"I am very excited about it and I am thankful to god that god has given guidance to him," said Dr. Naz.
Dr. Aftab Naz with the Islamic Center is Madera says he's relieved reverend Terry Jones appears to be softening his stance on possibly burning copies of the Koran on 9-11.
Still, he says, the past few weeks have taken an emotional toll on Muslims everywhere. Two weeks ago, someone vandalized the center on three separate occasions. Someone threw a brick at the building ... and later posted these signs ... which has forced the center to add additional security measures.
Then came word about reverend Jones' plans to burn copies of their holy book. "That was painful. Just someone thinking about it. That hurts," said Dr. Naz.
While the religious world is waiting to see what Jone's next move is ... political groups are also paying close attention. Jared Gordon with the Central Valley Tea Party says although the group has not taken an official stance on the issue ... he and others hope Jones will cancel his plans altogether so the country can focus on other issues.
"I hope we can all move past it and go back to focusing on real issues like the economy and our national security," said Gordon.
Darrell Hibbens of Coarsegold shares those same thoughts. He says freedom of speech is one thing ... but Reverend Jones is taking it to level where no one should go.
"You know I think he had the right with the first amendment to make comments but I think once you go beyond that you're affecting the safety of a lot of people and that's going too far," said Hibbens.
