TENNESSEE, June 23, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) US
Muslims in the Tennessee area have expressed fury at an apparent hate
crime against the Muslims Holy Book, as a copy of the Noble Quran was
found outside an East Nashville housing complex covered with flies, with a
torn-out page mashed with feces and burned around the edges.
"It
would be difficult to come up with a scenario in which this incident was
not bias-motivated," Executive Director of the Council on American-Islamic
Relations Nihad Awad said in a statement, a copy of which was e-mailed to
IslamOnline.net Wednesday, June 22.
The
desecrated Quran was discovered on a doorstep by a Muslim citizen living
nearby in the LeNore Garden Apartments complex, largely populated by
Muslim immigrants from Somalia.
Hearing the news of Quran desecration, dozens of Nashville Muslims
gathered to express their outrage at the ugly incident.
"I
don't know why anyone would do this. I can't comprehend it," said
Ab-dishakur Ibrahim, imam of the Al-Farooq mosque, according to the
Tennessean Web site.
It's
in the heart of every Muslim. We respect and we love (the Noble Qur'an)
more than our families."
The
new desecration incident followed the completion of a military inquiry
launched after a May 9 Newsweek article, quoting a knowledgeable US
government source, said US interrogators at Guantanamo had flushed a copy
of the Quran down a toilet to try to "soften" the detainees.
After
harsh criticism from the Pentagon, the weekly cast some doubts on the
story in its May 23 edition, saying the source couldn't be certain about
reading of the alleged Qur'an incident in the report we cited, and said it
might have been in other investigative documents or drafts.
The
report sparked angry and violent protests across the Muslim world from
Afghanistan, where 16 were killed and more than 100 injured, to Gaza
City.
Why?!
Ali
Salad Mohamed, a Muslim immigrant in the area, expressed outrage at the
desecration of the Noble Book, according to the Tennessean Web
site.
It
seems that it's been put in feces, bleached and burned.
Mona
Grigsby, 33, who lives at 649 Crutcher St., said she noticed the Quran on
the steps Tuesday when she came home from work, stressing that it didnt
seem like something to be worried about.
"I
didn't know really what it was."
In an
attempt to appease furious Muslim inhabitants, Ab-dishakur Ibrahim asked
them to show their concern through peaceful means.
"This
city has been peaceful, nice, respectful to everybody. So let us not
forget that," Ibrahim said.
Nashvile is home to some 15,000-20,000 Muslims.
Inquiry
An
inquiry was set up by Police and the Federal Investigation Bureau (FBI)
into the incident.
"Clearly we have to be open-minded to the possibility it is a hate
crime," Metropolitan Nashville Police Department Lt. Steve Hewitt told
CAIR Wednesday night.
He
added that it was still too early in the investigation to make a final
determination as to motive.
Metro
police Capt. Mike Hagar said a suspect could be charged with misdemeanor
on the desecration of a venerated object or civil rights intimidation,
which can be a felony or misdemeanor charge.
Following the incident, CAIR Executive Director asked people of
conscience in Tennessee and throughout the United States to repudiate
anti-Muslim bigotry by obtaining and reading the Noble Quran.
"Our
nation's leaders need to address what seems to be a growing level of
intolerance and anti-Muslim sentiment in American society."
A
recent report released by CAIR on May 11, showed that the anti-Muslim hate
crimes, discrimination and harassment in the United States have increased
by half over the past year.
On
the third anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, Amnesty International said in a
report that Racial profiling by US law enforcement agencies has grown over
the past three years to cover one in nine Americans, mostly targeting
Muslims.
