Random act of kindness at London mosque instills hope

When Adeeb Fadel approached his car on Friday after completing evening prayers at the London Muslim Mosque, he was surprised by what he found tucked underneath his windshield: three flowers and a colourful note.

Fadel, who's been praying at the Oxford Street mosque for about four decades, has never witnessed an act of kindness quite like this one.

"I may not worship in the same building as you, and I may not pray to the same prophets, but I am grateful to be sharing this planet with you in peace," the note read, printed below several animated sun and cloud characters.

I may not worship in the same building as you, and I may not pray to the same prophets, but I am grateful to be sharing this planet with you in peace.- Anonymous

"It was refreshing," said Fadel, who noticed a similar message placed on three other cars in the parking lot at the time.

"We all think and hope that the majority of people are kind and generous and really see the humanity in everyone."

"It's refreshing to see it materialize and manifest into something like this," Fadeladded.

The 47-year-old, who was born and raised in London, recalled a darker time throughout his childhood during weekly trips to that same mosque.

Fadel said his mother, who wore a hijab a religious head covering received inappropriate comments from people driving by as they made their way to prayer.

London hasn't had a clean track record when it comes to racially motivated incidents.

Last year, a London man suffered a concussion after he said he was punched while sitting outside the Covent Garden market. Two men allegedly called the victim an Arab and told him to go back to his country.

• London, Ont. man suffers concussion in alleged hate attack

It's unclear who's behind the random act of kindness whether it's one individual or a group but the London Muslim Mosque is ready to meet with him or her to thank whoever is behind the kind gesture.

Nawaz Tahir, a spokesperson for the mosque, said regardless of who steps up, the community is grateful.

"This shows that kindness and love will always triumph over hate," he said. "This is a nice demonstration that we live in a city of kindness."

Contrast to events in Charlottesville

AdeebFadelacknowlegdes the juxaposition to his experience and that of the racist gathering in Virginia over the weekend.

"On the one hand, you have an anonymous person who expresses their love for humanity with a kind gesture and on the other hand you have hundreds of angry white supremacists publicly and unashamedly expressing their hatred of those unlike them.

"Even worse a person lost their life because of the violent terrorist attack against counter protesters, it's quite surreal to see this happen in 2017."

• Trump condemns white supremacists involved in Charlottesville violence

Fadeltold the CBChe has one message for whoever is behind the gesture that he said gave him a sliver of hope.

"Thank you," he said. "I hope this kindness continues to grow and becomes something that flourishes and grows just like the flower represents that was put on my windshield."