NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- After a week of controversy and a hate crime directed toward Muslims, on Saturday the message sent from the Islamic community was peace.

Related: Video: Mosque Holds Open House Event

On Wednesday someone spray painted "Muslims go home" in bright red paint on the front of the Al-Farooq Mosque on Fourth Avenue. A letter left behind called Muslims "the enemy."

Saturday, the Islamic Center of Nashville opened their doors to inform, educate, and clear up any misconceptions about Islam. Salaad Nur, one of the leaders at the Al-Farooq Mosque said, “This is our home. If they indicated that they want us to go home, we want to let them know, we are already here.”

Hayat Liban is Muslim and is proud that her children were born in Nashville. She says, “I believe every single U.S. American is equal, no matter what they believe. Islam is a peaceful religion.”

Amir Arain, with the Islamic Center said, “People to people contact certainly decreases the ignorance and ignorance is certainly the main reason for hatred.”

Saturday, Muslims, Christians, Jews and people of all faiths joined together to learn more about Islam.

An open house was already planned long before this past week's hate crime.

Kathy Chambers, who attended the event said, “The idea that there was defacement on the mosque just breaks my heart. I wanted to come out and hopefully be a part of the solution and not a part of the problem.”

Chambers is getting her P.H.D. in religion and feels the biggest problem is widespread generalizations.

“It’s very easy for people to say 'all Muslims are blank, they are all one way or another' and the fact is, as there are many different ways of behaving and acting and living out Christianity or Judaism, the same goes with Islam," said Chambers.

The center has had open houses before, but on Saturday two things were different; the turnout was much larger and the topic is a little modified.

Arain said, “The topic is Islam 101; beliefs and the concepts, and the misconceptions of Islam.”

Some of the biggest misconceptions about Muslims is that everyone is a terrorist.

Liban said, “Islam is peaceful no matter where we live. We don't believe in killing, we don't believe in destroying.”

Although Muslims may worship differently than you, through education, they hope messages of hate will soon turn to love and unity.

Nur said, “We might come from different backgrounds, but we are united in our aims. We are united in the security that we all want to live in, the harmonious life we want to create for our families here. We are a community that will stay here together.”

As for who's responsible for the graffiti at Al-Farooq, no suspects have been developed yet. The FBI is working with metro police and the TBI to analyze a handwritten letter left behind to see if any similar words or comments might have been used in other hate crimes There are four Islamic mosques in Nashville and one in Murfreesboro.

The Islamic center of Nashville plans to be more proactive in reaching out to their neighbors and hosting more events like Saturday’s.