Muslims say attacks are more than vandalism

DURHAM -- As Iqbal Ahmad surveys the damage to the Fayetteville Street mosque - smashed windows and doors, stolen computer monitors, Sunday school supplies knocked over - he concludes this was no ordinary burglary.

"A burglar doesn't break all the windows and doors," said Ahmad, who is in charge of maintenance at the Jamaat Ibad Ar-Rahman mosque. Ahmad discovered the damage when he came to pray early Monday morning.

More worrisome to Ahmad and other leaders at the mosque, sometimes called a "masjid," is what they see as a pattern. This summer someone smashed some of the same windows and doors. And six months ago, during a prayer service, two men opened the doors and began hurling rocks while shouting obscenities. The incidents were reported to the police, but no arrests were made.

Mosque leaders as well as a national Muslim advocacy group are wondering whether the intrusion should be investigated as a hate crime.

"We are asking law enforcement to at least investigate it with an eye toward a bias motive," said Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Washington.

The mosque lies within a few hundred yards of a police substation next to the Food Lion on Fayetteville Street.

Durham Police Captain Rick Pendergrass said that an investigation has begun and that it was too early to comment.

"We take all crimes seriously but especially if it's a religious institution," Pendergrass said.

The mosque, housed in a low-slung brick building near the N.C. Central University campus, may be the oldest in the Triangle. It was founded in 1981 and moved into its current location in 1988. It draws a diverse group of Muslims, most of whom are recent immigrants.

About 500 people attend Friday noon prayers. But like many mosques, the space functions as a community center. There's a playground out front, and offices and Sunday school classrooms are beside the worship hall.

"There are women and children here all the time," said Faisal Khan, another worshiper. "People are afraid. It's a safety concern."

Ibad Ar-Rahman was in the news this summer after the arrests of seven Triangle men indicted on terrorism charges. The ringleader of the group, Daniel Boyd and his family, worshipped at the mosque, though the mosque itself is not alleged to have any part in the indictment.

Vandalism is not uncommon in mosques across the nation. A spokesman for CAIR, a Muslim advocacy group, said it noticed a spike in such incidents during the recent Muslim holy month of Ramadan. In October, a mosque in Houston was defaced, and the house of a Muslim woman running for city council in San Francisco was egged.

But the people who pray at the mosque are law-abiding and have worked toward good relations with their neighbors, said Imam Amr Dabour, the prayer leader of the mosque.

"The mission of this place is clear," Dabour said. "We want to practice our religion peacefully and safely. We're not against anyone."

Until the doors can be repaired, a couple of men have begun sleeping at the mosque to prevent more incidents.

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