In a show of love and solidarity, generous people have raised more than $10,000 to help repair a New Mexico mosque that was vandalized five separate times in recent weeks and forced to close.
The attacks targeting the Portales Islamic Center started a few weeks ago when vandals broke into the center, ripped the Qur’an, and left thousands in damage.
The vandals then returned later in the week and damaged the building’s A/C unit. The Islamic Center was hit a fourth time with vulgar language spray painted on the wall.
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Vandals returned for a fifth time to rip pages of the Qur’an, urinate, and pour beer on it. The mosque’s wall was also painted with the letters “KKK,” associated with the white supremacist group Ku Klux Klan.
“They went in to rip the Quran, Holy Quran, and poured beer on it. They went in, stabbed, like, the whole entire like the drywall,” said Ahmed Benssouda, the center’s director who launched the Launchgood campaign.
“Along with holes in the walls and a door, they found alcohol left behind, furniture destroyed, and trash everywhere. They even found a framed photo of Jesus Christ placed on top of the rubble.”
Support
The campaign, which aims to raise $40,000, has already drawn more than $10,250 in donations a few days after launching it on July 8.
It’s noteworthy that many local communities have always come in support of the Muslim community in many cases.
In 2021, members of the local community in Suffolk county in Brentwood, New York, came together in a show of support to the local mosque which was vandalized last month.
In September 2019, the vandalism of the new welcome sign at the Islamic Centre of Grand Junction, Colorado, prompted community to show support and start crowdfunding to repair the damaged sign.