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The
Islamic Center of the South Plains
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By
Tamer Abu Asood, IOL Correspondent
TEXAS,
United States, March 8 (IslamOnline.net) – The Islamic Center of the
South
Plains (ICSP) in the U.S. city of Lubbock,
Texas, was vandalized at dawn Sunday, March 7, in what is viewed as a
hate crime, IslamOnline.net learnt.
Anti-Muslim
graffiti were sprayed across the center’s walls, computers damaged
and windows blown out.
“I
feel sad about what happened,” Sheikh Mohamed El-Moctar Al-Shinqiti,
the imam and president of the Islamic Center of South Plains, told
IOL.
“I
feel sad. Our community is very peaceful, yet it is targeted — not
for anything wrong they did, but for what they believe and what they
stand for.”
He
said that his office was in shambles, his personal computer smashed
with racial slurs written on it and the floor littered with books,
reports and dossiers.
Unspeakable
Shinqiti
did not reveal what the graffiti said, saying they were unspeakable.
“It
shows how much those criminals hate us, and how much prejudice they
have against Islam. What hurts us the most is what those graffiti
imply,” he told IOL over the phone.
He
did not point fingers at any one, but said the sure thing is that such
a hate crime was committed by “some groups who have discriminatory
stance against Islam and Muslims”.
Shinqiti
said since its establishment in 1981, the ICSP has been a subject of
hate crimes and vandalism.
“There
were threatening calls, negative sentiments after the Sept. 11, 2001,
terrorist attacks, but nothing as serious as the weekend vandalism.”
Police
and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) have been called to
investigate the vandalism.
He
said the FBI told him there was more than one person involved based on
shoe prints outside the mosque.
Policeman
Jerry Brewer said the crime will be listed as “burglary of a
building, a state jail felony”.
The
Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the largest Muslim
advocacy group in the United States, was quick to condemn the
sabotage.
ICSP
leaders will host a joint news conference Monday, March 8, at the
center to condemn the act in the strongest possible terms.
The
incident came just two days after two arson
attacks on mosques in southeastern France.
