{"id":16800,"date":"2022-07-13T04:51:33","date_gmt":"2022-07-13T03:51:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/shiastudies.com\/en\/?p=16800"},"modified":"2022-07-13T04:51:33","modified_gmt":"2022-07-13T03:51:33","slug":"new-york-mosque-incident-treated-hate-crime","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shiastudies.com\/en\/16800\/new-york-mosque-incident-treated-hate-crime\/","title":{"rendered":"New York Mosque Incident Being Treated as Hate Crime"},"content":{"rendered":"
\u00a0Two people threw something resembling a molotov cocktail at a large metallic crescent moon symbol outside the Fatima al-Zahra Mosque in Long Island, New York, just days before the Islamic celebration of Eid al-Adha.<\/div>\n
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Local authorities are now treating the incident as a hate crime.<\/p>\n

On 3 July, the mosque\u2019s imam, Ahmed Ibrahim, heard a big explosion and then saw flames. A neighbor came running to help put out the fire.<\/p>\n

No one was injured but it was later determined that an ignited device was deliberately thrown at either the general vicinity of the mosque or specifically at the crescent moon symbol.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey did not achieve anything but they expressed hate. Why?\u201d Ibrahim said at a press conference days after the incident.<\/p>\n

Asiya, who only wanted to use her first name, is a resident in Ronkonkoma, the hamlet where the incident took place. She said that firebombing has left the community on edge.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know what happened in Christchurch where all those Muslims were murdered inside their masjid. I can\u2019t help but wonder what if that happens here. What if we are next?\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Afaf Nasher, the executive director at the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)- New York, this is the first time the mosque community has experienced this kind of incident.<\/p>\n

“The firebomb that was detonated on July 4th at Masjid Fatima Al-Zahra may have damaged the property, but it failed to even scratch the resilience of the Muslim community,” Nasher told MEE.<\/p>\n

“We all recognize that a threat against a Muslim house of worship, or any house of worship, is a danger to American ideals. We hope the perpetrators are caught and justly punished, and that the Masjid continues to grow with the love and support of its surrounding community. ”<\/p>\n

Shortly after the incident, the American Jewish Committee started a GoFundMe page and raised over $1,000 to help rebuild the moon. And on Eid al-Adha, over 1,000 people (both Muslims and non-Muslims) showed up at the mosque in solidarity.<\/p>\n

New York Governor Kathy Hochul visited the mosque on Thursday and said: “(These acts) will continue, but we’ll continue to rise up afterwards. I can’t stop the hate in someone’s heart, but I can pass tough laws.”<\/p>\n

“The bottom line is this community is united and stronger than before,” she said. “That’s what this perpetrator accomplished.”<\/p>\n

The crescent moon sign was installed during Ramadan. According to the police, it cost about $10,000 to build and install, Newsday reported. Now, the mosque is putting on hold a $3m senior housing project that it was hoping to build on its property, because it must now devote about $250,000 more a year to enhanced security with cameras and security guards, Hassan Mossolem, the chairman of the mosque\u2019s board of trustees told Newsday.<\/p>\n

The police department is also offering a cash reward of up to $5,000 for information that leads to an arrest in the case, which is being investigated as a possible hate crime.<\/p>\n

\u201cA hate crime towards the Islamic Muslim community is a hate crime toward all Suffolk County residents,\u201d Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison said at the mosque on Tuesday. \u201cThis is something that everybody should be angry about.\u201d<\/p>\n

Source: iqna<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0Two people threw something resembling a molotov cocktail at a large metallic crescent moon symbol outside the Fatima al-Zahra Mosque in Long Island, New York, just days before the Islamic celebration of Eid al-Adha.     Local authorities are now treating the incident as a hate crime. On 3 July, the mosque\u2019s imam, Ahmed Ibrahim, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":16801,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7770],"tags":[9546,7943,19858,19695,7563,19669],"class_list":["post-16800","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture-and-art","tag-islam","tag-jurisprudence","tag-morality","tag-prophet","tag-quran","tag-shia-studies-world-assembly"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shiastudies.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16800","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shiastudies.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shiastudies.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shiastudies.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shiastudies.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16800"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shiastudies.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16800\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shiastudies.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16801"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shiastudies.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16800"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shiastudies.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16800"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shiastudies.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16800"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}