The city’s Muslim community said it’s saddened by the deaths of 53-year-old Ricky John Best and 23-year-old Taliesin Myrddin Namkai Meche.
Both tried to intervene when the accused killer Jeremy Christian was allegedly yelling hate speech towards two young women on a train.
Local imam Muhammed Najieb told SBS World News the men’s actions said a lot about Portlanders.
“Those weren’t Muslim young men that spoke up for those two young Muslim sisters,” he said.
“Just human beings - men and women of humanity - and for them to speak up like that it was courageous.
“They’re like heroes. That says something about the calibre of people here in the Portland area.”
A fundraising campaign to help the families of the two men killed has raised over $400,000 (US$344,921).
The campaign's founder, Nick Zukin, said he was impressed by Portland’s generosity.
“These guys stood up for what was right and paid the ultimate price," he said.
“I'm glad we are helping their families as a community.”
Mr Christian allegedly fatally stabbed the pair and attacked another man who was also trying to calm him down, before fleeing, Oregon police say.
Police are now combing through the suspect's publicly available “extremist ideology” after charging him with murder and intimidation.
Jeremy Christian has been charged with murder over the deaths of the two men in the Portland train stabbings. Source: Portland Police Bureau
Mr Najieb said besides some minor isolated incidents there had not been many anti-Muslim attacks in the region prior to Friday’s incident.
“That’s why this was stunning, it was kind of a shock," he said.
“It was horrific. A lot of us were stunned. We hadn’t seen that happen, you know.”
Local police have also rallied to offer support to the community including greater protection, he said.
“The chief of police … he said, ‘Rest assured, you are brothers and sisters and as we provide law enforcement for all of the citizens, you are inclusive of that and we will if necessary and send down additional patrols’," Mr Najieb said.
“This is the holy month of Ramadan and this ensures that we can go to our holy places of prayer and be able to be there with some safety.”
Muslims make up about one per cent of the adult population of Oregon, according to a 2014 survey by the Pew Research Centre.
That would equate to about 40,000 people based on its 2014 population of 3.9 million.
