Harun Nasrullah

A mosque in Minnesota was vandalized with anti-Muslim graffiti on April 25, the thirteenth day of Ramadan.

Police officers in Moorhead, in northwest Minnesota, were dispatched to the Islamic Society of Fargo-Moorhead Mosque on a report of vandalism to the building.

Moorhead Police Department, say officers found hate messages, including ‘Death to Islam,’ ‘F**k Islam’ and a as well as Nazi swastika symbol were spray-painted on several of the building’s outer walls, entrance windows and walkway. A window at the back of the mosque was also broken.Moorhead police are being assisted by the Fargo Office of the FBI.

A suspect wearing a camouflage jacket and dark ski mask was captured on CCTV surveillance. The person called someone on a mobile phone and then began spray painting the building.
As of May 6, two GoFundMe raising funds for the clean-up, and better security equipment raised a combined total of more than $ 64,300

Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar tweeted that her heart was with the Muslim community in her state and that crimes like this are a ‘routine reality for many Muslims in this country.’
Jaylani Hussein, Executive Director of the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR-MN),

is “not taking this lightly” and said this is not the first instance of anti-Muslim hate in the Fargo-Moorhead area. “[North Dakota] White supremacist militia groups in 2016 actually put out a video of them shooting at a replica mosque,” Hussein told Newsweek.

“So there are threats from white supremacy militia groups from the region that has been active and ongoing,” including in a Facebook groups.

Hussein and CAIR-MN is calling on local, state and federal law-enforcement authorities to investigate this and other anti-Muslim attacks as hate crimes.

“I’m not sure the FBI actually does investigations of these hate crimes seriously unless there’s public pressure,” he said. “We know that because we’ve had multiple vandalisms, multiple targeting of mosques in Minnesota and no one has been caught for any of those. So we’re concerned that they will not take this as seriously as we want them to take it.”

He said officers often “don’t do the due diligence necessary” to find if the crimes are motivated by religious or racial bias.“I think the amount of resources allocated for finding these individuals is not the same [as other crimes], and that’s why hate crimes go unreported and also do not get resolved.”