California: Rising Islamophobia around the globe after the recent terrorist attacks is reportedly going up fivefold in the Western- European countries, with many Muslims now afraid for their safety and security.
Yesterday, an incident has been reported were two Hijabi women standing outside a mosque were deliberately scared and terrified by throwing water on their faces which were recorded on CCTV footage. The Hampton Police termed the incident as ‘racially aggravated assault’.
A second Islamaphobic incident has now been reported in California were middle aged white women from Texas has sent a ‘Quran’ completely dipped in a tub of Pork lard (pig fat) to a Muslim organization.
The latest Islamophobic incident to be reported across US but the Police are not considering this incident as a crime.
According to the sources, Sacramento Valley Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) informed the police on receiving the suspicious package on 28 June.
“We did not know what would be inside. We thought we saw a book, it was probably the Quran, but we let the authorities open it,” said the council member Katelyn Costa, adding that the package “smelled a little funky”.
The package had Quran dipped in the pork fat. As per Islamic principles, Believers are forbidden from consuming pork and its products.
“When our officers arrived and determined what it was, it was a Quran that had been sent to them packaged in a substance that appeared to be pork fat or pork lard” said the official Linda Matthew of the Sacramento police.
Linda further said, “Through the investigation, the detectives were able to determine the package was shipped by a female, white adult in her 40’s or 50’s” adding that the female is from Houston Texas.
Commenting on the incident Linda said so far no arrest has been made since no crime has been committed. “We are looking into it as a hate-related activity. However, there was no actual crime committed” said Linda.
The Police has not disclosed the identity of the woman.
Similar incidents were reported in Sacramento, where a Quran filled with bacon (pig product) was tied to the gates of a Masjid Annur Islamic Center was allegedly burned on June 24.
A day before, another incident was a Quran was torn and left thrown on the outside the Islamic Center of Davis in the same region. These incidents are considered as hate crimes in USA.
Katelyn terming the incident as “definitely hateful” said, “We’re going to let the authorities determine if it’s a crime or not. But this is part of a rash of hate incidents. There were three in June, and it’s just part of a larger uptick in hateful incidents across the country.”