ROSEVILLE – The sudden decision by Dr. Mohamed Abdul-Azeez, an imam and writer, to move to Roseville, California, has been met by heartwarming feelings from his neighbors, who were afraid that Donald Trump’s rhetoric forced their peaceful Muslim neighbors to move.

In a post shared on Monday on Facebook, Imam Azeez, the founder of Tarbiya Institute in California, said he had to move closer to his work at the Tarbiya House and put his house on the market last Ramadan.

A few days ago, he visited his old house to pick up a few last items when he met one of his neighbors.

“Out of the blue, our neighbor came running to greet me, and with tearful eyes said: “we’re going to miss you guys!” I said: we’ll miss you and your family too!” Imam Azeez wrote.

The neighbor added that their sudden move was heartbreaking to her little daughter.

“She then shocked me with this statement: “my daughter (who’s 7) was always worried about you guys, and told me numerous times: I’m worried mom that Donald Trump is going to kidnap Zeyneb (my daughter) and her family! When you guys moved, my daughter was literally sobbing and said: didn’t I tell you mom!” he recalled her words.

“I tried to comfort her and tell her that you guys just moved, but she wouldn’t believe me! Can you come to our house assure her that you guys are okay? ” I said: oh my God! Absolutely!”

Over the past months, Republican nominee Donald Trump has been calling for Muslims to be banned from entering the US, making it a centrepiece of his candidacy.

Last month, in an interview with 60 Minutes, Trump called for “vetting” people hailing from countries with a history of “terror”.

Meeting the young daughter was emotional, the imam said.

“I walked to her house and her daughter came running to hug me saying: thank God! Imagine the flood of emotions I was having at the moment, but I assured them that we and our community are okay and that we love them,” he wrote.

“The world is still beautiful. Don’t let anyone convince you otherwise… We have no one but ‪#‎Trump to thank for brining [sic] us all together.

“Forgot to mention that our neighbor and her husband are both veterans.”