Flanked by clergy from a cross-section of Houston's religious community, leaders of an Islamic religious center Friday asked prosecutors to drop the felony charge lodged against a homeless man accused of setting one of their buildings on fire.

"We always preach forgiveness," said Ahsan Zahid, assistant imam at the Quba Islamic Institute. "Our God is forgiving. Our prophet was always forgiving, and God tells us we should do as we expected to be treated by others. We should forgive, and that is the request we made."

Leaders of the institute, at 730 FM 1959 in the city's southeast side, made their public request at a news conference called by Interfaith Ministries. Lending support to the Muslim group were clergy from Jewish and Christian congregations.

Harris County District Attorney's spokesman Jeff McShan confirmed that his office had received and would consider the institute's request.

But, he added, "At this time, Darryl Ferguson's first-degree arson charge will remain. The investigation into the fire is ongoing. No final decisions have been made and will not be made over the weekend."

Not a storage building

Fire erupted about 5:30 a.m. Feb. 13, gutting a 3,000-square-foot prefabricated metal building being modified for use as a cafeteria and recreation center.

"The building has been described in the media as a storage building," Zahid said, "and that makes it sound like a shack out back. To be honest, it was completely insulated; it had central heating and air." Inside, he said, were computers, printers and other electronic gear for use by center students.

Zahid said the building was uninsured; reconstruction will cost about $200,000.

In the wake of the fire, he said, the center has received online taunts and expressions of "blind hatred" - and interfaith expressions of support.

About $20,000 has been donated for replacement of the burned building, Zahid said.

Morale among Muslims associated with the center has been "excellent," Zahid said. "There are no tears. It was tragic. We lost a lot, but what we lost pales in comparison of what we have gained. What we have is the support, the love, the camaraderie of a host of communities, religious and non-religious."

Among those participating in Friday's Interfaith Ministries event was Rabbi Steve Morgan of Congregation Beth Yeshurun.

"When one person is hurt, it hurts all of us in the community," he said later. "We need to stand in solidarity together and break down the barriers that divide us."

Morgan emphasized the commonality among Islam, Christianity and Judaism.

"In each, God created only one human being," he said. "Out of that flows the moral message that we are all related to each other. We have the responsibility to take care of each other and not hurt each other. We were created in the divine image, in God's image … and each of us has a spark of God's holiness."

While some twist religion to fuel animosity, he said, "I believe religion is the solution to conflict, not the cause of it."

Shaukat Zakaria, vice chairman of the Interfaith Ministries board of directors, said Friday's session was called to express solidarity with the Quba Islamic Institute.

"Whether this was a hate crime or not," he said, "we wanted to use this opportunity to bring the overall community together under one roof. We want to make sure everyone understands that the faith community stands together on this and make sure this is not condoned by anyone."

Making connections

While Interfaith Ministries is not structured to actively solicit funds for rebuilding the burned structure, he said, it hopes to help the Islamic group connect with groups that may assist.

"We want to make sure no one community is left behind," he said.

The Rev. Kimberly Orr, associate pastor of Windsor Village United Methodist Church, represented the Christian community at Friday's event. He could not immediately be reached for comment.