B2 eZ sU THE WASHINGTON POST.SATURDAy, MARCH 14 , 2020
RELIGION
The Muslim Community Cen-
ter in Silver Spring was slated to
close after Friday prayers. Hay-
tham Ibrahim, the operations
manager at the center, said all
events are canceled until further
notice. “We don’t want to take
the risk,” Ibrahim said.
The 46-year-old center is one
of the oldest in the r egion, and 5 0
percent of the community is over
60 years old.
Imam Omar Suleiman, one of
the most high-profile Muslim
leaders in the country, said
mosque closures were especially
prevalent in parts of the country
that have had outbreaks.
Suleiman, who is based in
Dallas, was supposed to be in
New Zealand this weekend to
mark the first anniversary of
shootings at mosques that left 51
dead, but his trip was canceled.
Instead, on Thursday, he was
still deciding whether to cancel
the service at his own mosque
and was about to hop on a call
with Dallas health officials. He
said mosque leaders were t alking
about having the service outside,
or keeping the obligation to five
minutes so members could
quickly fulfill it and leave. They
also talked about rolling out
paper on top of the carpet where
they pray.
Muslims simply can’t transfer
their religious obligation online,
Suleiman said.
“There’s significance in the
performance of the obligation
where you’re not in chairs, you’re
breathing each other’s air,” he
said.
[email protected]Te ddy Amenabar contributed to this
report.has been a prominent Muslim
leader in the Washington area,
said that d uring a conference call
with mosques in Maryland on
Thursday night, some leaders
said they were reducing their
services to 250 people or less to
adhere to the ban on large gath-
erings set in place by Gov. Larry
Hogan (R). Others said they
would cancel.
“Those who said they weren’t
closing were given grief, like, ‘get
with the program,’ ” Abdul-Malik
said. “They decided it’s impor-
tant that we agree and teach our
congregations that we can all
still be good Muslims and dis-
agree on the level of precaution.”said. “This concept takes prece-
dence over all other objectives of
Islamic faith as life represents
the foundation of our existence.
Therefore, at times, preservation
of human life and human rights
is far more significant than con-
tinuity of even essential practic-
es of devotion.”
Other Virginia mosques that
are canceling services are Islam-
ic Center of Northern Virginia
and Manassas Mosque. In Wash-
ington, Masjid Muhammad
mosque closed, and prayers that
take place at the U. S. Capitol
were postponed.
Johari Abdul-Malik, who was
an imam at Dar Al-Hijrah andcoronavirus has made religious
leaders nervous because the ma-
jor holidays of Ramadan, Pass-
over and Easter are weeks away.
During Ramadan, Muslims typi-
cally go to prayer services every
evening after breaking their fast.
Muslim organizations includ-
ing the Islamic Medical Associa-
tion of North America and the
Islamic Society of North America
on Thursday sent a joint state-
ment strongly recommending
th at the Muslim community take
precautions, including suspend-
ing Friday prayers.
“Protecting human life is one
of the fundamental objectives of
Islamic Shari’ah,” the statementSchools announced late Thurs-
day night that classes were can-
celed Friday.
“Therefore, out of abundance
of caution and because of the lack
of clear information, the Board
has decided to close the masjid
for Friday and all congregational
prayers and activities until fur-
ther notice,” the board said in a
statement.
On Friday, Gov. Ralph
Northam (D-Va.) announced the
closure of all K-12 schools in
Virginia for at least two weeks.
For the ADAMS Center, which
usually hosts 9,000 people at 10
locations, the decision to close
came when Loudoun County an-
nounced Thursday its schools
would close. Members are en-
couraged to do daily prayers at
home and can listen to religious
instruction online, said Rizwan
Jaka, elected chair of the board
of trustees at ADAMS.
Jaka said mosque leaders
checked with interfaith leaders
and found that other denomina-
tions were canceling services as
well, including Virginia and
D.C.-area Episcopal churches,
Catholic c hurches in Washington
and the Maryland suburbs, and
several synagogues.
As religious leaders traded
information with each other
about their plans, they grappled
with challenges, including
whether they can help keep the
coronavirus from spreading fast-
er. Or, some wondered, do they
risk abandoning people who
might need them?
“Our goal is to have a preven-
tive posture. To prevent the
spread before it becomes an
issue in this area,” Jaka said.
The disruption caused by theBY SARAH PULLIAM BAILEYReligious leaders across the
nation took dramatic measures
this week to cancel weekend
gatherings, though others told
their members they will s till hold
services.
Ahead of Friday prayers,
where Muslims usually prostrate
shoulder-to-shoulder on carpets,
disagreements emerged among
clerics over how to handle mass
gatherings.
Leaders of two major Virginia-
based mosques initially took op-
posite a pproaches f rom e ach oth-
er for the prayers, which are
mandatory for Muslim men.
Leaders at Dar Al-Hijrah Islamic
Center in Fairfax County were
setting up ways to screen the
health of members with ther-
mometers before they entered
the mosque, and said they would
cap attendance at 400.
The All Dulles Area Muslim
Society (ADAMS) Center in Ster-
ling, the second-largest mosque
in the nation, canceled services
and closed locations until fur-
ther notice.
On Thursday, leaders at Dar
Al-Hijrah, which normally sees
about 1,100 during Friday prayer
services, said they were planning
to hold services because county
officials had not recommended
canceling communal gatherings.
“If we just cancel religious
schools and work and every-
thing, and people are living in a
state of fear, that's not a healthy
community,” said Saif Rahman,
director of public and govern-
ment affairs.
But the mosque’s board
changed its plans and decided to
close after Fairfax County Public
Mosques cancel Friday prayers as leaders grapple with decisions on closing
JAHI CHIKwendIU/THe wAsHIngTOn POsT
The All Dulles Area Muslim Society (ADAMS) Center in Sterling, the second-largest mosque in the
nation, canceled services until further notice. It usually hosts 9 ,000 people at 10 locations.BY FENIT NIRAPPILD.C. Attorney General Karl A.
Racine (D) said Friday that he will
seek a third term in 2022 and
launch a public corruption divi-
sion in his office in response to
the scandals surrounding former
D.C. Council member Jack Evans.
Racine, widely viewed as one of
the strongest potential challeng-
ers to two-term Mayor Muriel E.
Bowser (D), filed paperwork
Thursday to seek reelection. He
told The Washington Post on Fri-
day that he has not ruled out
changing his plans and running
for mayor instead.
But he says he also wants to
continue the work he launched as
the first elected attorney general
of the nation’s capital, where he
has gone after landlords and em-
ployers stealing local wages and
filed high-profile national law-
suits against Facebook, the Cath-
olic Church and President Trump.
“Those national aspects of our
work, in addition to continuing to
stand up strong against the hate
coming out of 1600 Pennsylvania,
is yet another reason I feel doubly
committed to the Office of Attor-
ney General and using the law to
protect our values and vulnerable
people,” he said in an interview.
Bowser has not said whether
she would seek a third term. A
recent poll by The Post f ound that
she enjoys broad approval rat-
ings, with a slight majority of
respondents saying they would
support a third term. Bowser
hinted at running for office again
at a January event with city em-
ployees, telling attendees to “wait
for the next seven years” with a
broad grin.
Racine said there are some
scenarios in which he believes he
could serve the city best as mayor.
Several members of the
D.C. Council are believed to be
weighing runs for higher office.
“I am very deeply concerned
that the District of Columbia is
moving in a direction where it’s
intentionally leaving vulnerable
residents behind,” Racine said,
referring to the gentrification,
displacement and wealth dispari-
ties that have overtaken broad
swaths of the city. “I am very
much against that course of ac-
tion, and it would be issues like
that that would cause me to re-
flect on whether other office
would allow the ability to impact
that issue and others.”
Racine considered challenging
Bowser in 2018 but opted not to,
paving the way for Bowser to
easily win reelection with no
credible opponents.
Racine’s office does not have
the power to prosecute felonies,
but he has used his powers to
enforce consumer protection
laws and to promote anti-vio-
lence efforts.
He said a new public corrup-
tion division set to be launched in
the coming weeks would be able
to bring false claim actions and
prosecute misdemeanor chargesagainst politicians and those try-
ing to illegally influence them.
Felony cases would still be
brought by federal prosecutors.
Racine cited the case involving
Evans, who resigned from his
Ward 2 seat in January after in-
vestigations found ethics viola-
tions. Evans was under federal
investigation but has not been
charged.
The probes of Evans first fo-
cused on whether he improperly
proposed legislation to help Digi
Outdoor Media in its quest to
install digital advertising signs
across downtown Washington.
Evans had received stock and
consulting fees from the company
before proposing the legislation,
but said he returned both.
Racine’s office recently pre-
vailed in litigation against the
sign venture.
“It became clear as a result of
our work in Digi that former
council member Jack Evans was
corrupt,” said Racine. “I think
that our public corruption section
that we are launching will show
the city that circumstances like
Digi, sadly, are just the tip of theiceberg. We want to be part of the
change that is necessary in what I
think is a pay-to-play culture.”
Racine’s office has become
something of a launchpad for
aspiring politicians. Two of his
former employees have been
elected to the council and are
running for a second term this
year: Robert C. White Jr. (D-At
Large) and Trayon White Sr. (D-
Ward 8).
Another three people from his
office are seeking council seats:
Veda Rasheed in Ward 7, Brooke
Pinto in Ward 2 and Janeese Lew-
is George in Ward 4. Racine has
endorsed Pinto in the Ward 2
race; her competitors include Ev-
ans, who is seeking to regain the
seat. Evans could not be reached
for comment.
Racine also said he would con-
sider working for a Democratic
presidential administration, if
the Democratic nominee wins in
November, or returning to the
private sector. He endorsed Sen.
Kamala D. Harris (D-Calif.) for
president last year and told Politi-
co he would consider serving as
her attorney general.
Harris dropped out before vot-
ing began in the primaries.
During a Friday interview on
“The Kojo Nnamdi Show” on
WAMU (88.5 FM), Racine said he
is backing former vice president
Joe Biden.
He also said he’s not ruling out
stepping down from his post to
join a Democratic presidential
administration.
“I’m not foreclosing going into
the federal administration if
there’s a job that’s an important
job that can advance the United
States, particularly on issues sur-
rounding immigration,” said Ra-
cine, a Haitian immigrant. “I
would be very, very interested in
that.”
[email protected]THE DISTRICT
Racine to seek 3rd term, form c orruption division
JAHI CHIKwendIU/THe wAsHIngTOn POsT
Although he is seeking reelection, D.C. Attorney General Karl A.
Racine says he hasn’t ruled out changing his plans to run for mayor.BY RACHEL WEINERThe alleged former leader of a
white-supremacist group ac-
cused of threatening journalists
and a ctivists was a lso involved in
sharing child pornography, fed-
eral prosecutors alleged Friday.
John Cameron Denton, 26,
was brought to federal court in
Alexandria, Va., this week on a
charge of conspiracy to make
interstate threats.
Denton’s arrest in Te xas was
part of a national crackdown on
the Atomwaffen Division, de-
scribed by prosecutors and ex-
perts as a group of extremists
bent on provoking a violent race
war. The group has been linked
to five slayings.
Denton and four other alleged
members were arrested earlier
this month.
Two co-conspirators have told
investigators that Denton
“scanned and sent photos” of a
16-year-old girl dating another
white supremacist, Assistant
U.S. Attorney Carina Cuellar said
in court. She said they also told
law enforcement officials that
Denton was “trading child por-
nography back and forth” with
another individual and had a
folder of the material on his
computer.
She said a search of Denton’s
devices by investigators in Te xas
was not complete.
Denton’s attorney, Andrew
Stewart, described the allega-
tions as “unsubstantiated” and
emphasized that his client has
not been charged with any child-
pornography-related counts.
Stewart argued that Denton
could safely be released to the
custody of family in Te xas or a
woman in Maryland whom he
had met on Facebook. Stewart
said there were media reports
that his client had left the group
after the alleged 2018 threats
and “a track record of Mr. Den-
ton not being involved in this
dangerous conduct.”
Cuellar countered that only
two months before his arrest,
Denton talked with an undercov-
er agent about committing cy-
berattacks on major companies
and said that if he were arrested
it would “be good for Atom-
waffen... because it’s a serious
felony.”
“He was still a member of
Atomwaffen,” she said. “He has
not withdrawn.”
Judge Theresa Carroll Buch-
anan agreed with prosecutorsVIRGINIASuspected neo-Nazi faces
a child porn allegation
John Cameron
Denton, 26,
is federally
charged with
conspiracy
to make
interstate
threats.Denton was arrested as
part of crackdown on
Atomwaffen groupand declined to release Denton,
calling his conduct “very con-
cerning.”
Stewart declined to comment
after court on whether Denton is
a member of Atomwaffen. Den-
ton’s father and grandfather also
declined to comment.
If he is charged, Denton will
not be the first person investigat-
ed for possible domestic terror-
ism links to face child exploita-
tion counts. Benjamin Bogard
was convicted in Te xas last year
and sentenced to more than six
years in prison for possession of
child pornography. James Ma-son, a neo-Nazi h ighly i nfluential
in Atomwaffen, also has a crimi-
nal child pornography record.
In Atomwaffen chat rooms,
according to prosecutors, Den-
ton went by the nickname
“Rape.” He is accused of organiz-
ing a threatening campaign
against a ProPublica reporter
who had named him and other
Atomwaffen members. Fake
threats were called in to ProPub-
lica’s New York office and the
reporter’s home. Such threats
are called “swatting,” because
the goal is to provoke an over-
whelming police response that
includes a SWAT team.
Prosecutors say the group also
called in threats to a historically
black church in Alexandria, the
home of former Department of
Homeland Security head
Kirstjen Nielsen, and a black
journalist in Florida.
Another alleged member,
John William Kirby Kelley, also
faces charges in Alexandria.
Prosecutors in Seattle say oth-
er Atomwaffen members plotted
to leave violent neo-Nazi posters
at the homes of journalists and
activists.
[email protected]Denton’s attorney called
the allegations
“unsubstantiated” and
emphasized he had not
been charged with any
child pornography-
related counts.
BY DAN MORSEA 21-year-old man fatally shot
by a Montgomery County police
officer this w eek had “confronted”
officers during a 4:30 a.m. raid at
his house in Potomac, law en-
forcement officials said Friday
night.
The officials did not say wheth-
er the man killed, Duncan So-
crates Lemp, was armed. They
seized five guns from his home,
which he was prohibited from
possessing, police said.
Lemp’s family, meanwhile, as-
serted he was “murdered” by po-
lice who fired multiple rounds
from outside the home, according
to a statement released by the
family’s attorneys.
“A ny attempt by the police to
shift responsibility onto Duncan
or his family who were sleeping
when the police fired shots into
their h ome is not supported by the
facts,” the statement said.
The officers, part of a tactical
team, arrived at the home Thurs-
day morning after receiving a citi-
zen complaint that Lemp pos-
sessed guns, according to the po-
lice statement. A Special Opera-
tions Division Ta ctical Unit came
to Lemp’s h ome in the 12200 block
of St. James Road to serve a “high-
risk” s earch w arrant. That t ypical-
ly means the officers do not knock.
“During the warrant service,
the suspect confronted the offi-cers and was fatally shot by an
officer assigned to the Ta ctical
Unit,” the statement read.
According to Lemp’s f amily, the
officers also injured Lemp’s girl-
friend. “The police had obtained a
search warrant for the home,
however the search warrant
makes no mention of any immi-
nent threat to law enforcement or
the community,” according to the
family statement, which was re-
leased by their attorneys, Rene
Sandler and Jonathan Fellner.
Police did not release the name
or names of officers involved.
“Lemp was prohibited from
possessing firearms and detec-
tives were following up on a com-
plaint from the public that Lemp,though prohibited, was in posses-
sion of firearms,” police said. “De-
tectives recovered three rifles and
two handguns from the resi-
dence.”
Under an established agree-
ment between Montgomery and
Howard counties, prosecutors in-
vestigate their neighbor’s police-
involved fatal shootings. The
agreement was made because
prosecutors and police officers, in
each county, work closely with
each other on other cases.
Chris Sandmann, Howard
County’s deputy state’s attorney,
came to the shooting scene Thurs-
day morning. He d eclined to com-
ment Friday.
[email protected]MARYLAND
Police: Man ‘confronted’ tactical unit during raid