WASHINGTON — Tape and plastic have again been added to a broken window at a mosque in Northeast D.C. after vandals struck for the second time in a week.
On Monday, the Ivy City Majid & Islamic Education Center, on Gallaudet Street, was found in disarray; shelves with holy books was in pieces and glass littered the ground.
“Somebody grabbed the chair and smashed it into the big window of the mosque,” said Mohammed Mobaidin, director of the center.
Then on Thursday, Mobaidin said, he arrived to find the mosque has been damaged again. Fencing used inside the mosque was broken; a podium was in shambles and a very large piece of religious artwork was stolen.
“They just took it off the wall and broke things and left; nothing of value was really missing,” Mobaidin says.
The mosque leader said that after Monday’s incident police told him that other cases of vandalism has been reported in the area, so they didn’t think this was a hate crime. After today, Mobaidin says, he isn’t so sure.
He says police tried to get fingerprints from pieces of glass in hopes of finding those responsible. Mobaidin wants to know why someone would do this.
“If you’re a Muslim-hater, my suggestion to you is to study Islam and understand it before you do the judgment on it,” Mobaidin said.
Mobaidin said he has received calls from other mosques, churches and synagogues offering help.
Anyone with information is asked to call the D.C. police at 202-727-9099.
