Officials say a fire at a mosque frequented by the Somali-born teenager charged with plotting to blow up a Portland Christmas tree lighting ceremony was arson.
CBS Affiliate KVAL reports the fire occurred at the Salman Al-Farisi Islamic Center early Sunday morning.
The fire was discovered by a police sergeant patrolling in the area at approximately 2:15 a.m. Sunday. The flames were quickly knocked down by arriving firefighters.
Yosof Wanly, imam at the Salman Al-Farisi Islamic Center, said 80 percent of the center's office was burned Sunday morning but the worship areas were untouched. No one was injured.
Now I'm sure all the Islamophobes out there will say the Muslims deserved to have their Mosque set on fire because a misguided youth worshiped there, but to the sane progressives among us, we should call this what it is: terrorism and a hate crime.
Islam had nothing to do with Mohamud's alleged FBI-induced crimes. The imam has already said as much:
"In my humble opinion, there were wasn't anything that would prompt me to think he would plan this. It's completely, clearly, textually denounced in the Islamic religion," said Wanly. "He took that initiative without seeking any advice from anybody and he went overboard."
And yet this imam and Muslims that frequent this mosque now have to deal with rebuilding from the arsonist's Islamophobic hatred. They will have to deal with the fear of knowing that the terrorist is still out there.
No one should have to live in fear like that.
Oh, and I won't hold my breath waiting for the mainstream media to call this the real terrorist incident.