Oldest mosque in San Francisco vandalized. ‘We feel like our home was attacked’
A vandal threw a beer bottle through one of the windows of San Francisco’s oldest mosque, leaving members of the local Muslim community shaken, local outlets reported.
Police responded to the the Islamic Center of San Francisco about 11:48 p.m. Friday, Nov. 12, the San Francisco Police Department told McClatchy News.
The suspect ran away after throwing the bottle through the window, police said.
Friday is a prayerful day in Islam and is usually a busy day for mosques, which hold prayers and services throughout the day. There were people inside the mosque when the vandalism occurred, and one person said that he and others heard the sound of glass breaking at the time, police said.
Community leaders said it’s rare for such incidents to happen.
“We’re scared, we were uncertain, we didn’t understand what was happening because we haven’t experienced something like this in our community in a long time,” Shahbaz Shaikh, a mosque resident scholar, told CBS San Francisco.
Shaikh also said that the center plans to update its security cameras and work with San Francisco police to find the culprit, KRON 4 reported.
Police said the vandal’s motive is “unknown at this time.”
“We’re not sure what the intent of this person was, you know, we’re scared,” Zuhaib Siddique, a board member for the mosque, told CBS San Francisco. “As a Muslim community, of course, we’re always a little scared.”
The broken bottle left shards of broken glass on the floor of the mosque and beer spilled on the carpet, the Chronicle reported. Alcohol is considered haram — or forbidden — in Islam, and many Muslims do not drink.
“We have to modify how we pray, so there is going to be less space for our prayers now, until we get that area cleaned off,” Shaikh told the Chronicle.
Siddique said that the mosque has been there since the 1950s and is one of the oldest ones in California. Members say they cannot remember something like this happening to the mosque, which also acts as a community gathering place for celebrations, funerals and other events, since right after 9/11, CBS San Francisco reported.
“It’s a home for Muslims, so when an attack like this on us happens we feel like our home was attacked,” Shaikh told CBS San Francisco.
In spite of the incident, Shaikh said he has a message for the suspect, who police say is still at large.
“I would like the individual who committed this act to please come to our mosque,” Shaikh told KRON 4. “Please contact me, please contact us. We would like to sit down with this person and answer any questions they have about Islam.”
This story was originally published November 15, 2021 at 2:40 PM.