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The Islamic Center of Fort Collins was vandalized by an unknown suspect around 4 a.m. on Sunday.
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Surveillance footage provided by ICFC shows the male suspect, dressed in jeans and a dark purple hoodie, arriving at the Islamic Center at 3:57 a.m. and kicking the east door.
The suspect left for a few minutes and returned again at 4:03 a.m. Then at 4:09 a.m. one of the glass panels on the back doors was shattered with a rock thrown by the suspect.
Police found a screw driver on the sidewalk at the scene and a Bible inside the Islamic Center. The Bible appeared to be thrown into the prayer room.
Tawfik Aboellail, President of the Islamic Center of Fort Collins, said the ICFC anticipated the attack due to increased suspicious activity occurring around the area.
“(We’ve noticed that) someone will come and park in the middle of the parking lot and have his high beams on,” Aboellail said.
Aboellail said the Islamic Center asked for increased protection from the police, especially during their Friday night prayer sessions, due to the suspicious activity.
The center is under surveillance and, based on the footage, Aboellail said he could see that the suspect grabbed the biggest rock he could find and threw it across the prayer hall. The police took the rock for evidence.
According to Aboellail the suspicious activity started a couple weeks ago. He said he is grateful no one was in the center praying when it happened.
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“Luckily, there was no one here praying,” Aboellail said. “If (the rock) had hit someone in the back of their head, (they) would have died from it.”
The Islamic Center of Fort Collins will hold an event at 5 p.m. on Sunday for members of the community to show their support.
“(I’m) feeling fearful for the safety of our community members, angry that no serious steps were taken to prevent this and frustrated because I blame myself for not beefing up security or doing something more drastic,” Aboellail said.
Signs in support of the Islamic community are welcome at the event. The Islamic Center also started a GoFundMe page to raise money to repair the damage done to the center.
Collegian reporter Haley Candelario can be reached at news@collegian.com or on Twitter @H_Candelario98.
Menachem Mevashir • Mar 28, 2017 at 8:06 am
While I am not condoning what happened Sunday, readers should be aware of distortions of the biblical text found in the Qur’an that will anger Christians.
Muslims come with great arrogance and tell us that our sacred text that predates theirs by 600 years is full of errors. Islam’s attitude to Christianity and the Bible is disrespectful and engenders extremist actions like this.
See this link about my commentary on Qur’anic deviations from the Bible: https://www.4shared.com/web/preview/pdf/1M2wnXmuba
I can send a pdf copy of the full commentary that is appended to an English translation of the Qur’an to anyone who requsts one by email: mevashir@aol.com
The sad truth is that in their home-countries, Muslims show zero tolerance for other religions. If you have the misfortune of having to travel to Saudi Arabia, if you try to carry a bible into their country it will be confiscated. Christians and Jews are not allowed to operate houses of worship but must huddle inside private homes. Saudi Arabia is a fascist religious dictatorship.
Then they come to places like CSU to study, throw away their kefiyahs and expect to be treated with dignity and respect by us American Christians and Jews. Their attitude is one of unmitigated gall and chutzpah and the rest of us are suckers for tolerating it.
We don’t have to encourage violence against the Muslim immigrants, who are here in Fort Collins only because they pay full ride tuition which is a big boon for CSU and the city. But neither do we have to shed tears for them when they suffer acts of bigotry that they themselves do not hesitate to perpetrate against any and all non-Muslims unfortunate enough to have to live in or travel to their desertified countries.
Ahmad • Mar 29, 2017 at 1:22 pm
Yet you think people buy it when you try to justify terrorist acts like what happened to the Islamic Center. Just to correct your sight, people deserve to be treated with dignity and respect regardless of their color, religion, or nationality. That is what we read in the Bible that you claim to be an expert in.
Why do not you come out from your bubble and visit us in the Islamic Center and have more constructive discussion? Let me know if you accept.
Menachem Mevashir • Apr 1, 2017 at 3:26 pm
I already visited there. I felt an oppressive spirit during the worship.
I’ve been to many mosques including praying in them.
When I pray inside mosques, I always ask G+D top reveal to Muslims who Jesus really is.
If you hunger and thirst for truth and righteousness, you will read my commentary on the Qur’an. It is free. You have nothing to lose but your pride and ignorance.
And by the way, I wrote explicitly that I do NOT justify what was done to your building. But i would hardly call it an act of terrorism. Compared to what your jihadists do to people every day, this was a peck on the cheek.
Ahmad • Apr 3, 2017 at 12:15 pm
Good you felt oppressed. The Islamic Center is meant to be welcoming like heaven for tolerant and open-minded people while is oppressive for racists and bigots.
I can expect you not to admit it was a terrorist attack simply because it was against an Islamic center. You project these actions based on the religion of the terrorist, but that does not change the fact it was a terrorist action. I would not be surprised if you blame Jihadists for WWI and WWII.
Menachem Mevashir • Apr 4, 2017 at 2:18 pm
Muslims did support Hitler in WWII. So the onus is on you to explain why!
Ahmad • Apr 4, 2017 at 2:26 pm
No No. Hitler himself was a Muslim and the 60 million killed were killed by Muslims as well.
Menachem Mevashir • Apr 4, 2017 at 2:56 pm
Its well known that the Jerusalem Mufti Amin al Husseini supported Hitler and visited him in Berlin as an honored guest:
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-mufti-and-the-f-uuml-hrer
http://time.com/4084301/hitler-grand-mufi-1941/
Muslim regiments fought with the Wehrmacht:
http://www.historytoday.com/david-motadel/muslims-hitlers-war
https://weaponsandwarfare.com/2016/03/25/muslims-in-the-wehrmacht/
“Hitler was generally skeptical about the recruitment of non-Germans, especially of volunteers from the Soviet Union. But while he was most uncomfortable when it came to the enlistment of Slavic Russians, Ukrainians, and Belarusians, he considered Muslims to be the only truly trustworthy soldiers and supported their recruitment unconditionally. ”
How can a CSU professor be so appallingly ignorant?
Ahmad • Apr 4, 2017 at 10:30 pm
The one-eyed approach you take does not allow you to see the Vatican Concordat with Hitler. Yet, that does not surprise me. However, being smart to know who was loyal to Hitler is an extra denial gesture.
Further, please feel free to attack me personally if that helps you get the hate out of your chest, it might help you get some sleep. I deal with racists as patients hoping they will recover someday. Good number of them is hopeless though.
Menachem Mevashir • Apr 5, 2017 at 7:58 am
I have no hate for you at all Ahmad.
I pity you and hope and pray you can come to a higher level of spirituality.
That’s all.
If you are a counselor or therapist, then I hope and pray you will avail yourself of these gifts that come via faith in Christ, not via rote prostrations on carpets five times a day.
See this deliverance prayer: http://yahuwallah.blogspot.com/2016/11/stop-smoking-prayer-this-short-and.html
Tandena Nelson • Mar 27, 2017 at 1:08 pm
While I was attending CSU I was staying in the dorms across the street for two years and I watched the Islamic Center be built. I remember being happy to see it rise, and I regret that I didn’t try harder to see the interior once it was finished. I’m so sorry that other people don’t see the goodness of such an establishment. I’m sure I’m one of many far and wide that are silent in their support.
Ahmad • Mar 29, 2017 at 1:14 pm
Thanks a lot. You are always welcome to visit the Islamic Center anytime you are in the city.