Out of the messages of hate sprayed on the back wall of a local mosque came a stronger message for Yasir Syeed.
"It's disturbing to see this kind of hatred still out there," said Syeed, community relations director for the ADAMS (All Dulles Area Muslim Society) Center Mosque, which is under construction on Sugarland Road.
"That day itself was a down day," Syeed said, adding that an open house the next day allowed for an "up day."
"It also was an up day to see the beauty of bringing everyone together," Syeed said.
Vandals used black spray paint to leave two swastikas and ethnic slurs on a 30-foot section of the ADAMS Center Mosque sometime Friday night or early Saturday morning. A member of the construction committee for the center's board of directors noticed the graffiti at about 8:30 a.m. Saturday during one of his regular visits to the center, which is expected to be ready by next month.
The committee member called the Loudoun Sheriff's Office about the vandalism, which occurred sometime between 5 p.m. on Sept. 13 and 8 a.m. on Sept. 14.
"It is still being determined when the actual destruction of property occurred," said Kraig Troxell, public information office for the Sheriff's Office.
FOLLOWING THE VANDALISM incident, members of the ADAMS Center received calls from members of other faiths who wanted to give their support.
Several members of the Jewish and Christian communities attended the open house on Sunday, pushing the turnout to 70 to 100 people, Syeed said.
"Saturday was a big downer, but on Sunday, it was beautiful to see people from all walks of life come together ... and express love and solidarity," Syeed said, using the reactions following the Sept. 11 terrorist attack as a comparison. "While you have these ugly reminders like vandalism, you have these beautiful reminders as well."
The new ADAMS Center Mosque is located at the 46000 block of Sugarland Road, straddling the Loudoun and Fairfax county lines. The center has been in Loudoun County since 1983. The center's current location at the Community Plaza in Sterling was vandalized last year shortly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Vandals entered the building and spray painted messages of hate on the floors and walls of the building.
The Sheriff's Office does not have any suspect information for the recent vandalism case and has stepped up patrols of the area surrounding the mosque.
"We're investigating this case vigorously," Troxell said.