Skip to main content

‘We Want Protection’: Mosque President Says after Latest Attack

As Canada grapples with the growing anti-Muslim hate attacks, members of Scarborough mosque have appealed for protection after the latest attack on their mosque.

The Baitul Jannah Islamic Center in Scarborough was found in disarray on Sunday at 5:30 am, with donation boxes smashed and items, including copies of the Qur’an, thrown onto the floor.

Toronto Police Const. David Hopkinson said the vandals broke into the mosque through a window, ransacking multiple rooms and stealing money from donation boxes.

📚 Read Also: Edmonton Muslims Welcome Anti-Harassment Bylaw

“We didn’t get any results from police yet, we tried four or five times … it’s very frustrating for us,” Atiqur Rahman, the mosque’s president, told The Toronto Star.

Rahman said the surveillance cameras were also disconnected and the digital video recorder was stolen.

The mosque president said that this is not the first attack on the mosque, which suffered seven or eight break-ins since 2018. No suspects have been arrested for any of these crimes.

“Toronto Police Service have only investigated the one (break-in) we’re currently doing, we have no records for anything else,” Const. Hopkinson said.

“These incidents have placed our community in a state of fear and confusion. The community is not willing to donate due to the fear of more break-ins,” said Rahman.

Worshipers arriving at the mosque Sunday for prayer were devastated and shocked after learning of this latest incident.

“For somebody to have so much hate against a place like this if it’s one group or different groups having the same sentiment it’s really heartbreaking,” Rizuan Rahman told CTV News.

📚 Read Also: Saskatoon Community Supports Muslim Man after Racist Attack

Support

Scarborough Southwest MPP Doly Begum shared a message of support with the Muslim community.

“Baitul Jannah Masjid, where many of us and our families in #Scarborough go to pray, was broken into last night. I’m devastated to see the aftermath of this violent break-in. This kind of violence is never OK.” she wrote.

“We must take urgent action to address acts of anti-Muslim racism and #Islamophobia that’s on the rise. Everyone deserves to have a safe and sacred space for practicing their faith, these acts are unacceptable and must be stopped.”

Till now, there is no information on potential suspects and no indication if it’s connected to previous acts of vandalism.

“Muslim communities at times have to face certain obstacles in observing their practices,” said Rahman.

“We love this country, we are peaceful in our religion. We want protection, that is what we want.”

Rising Hate

The attack on Scarborough mosque comes amid rising concerns about Islamophobic attacks in provinces across Canada and widespread calls for authorities to tackle racism, hate-motivated violence, and the prevalence of far-right groups.

A Muslim man from Saskatoon was stabbed in the back several times as had his beard cut in June when he went out for an early morning walk.

Canada still grapples with another June’s hate crime against a Muslim family in London, Ontario.

Salman Afzaal, 46, his 44-year-old wife, Madiha Salman, their 15-year-old daughter, Yumna, and her 74-year-old grandmother, Talat Afzaal, were killed while out for an evening walk.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the killings a “terrorist attack” and vowed to clamp down on far-right groups and online hate.

The post ‘We Want Protection’: Mosque President Says after Latest Attack appeared first on About Islam.



source https://aboutislam.net/muslim-issues/n-america/we-want-protection-mosque-president-says-after-latest-attack/
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

List of Times and Places Where Dua is Accepted

A short reminder regarding the recommended times of dua . And I think what you need to know here is that the recommended times of dua or recommended things that can cause your dua to be accepted, can be divided into two sort of large groups: Am I Good Enough to Make Dua for Myself? Situations where your dua is accepted. Times where your dua is accepted So I’m going to very briefly mention them one after the other as much as possible. As for situations where your dua has been accepted: – The person who has been wronged or oppressed . – A person who finds themselves in severe difficulty after a calamity has struck. – The person who is traveling. – Someone who is fasting. – The one who is reciting the Quran or has just recited the Quran – Someone who is performing Hajj or Umrah or jihad. – The one who is making dua for someone in their absence . Because we know that when you make dua for someone in his absence an angel says: “ Ameen and to you”. – A person...
Post a Comment
Read More »

Ghuraba (The Strangers): Nasheed with English Subtitles

Islam began as something strange, and it shall return to being something strange, so give glad tidings the strangers. (Sahih Muslim 145) This famous nasheed has many versions; this one is from Muhammad al-Salman and has the subtitles in English embedded. [We are] strangers and we do not bow the foreheads to anyone besides Allah  […] Transliteration to help in the pronounciation:  Ghurabaa’ wa li ghairillaahi laa nahnil jibaa Aisha Stacey  wrote in an article for Aboutislam.net : “I think that many of you would agree that being Muslim in the 21st century makes you well acquainted with being strange. It might even be a metaphor for random, as in you have been randomly selected. […] many converts to Islam will tell you about feeling as if they were strangers, before finding Islam. They will speak of feeling that they belonged somewhere else that their lives were just slightly off center. They often speak about a vague sense of knowing they were not like everyone else...
Post a Comment
Read More »

Taqwa – Living the Main Purpose of Ramadan

Taqwa is a major purpose for the month of Ramadan. The people of taqwa are those who do the things that they are commanded and avoid the things which Allah has made prohibitive. And evidently, to reach a state of taqwa requires vigilance, it requires patience and sincerity. The verse is pertaining to fasting I found in a single set of verses in chapter 2 starting at verse 183: O you who have believed, decreed upon you is fasting as it was decreed upon those before you that you may become righteous. ( 2:183 ) A Collective Act of Worship Allah is telling us that fasting has been made obligatory and then Allah tells us that just as it was prescribed for those before us. We often get asked this question in Ramadan, “how’s the fast going for us?” And if we gave ourselves a moment to think about it, we see that Allah Most High has made the fast inside the month of Ramadan easy for us because we know that there is a collective spirit to fasting; we know that we’re not alone in this ...
Post a Comment
Read More »