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Ground Zero mosque sets off wave of hate crime
Drunk urinates on mosque prayer mats after another stabs Muslim cab driver
Concern is growing in the US over a wave of anti-Islamic feeling, articulated in vandalism and attacks, after a New York mosque was desecrated by a drunken yob who urinated on prayer mats.
The incident, which happened in the New York City borough of Queens, is the latest in a series of crimes that have come in the wake of the Ground Zero mosque controversy.
As the ninth anniversary of the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center approaches, property developer Sharif el-Gamal's proposal for a Muslim community centre and mosque within two blocks of Ground Zero has divided public opinion in the usually ultra-tolerant city.
While it is not yet certain that the controversy motivated the recent desecration, it has been cited as lying behind several other incidents.
On Wednesday night, the drunken man burst into the Queens mosque during prayers, shouted abuse, called worshippers "terrorists" and then urinated on prayer mats. Identified as Omar Rivera, he had apparently been drinking for five days.
Worshipper Mustapha Sadouki said: "He stuck up his middle finger and cursed at everyone. No one can pray now because the rugs are completely soiled. It was disgusting." Police arrested Rivera and charged him with criminal trespass.
In a more serious incident on Tuesday, New York cab driver Ahmed H Sharif was left in a serious condition in hospital by his fare, 21-year-old documentary film student Michael Enright, who allegedly stabbed him because he was Muslim.
Enright appeared in shackles in court on Wednesday. A podgy, preppy college kid with a babyish face, he could serve as many as 25 years in jail for an appalling attack.
Recently returned from a five-week embed with US marines in Helmand province, Afghanistan, Enright hailed Sharif’s cab on Tuesday night. At first, he seemed friendly, speaking to Sharif in Arabic, before asking if he was a Muslim.
When Sharif (pictured, in a white shirt, speaking to supporters outside City Hall on Thursday) assented, Enright, who was very drunk, shouted: "This is a checkpoint, motherfucker! I have to put you down!" Allegedly, he then repeatedly slashed Sharif's face and neck with a Leatherman pocket knife while the Bangladeshi father of four begged for his life.
Sharif has speculated that he might have been attacked because of the mosque controversy, saying : "I know many people are upset. I didn’t support the mosque at Ground Zero, either."
Other recent incidents include anti-Islamic signs left at a mosque in Fresno, California. A brick was also thrown at a window.
In Florida, meanwhile, a non-denominational pastor, Terry Jones, is organising a 'Koran-burning day' on September 11. Author of a book titled Islam is of the Devil, Jones has garnered 1,600 supporters on his church's Facebook page. "I mean ask yourself, have you ever really seen a really happy Muslim?" he writes, bizarrely.
A recent poll by Time magazine revealed animosity towards Muslims across the US, with 28 per cent of respondents saying they don't think Muslims should be allowed to sit on the Supreme Court and almost a third saying no Muslim should be eligible to be president. ·
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Neil McGowan said: "Michael Jose is a racist thug."..............Oh really? What part of what I said is racist? Can a white person follow Islam? How about an African, or Chinese person, or Eskimo, or New Zealand Maori, or a Piraha tribesman of the central Amazon? Ask ANY Muslim, and they will tell you that Islam is a spiritual religion, knowing no bounds of place, time, or race. It is supra-racial, and supra-national. In short, it is a "world" religion (well, mostly politics, but you know what I mean). So, and I have had this conversation with Muslims educated, uneducated, old, and young, Islam is not "of, or indicative of, a particular race", and is therefore immune by its own creed to charges of race where race is not mentioned. Which I did not mention. Which is why the FirstPost moderator allowed my comment, obviously. Do you feel enlightened now, Mr McGowan? Have I won by a logical knockout, or two submissions (spot pun there...)?
Michael Jose is a racist thug. His opinions should be removed from The First Post. It can only be hoped that he'll cut his own hands off as promised.
"A recent poll by Time magazine revealed animosity towards Muslims across the US, with 28 per cent of respondents saying they don't think Muslims should be allowed to sit on the Supreme Court and almost a third saying no Muslim should be eligible to be president"
For a country founded on the ideal of freedom they really can come across as a bunch of ingratful bigots, but that's what happens when politicians try to make hay from the construction of a cultural centre two blocks away from the WTC site. We should never forget the men who fought and died to keep the world safe from this type of fasism during the last century, and honour their sacrafice by living up to the standards they set for us.
ho mr joffy, you have no real concept of history, do you? - apart from the comic book monty python version - the Spanish Inquisition was not a war of conquest, it was a only religous court, only applicable to catholics. and it was only Spanish (the clue is in the name), and it only lasted a couple of centuries, so it is not that important. and I am a Protestant, so don't blame me. And the Crusades were good, they were an act of self-defence. The lands of the eastern Roman empire, ruled by Alexius Comnenus II, was under constant attack by the surrounding Islamic empire of his day. They had been attacking those lands for centuries. historians cover up the Islamic aspect of their conquest by calling them by different names like Saracens, Ottomans, and Barbary coast pirates, but it is all part of the Islamic jihad, approved by the mullahs of the day. Alexius very sensibly wrote to the pope in AD1095 and asked for military help, and the pope, like a good 'un, promulgated the first Crusade and the Normans (mostly) in 1096 (after being bored and having nothing to do after conquering Britain in 1066, but even you will know that much...), set off to liberate Palestine and drive back the barbarians of the east. they succeeded, and liberated jerusalem, and called Israel 'Outre mer' - that means 'land overseas' in French, I put that in as you are obviously not that educated - which rather makes the whole thing a lot clearer, don't you think? Or do real facts confuse you...
i too have no respect for religions "of war and conquest", so i'm sure michael jose will join me in also denouncing the religion behind such heinous endeavours as the spanish inquisition (unexpected as it was), the crusades, etc etc etc - i also support his desire to cut his hand off as he might be less inclined to type such bilious drivel.
I find it impossible to worry about crimes against Islam, but I do deplore crimes against Muslims. This is because I have read my history, and seen 9/11 in 2001, and a dozen other atrocities since then, including the London 7/7 bombing in 2005. My history, which is much the more important part of my position, teaches me that Islam is religion of war and conquest. They were stopped in AD732 at the battle of Tours-Poitiers by Charles Martell when invading France, but they finally conquered Byzantium (Constantinople) and renamed it Istanbul in 1453. When I am accused of Islamophobia, I accept the tag - I say it is the normal response to Islam down the centuries. But Muslims are people, and as spiritual beings, knowing right and wrong and making personal decisions with their own personal responsibility, they are part of the human race, and worthy of respect in this view alone. By this token they are no more or less human than anyone else, of any or no religion. Whether their religion is right or wrong is another question to me. But to write a blank cheque for "respect for all religions"? No. I would rather cut my hand off. If you think I am alone in my fears, just watch what happens when Iran gets nuclear weapons and uses Osama bin Laden and co. as proxies to take down the USA and Israel.