IDAHO MOSQUE DESECRATED, AL-QUR’AN TRASHED
Pocatello, 19 Dzulhijjah 1435/12 October 2014 (MINA) – Dozens of Qur’an copies have been tossed into the trash earlier this week in Pocatello, sparking anger among Muslims and non-Muslims in Idaho State.
Almost all of the 200 Qur’ans are gone for good along with “any document we had for the organization,” Amin Almahie, director of the Islamic Society of Southeastern Idaho, told Idaho State Journal.
Some 200 copies of the Noble Qur’an, collected over 25 years, have been found dumped into the back alley dumpster of the Islamic Society of Southeastern Idaho, according to On Islam reports monitored by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA), Sunday.
The Incident happened on Sunday’s night while Idaho Muslims were celebrating `Eid Al-Adha, one of the two most important Islamic celebrations.
The holy books, boxes of old financial documents, tax records and the shelves they were stored on were thrown away by a former landlord.
“I was just trying to get everything out of there,” said elderly landlady Elaine Budge.
“Why didn’t they take their stuff with them when they went?”
Muslims have been using the house for almost 25 years, before moving to the new location on South 5th Avenue.
“We have had a great relationship with this landlady until now,” said Daniel Hummel, general secretary of the Islamic Society of Southeastern Idaho.
Yet, the landlady mistook a handwritten note on the old mosque that guides Muslims to the new mosque.
“It’s a matter now of looking at their rental agreement, if there is one,” said Police Lt. Jim McCoy.
“If they had an ongoing lease, it is a criminal matter, but if it was a month-to-month verbal agreement then it is civil.”
Representatives of the Islamic Society of Southeastern Idaho are due to meet with Pocatello Police Department Next Monday, October 13.
Expressing anger over desecrating the holy book, Hummel said: “We are not allowed to even touch it until we wash.”
“It is a very sanctified thing to us. So to take it and throw it in the garbage is highly offensive,” he added.
Condemnations
Finding out the thrown holy books, Muslims students at Idaho State University rushed to pick up the Qur’an from the dumpster.
Non-Muslims have condemned the incident too, offering help to replace the trashed Qur’an copies.
“It would be devastating for me as a Christian to hear that hundreds of Bibles had been carelessly tossed into the trash,” said Jennifer Seaich, a United Church of Christ representative for the Portneuf Valley Interfaith Fellowship.
“We stand in sympathy and solidarity with the Muslim community in their pain over this travesty.”
The Qur’an is the Word of Allah. It is the most sacred book. Muslims must respect this book and must honor it.
Since 9/11, US Muslims, estimated between six to seven million, have become sensitized to an erosion of their civil rights, with a prevailing belief that America was stigmatizing their faith.
There have been 800 incidents of violence, threats and vandalism against Muslims since 2001. Estimates show that 14 percent of religious discrimination is reported against Muslims. (T/P002/P3)
Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)
