"I'm not scared," Muslims attend Friday Prayer in wake of New Zealand mosque shooting

DEARBORN, Mich. (FOX 2) - As the aftermath of the mosque shootings in New Zealand continues to unfold, Muslims across southeast Michigan headed to their own mosque for the Islamic ritual known as Friday Prayer.

Samir Kadir says he will not let the New Zealand tragedy cause him to be fearful.

"Cause my soul is in the hand of Allah so there's no fear from that. I'm not scared to come to the mosque," he said.

"This should not deter us from going to our house of worship,"

Dawud Walid is executive director of the Michigan Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, also known as CAIR. On Friday, he delivered a sermon at a mosque in Warren and his organization also reached out to police. 

"We've reached out to a number of law enforcement authorities and they are patrolling mosques all across southeast Michigan," he said. 

The City of Dearborn is home to a large Muslim population and its police chief says his department will be vigilant.

"We are aware that it's Friday Prayer and we have a high-end tactical plan in place," said Chief Ronald Haddad.

In fact, hours before anyone knew this act of violence in New Zealand would take place, Dearborn Police met Thursday to discuss efforts to keep religious institutions safe.

"It was more of like a class where we talked about developing safety plans emergency response evacuations and procedures putting together a safety security team at your faith based organizations," said Haddad.

The leader of CAIR says the law enforcement efforts are needed but he's also calling on political leaders to act 

"We need people on the left and right to speak out against xenophobia and Islamic-phobia because there is a political climate in the US that's not only inspiring attacks here but abroad," Walid said.