An unidentified man broke into an Arizona mosque early Monday morning and ripped up copies of the Holy Quran.
The Islamic Center of Tucson wrote in a Facebook post that the man, seen in surveillance footage wearing a University of Arizona T-shirt, entered the mosque at about 3:30 a.m. Monday.
“He ripped copies of the Qur’an and threw them around the prayer room before leaving the building,” the centre wrote. “Thankfully no one was hurt.”
“The camera footage leads us to believe the sole intent of this individual was to damage the centre’s religious property,” they wrote. “The Tucson Police Department responded quickly. As always, they were kind, courteous, and thorough with their investigation.”
Tucson Police Sgt Kim Bay said the police were searching for the man seen in the footage. “There is no indication this was a hate crime,” he said while adding that the department can only say this for sure once they have interrogated the person.
“Although we are disheartened by this incident, we understand that this is an isolated incident,” the mosque said. “The ICT has been a part of the Tucson community since the late 1980’s and since then, the Tucson community has been kind, welcoming, and supportive.”
Imraan Siddiqi, executive director of Arizona chapter of The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), urged the “local, state and federal law enforcement authorities to investigate this incident as a possible hate crime and for religious and political leaders to speak out against the growing Islamophobia in our state and nation that results in such acts of bigotry”.
Courtesy: Huffington Post