Thousands of Muslims from across America and members of the Chino community were expected to attend a three-day event at a mosque to discuss how to identify an extremist and work together to prevent terror attacks on Saturday.
The annual convention at the Baitul Hameed Mosque has taken on new meaning after the deadly Dec. 2 terror that left 14 dead.
San Bernardino Police Chief Jarrod Burguan was in attendance and received a leadership award for his department's work during the attacks.
Leaders at the event shared 11 "key principles" for identifying if a person is a true Muslim or an extremist.
"We're asking Shiite Muslims, Sunni Muslims, even non-Muslims — do you agree with these principles? If so let's unite," Harris Zafar of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community said.
The principles say a Muslim should: wholly reject all forms of terrorism, believe in non-violent jihad of the self and of the pen, believe in the equality, education and empowerment, of women, advocate freedom of conscience, religion and speech, advocate for the separation of mosque and state, and more.
"Once you think that our savior is one day going to come with a sword and kill non-Muslims in his path, then ISIS can say, 'Well, you can start that path right now — don't wait for the messiah,'" Zafar said. "It's all of these warning signs that can lead to a path of extremism."
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Law enforcement officials said the discussion was a good start to preventing terror attacks.
"I heard the 11 principles he talked about and I don't disagree with a single one of them," Burguan said. "I think it's the right message that this country needs to hear. I thought what he said was very important."
