Calls Mount for Hate Crime Investigation After Fire, Break-In at Minneapolis Mosque
The call for action follows two incidents within a week at the south Minneapolis mosque, raising fears of targeted hostility. The Alhikmah Islamic Center, which also houses a daycare serving about 50 children, was the site of a basement fire on September 29 and a break-in on Tuesday morning.
According to mosque leaders, security footage shows a woman arriving around 8 a.m., descending to the basement area where the earlier fire began, and later smashing a side door window, according to Sahan Journal.
Imam Abdirizak Kaynan said a worshipper confronted the woman after she entered the building and that she made several threats about setting the mosque on fire.
Kaynan said one worshipper called emergency services but was advised to contact the city’s non-emergency line. “I told them, ‘Hey, this is a very serious situation. Someone is trying to burn our mosque, and at the same time you’re telling us to call 311? That’s not logical,’” he said.
The imam said worshippers eventually forced the woman outside and followed her while calling 911 again. Police arrived shortly after and took her into custody.
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Jaylani Hussein, executive director of the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), said the incident confirmed the community’s fears. He noted that if worshippers had not been present, “we could be coming into a building completely engulfed and lost.”
Mosque leaders and CAIR-Minnesota have urged law enforcement to treat the case as a possible hate crime and to take threats against Muslim institutions seriously.
Hussein said previous events, including a hit-and-run in the mosque’s parking lot last year, suggest an ongoing pattern of targeting.
Minneapolis police spokesman Sgt. Garrett Parten confirmed that a woman in her 30s was arrested a few blocks from the mosque. She was booked into Hennepin County Jail on suspicion of property damage and an outstanding warrant. Parten said investigators are reviewing whether the same person was involved in both incidents.
Security footage reportedly shows a woman believed to be the same suspect leaving the mosque shortly before the September 29 fire. While the Minneapolis Fire Department initially classified that fire as accidental—possibly linked to unhoused people in the stairwell—mosque leaders disputed the finding.
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“We believe this individual is the same individual who came back again and tried to finish the job,” Kaynan said. “We believe this is a hate crime, we believe this is Islamophobia, and we believe this person intentionally tried to burn our Islamic center.”
Hussein criticized what he described as a lack of urgency in the investigation and called for stronger engagement between police and Muslim residents. “As a community, we will feel safe when we believe law enforcement is engaging honestly with us, and also investigating these matters seriously,” he said.
Source: Agencies
