A member of The Islamic Center of Pflugerville arrived to find a torn up Quran covered in fa eces Monday morning, and police are investigating the incident as a hate crime.
At 6:18 a.m. Monday, police responded to the center along the 15800 block of Windermere Drive, where the officer found the Quran and feces in front of the entrance to the building.
The person who made the call told the officer he arrived at the center at about 5:55 a.m. for morning prayer when he saw the vandalism. The complainant said he was not aware of any threat toward the center.
Although no physical damage was made to the facility, clean up costs are estimated to be about $150.
The vandalism comes after the attacks in Paris on Nov. 13. Board member Faisal Naeem told KVUE they can’t be sure if it’s connected but said they’ve never had anything like this happen in their three and a half years in Pflugerville.
“A few individuals who did what they did, they don’t represent 1.6 billion Muslims. They don’t represent me for sure and the Austin Muslim community,” he said.
Outside the center Monday night, flowers took the place of ripped and soiled pages and the sidewalk was washed clean. Community members have been sending signs of support and donations to the center, including 7-year-old Jack Swanson. He brought $20 from his piggie bank.
“This gives me hope because this means that it’s not you know one versus the other because two years, 10 years, 50 years — I’ll be gone. But my kids and Jack, both Americans, born here are going to grow up together,” Naeem said.
Jack’s mother, Laura is not a Muslim. She is just a neighbour looking to help like many others.
“We got together our pennies and it came out to $20 bucks so we did what we could,” she said. “It doesn’t matter what you believe or I believe or he believes or anybody believes. All faith is important. And especially peaceful faith I mean what happened in Paris is not what’s happening in Pflugerville. We should all be here supporting each other.”
It’s a lesson in love, now passed down from mother to son.
“It’s $20 bucks but coming from Jack collecting his pennies, it’s worth 20 million bucks to me and to o
Source
