The windows of the Muslim Community Center of Kingston’s Masjid Al-Hoda in South Kingstown were smashed in, and “Muhammad Prophet of butchers” was spray-painted on the building’s wall, the mosque’s members told the Council on American-Islamic Relations [ https://www.facebook.com/CAIRNational/posts/10153905930442695 ], the nation’s largest Muslim civil liberties group.
CAIR
CAIR
South Kingstown police Capt. Joel Ewing-Chow said police received a call regarding the vandalism at 11 p.m. Thursday.
“A witness to the incident described seeing a lone perpetrator wearing all black with a hood covering their head break a window with what appeared to be a long handled axe,” Chow said in a statement. “This individual then ran from the scene.”
Police were unable to locate the suspect and are investigating.
“We will not let ourselves be divided by turning on each other or by throwing away the principles of justice and religious inclusion on which our nation was founded,” said Dr. John Robbins, the executive director of the Massachusetts chapter of CAIR. “We call for stepped-up protection of America’s Islamic institutions and for the repudiation of calls to hate and division by irresponsible public figures.”
CAIR also condemned Thursday’s attack in Nice, in which a 31-year-old French-Tunisian man named Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/mohamed-lahouaiej-bouhlel-driver-nice-attack_us_5788225ce4b08608d333e0c6 ] drove a truck through a crowd celebrating Bastille Day, killing 84 people and injuring more than 200, 50 of whom are in critical condition. Bouhlel had a criminal history, but no known ties to terror groups, and it’s not clear whether the attack even had anything to do with religion.
Gingrich also suggested that the government should monitor American mosques, despite research showing that mosques are actually a deterrent against violent extremism.
“To the extent people are engaged in mosques, they are taught mainstream principles of Islam, not fringe principles of Islam, and they become more tightly bound to communities ? which helps them become well-grounded, integrated citizens, as opposed to these destructive loners,” David Schanzer, director of the Triangle Center on Terrorism and Homeland Security at Duke University, told HuffPost recently [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-mosque-surveillance_us_576462a0e4b0853f8bf0f5d5 ].
“There’s absolutely no evidence that there are large mosques in the U.S. that are hotbeds of extremism and incubators for radicalization,” he continued. “If there were, we’d know about them, they’d be reported on and uncovered and subjected to huge public scrutiny and scorn.”
Nimrah Riaz July 7 at 6:14am It has not even been 24 hours since we prayed our end of Ramadan, celebration prayer Eid at the Islamic Community of Bryan-College Station (ICBCS). Last night, a sick individual shot at which shattered glass at this mosque. Our mosque. My mosque. My home away from home. The mosque that has children around and playing outside during Ramadan. The mosque that has people going in and out for late night prayers. The mosque where many Aggie Muslims spend their time in studying for exams at night. The mosque that sits in a neighborhood two blocks from Texas A&M Campus. With the rise of Islamaphobia in the United States right now, I was ignorant to believe College Station, TX was free from an incident like this. In a city where we had nothing but a outpour of love from our surrounding other-faith neighbors. Just like the shattered glass that litters our mosque floor right now, my heart is in pieces. To my Muslim friends, keep coming to the mosque. Do not allow these deranged individuals scare you from your religious rights and duties. We must show them we are not afraid of them. Lastly, a huge thank you to the College Station Police Department for the prompt respond in relation to this incident. [ https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10154361229539490&set=a.10150258108144490.346012.807944489 ]
That surge in Islamophobic behavior is likely due, at least in part, to the Republican presidential race, where various candidates have spoken about Muslims with suspicion and open hostility. There’s no one of whom this is more true than Donald Trump [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/donald-trump/ ], the party’s presumptive nominee.
HuffPost has also identified 200 news stories of anti-Muslim violence, aggression, discrimination, rhetoric and policy [ http://testkitchen.huffingtonpost.com/islamophobia/ ] in the first six months of 2016.
The Huffington Post
Nasser Zawia, a co-founder of the Muslim Community Center of Kingston’s Masjid Al-Hoda, is also dean at the nearby University of Rhode Island graduate school, and a pharmacy professor.
He told reporters Thursday that this is the first time the mosque has been targeted in a hate crime since it opened in 2001.
“Our community would really just like to convey to their neighbors we know this is isolated, and we are not afraid,” he said, according to WPRI [ http://wpri.com/2016/07/15/mosque-near-uri-vandalized-in-wake-of-france-attack/ ]. “We just need to educate those ignorant elements that act on their own and are angry. But we don’t harbor any ill feelings towards anyone and we let the law take its course.”
Police ask anyone with information regarding the incident to please call (401) 783-3321.
5 Things You Need To Know About Sharia Law Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich has called for deporting American citizens who believe in Sharia law. Asking American Muslims to swear off Sharia law is a violation of religious liberty. 07/15/2016 Updated July 16, 2016 Sharia is primarily about a personal relationship with God. Asking a Muslim to stop believing in Sharia is like asking her to stop practicing her religion. It is a blatant attack on religious liberty. Sharia is not all about punishment. You do NOT need to worry about Sharia dominating American life and courts. It’s not the first time America’s hatred of the “other” has masqueraded as an attempt to ban “foreign” authorities. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/5-facts-you-need-to-know-about-sharia-law_us_5788f567e4b03fc3ee507c01 [with comments]