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  "path": "/2026/05/martyrs-of-islamic-center-of-san-diego.html",
  "publishedAt": "2026-05-21T09:00:00.000Z",
  "site": "http://www.sandiegoville.com",
  "tags": [
    "launchgood.com/v4/campaign/support_family_of_amin_abdullah_islamic_society_of_san_diego_martyr"
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  "textContent": "In the days following one of the darkest tragedies in recent San Diego history, an extraordinary wave of compassion has emerged across the region and far beyond it. An online fundraiser supporting the families of the three men killed during the May 18 shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego is has surpassed the $3 million mark, becoming one of the largest community-driven relief campaigns in San Diego history and a powerful reflection of the city’s collective grief, solidarity and refusal to let the victims be remembered solely through the violence that took their lives.\n\nAs of publication, the LaunchGood fundraiser organized by the San Diego chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in partnership with the Islamic Center of San Diego has raised over $3 million from more than 35,000 supporters worldwide. Organizers expect the campaign to continue to increase over its term as donations continue pouring in around the clock.\n\nImportantly, the campaign’s focus has intentionally remained centered on honoring the lives, families and service of the victims rather than discussing the tragedy. In many ways, supporters say, that is precisely the point.\n\nThe fundraiser benefits the families of Amin Abdullah, Nader Awad and Mansour Kaziha, the three men killed during the attack at the Clairemont mosque and school campus. The campaign states that all proceeds will go directly toward funeral expenses, immediate household support, children’s education, long-term financial stability for surviving spouses, and trauma counseling for affected families.\n\nThe three victims occupied deeply personal and essential roles within the Islamic Center community, helping form the daily backbone of one of San Diego County’s largest Muslim institutions.\n\nAmin Abdullah, a father of eight and security guard at the Islamic Center, has been widely credited by authorities and community leaders with helping prevent an even greater catastrophe. According to San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl, Abdullah engaged the gunmen outside the mosque and initiated lockdown procedures that likely prevented the attackers from reaching larger groups of worshippers and children inside the building. More than 100 children were reportedly on campus during the attack.\n\nNader Awad lived directly across the street from the mosque alongside his wife, who works as a teacher at the Islamic school. Community members say Awad rushed toward the center after hearing gunfire, attempting to protect those inside.\n\nMansour Kaziha, affectionately known within the community as “Abu Ezz,” had reportedly spent decades helping operate the mosque’s food store and assisting with countless daily responsibilities around the center. Imam Taha Hassane described him as someone who had effectively become the institution’s handyman, caretaker and trusted elder figure over nearly four decades.\n\nThe campaign’s messaging has resonated deeply with donors because of its emphasis on shared humanity rather than division. “You do not have to share their faith to stand with their families,” the fundraiser states. “You only have to believe that no one should be murdered in their place of worship - and that when a community is attacked, the rest of us answer.”\n\nThe extraordinary financial response has also become an indirect portrait of how profoundly the attack affected San Diego’s broader civic fabric. In addition to donations from Muslim communities nationwide, supporters include local residents, interfaith organizations, civic leaders, businesses and individuals from around the world who say they wanted to respond not with fear or outrage, but with direct support for the families left behind.\n\nThat tone has carried into vigils, memorials and public statements throughout the week. Rather than allowing the conversation to become dominated exclusively by the shooters and their extremist ideology, many community leaders have repeatedly stressed the importance of centering the lives of the victims, the heroism shown during the attack, and the resilience of San Diego’s Muslim community moving forward.\n\nAuthorities continue investigating the shooting as a hate crime. Federal investigators have stated that the two teenage suspects were allegedly radicalized online and left behind extremist writings before ultimately dying from self-inflicted gunshot wounds following the attack. But within the Islamic Center itself, conversations this week have increasingly shifted away from the perpetrators and toward healing, remembrance and protecting the community’s future. The speed and scale of the fundraiser has become part of that healing process.\n\nIn a city often fractured by politics, outrage cycles and social division, the campaign has instead become a rare example of collective unity formed around empathy, mourning and tangible action. For many donors, the fundraiser is not simply about money. It is about refusing to let hatred become the defining legacy of what happened that day.\n\nThe LaunchGood fundraiser for the families of Amin Abdullah, Nader Awad and Mansour Kaziha remains active online. For more information or to contribute, visit launchgood.com/v4/campaign/support_family_of_amin_abdullah_islamic_society_of_san_diego_martyr.\n\n\n**_Originally published on May 21, 2026._**\n",
  "title": "Martyrs Of Islamic Center Of San Diego Fundraiser Surpasses $3 Million As Community Rallies Around Families Of Victims",
  "updatedAt": "2026-05-21T09:00:00.110Z"
}