It has been just a little over two years since a small fire was deliberately set outside Daarus Salaam Mosque that damaged a glass front door and part of the facade.

It remains a stark reminder to members of the Thonotosassa mosque that the attacks on two mosques in New Zealand on Friday that left more than four dozen Muslims dead could happen here.

"The fear is real," Aida Mackic, a spokesperson for Daarus Salaam, which translates to "house of peace," told the Tampa Bay Times.

Following a prayer service there on Sunday afternoon, the mosque hosted an interfaith vigil for those slaughtered by the white supremacist in New Zealand.

While the speakers offered prayers to the victims and their families, they also lamented the growing fear of white nationalists among all minorities.

"Whether it is anti-Semitism in Pittsburgh, racism in Charlottesville or Islamophobia in Christchurch," spokesperson Mackic told the crowd of a few hundred, "white supremacy is on the march at home and abroad."

The prevailing sentiment at the vigil was that it is a growing problem.

"These are the days when grief wraps its heaviness around us because someone chose to live a life consumed with fear and then hate," Cypress Point Community Church Pastor Dean Reule said during his public remarks. "This was an act of terror."

Sumayya Saleh of Daarus Salaam echoed that sentiment to the audience.

"Let us not mince words," she said. "Let us call it for what it was — a terrorist attack."

Muslim women now wonder, she said, if wearing a hijab in public will make them a target of hate.

"The reality is that it's going to happen again," Saleh said of attacks on Muslims. "And again after that and maybe a couple of more times after that as well."

In response to the tragedy in New Zealand, the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office stationed on-duty deputies at every county mosque during prayer services this weekend.

Additionally, deputies throughout this week are charged with making those places of worship a regular part of their patrols.

"We want everyone to feel safe," said Sheriff Chad Chronister.

Still, Saleh said that neither increased law enforcement nor public vigils that showcase solidarity with the Muslim community are the ultimate solution

"It is not enough that each of you accepts me as your neighbor and as your friend," she said. "Until we come together as a society to stymie" white supremacy "the violence will not end."

Contact Paul Guzzo at pguzzo@tampabay.com or follow @PGuzzoTimes.