives from the MSA UCSD, the Council on American-Islamic Relations San Diego, and ICSD Imam Taha Hassane addressed attendees.
In his remarks, Hassane emphasized the importance of confronting hatred before it escalates into violence.
“We see, every single time, that hate speech turns to be bullets,” Hassane said. “Hate speech kills.”
While both vigils focused primarily on healing and remembrance, several speakers also connected the shooting to broader concerns about rising anti-Muslim rhetoric in the United States. According to CAIR, the organization received 8,683 civil rights complaints in 2025, the highest number in its history. CAIR offers free legal assistance to those who report complaints about employment discrimination, immigration and asylum cases, and hate incidents. CAIR had the most civil right complaints submitted in those three categories in 2025.
Marwa Abdalla, who recently completed her Ph.D. in communication at UCSD with a focus on critical Muslim studies, said conversations surrounding anti-Muslim discrimination often place the burden of response on the communities most affected.
“Just for a minute, I invite all of us to reframe this question,” Abdalla said. “How much longer should it be marginalized communities’ responsibility to counter a national political discourse bent on intimidation and division?”
As Muslims around the world observe Dhul Hijjah, Pretet said the lesson he hopes people take from the tragedy is the importance of recognizing one another’s shared humanity.
“In the same way that we hope that our own community would focus on the love that we have for each other, as human beings, as people who have dignity, as people who have a right to their safety and to worship and to be with each other, we hope people focus on loving each other and strengthening each other,” Pretet said.
