In a latest incident of vandalism against Islamic houses of worship, a Southern California mosque was firebombed by 23-year-old Carl James Dial Jr. Four or five people were praying inside the Islamic Society of the Coachella Valley when Carl threw a molotov cocktail at the mosque. Flames were reported just after noon; nobody was hurt and the fire was quickly put out, though it caused significant damage to the building.
Salah Alwishah, who attends the mosque regularly, said he arrived while firefighters were extinguishing the flames. He added that the incident wouldn’t change anything about when or how often he attends services at the center.
“Nothing at all. Everything stays the same. Our ultimate view of everything is that, you know, God is our protector no matter what happens. We worshiped God today in the street, because you can worship God anywhere. But that’s just the mosque that we have and we want to be safe in it.”
Posted by Salah Alwishah on Friday, December 11, 2015
The firebomb attack is currently under investigation by the FBI, the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department/Coachella Police Department, Cal-Fire, and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. Carl was booked into the Indio jail for several felony charges. In addition to the hate crime charge, he faces a charge of arson, malicious set fire, and burglary in the 2nd degree.
“The report that I got was someone threw some type of device at the building and firebombed the place. I got a report from people who were inside the mosque saying that they heard a loud boom and that the front area of the mosque erupted in fire, so they quickly called the Fire Department,” Reymundo Nour, Mosque’s acting imam, told KPCC.
“Our faith in humanity will not be intimidated. And we stand together against any form of violence towards the innocent,” said US Rep. Raul Ruiz, whose district includes the area in which the mosque is located.
“We see this as a cowardly act of vandalism that we not tolerate in our community. Freedom of religion is one of our core values in this country, so any time we witness violence or vandalism directed at a religious institution, it flies in the face of everything we stand for and believe in as Americans,” Steven Hernandez, Coachella Mayor, said in a statement.
The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department called the Mosque fire “an intentional act” potentially resulting in a hate crime. “Terrorism should not beget terrorism and that’s what this would be if in fact there was someone who threw a device in this mosque with the intention of destroying the mosque or hurting the people inside who were praying,” said John Benoit, Riverside County Supervisor.
“I turned that corner to show up to work, and if you work a mosque I’m sure you can imagine, you know this kind of thing is in the back of your mind. I pull up to the intersection I turn left and there’s a huge plume of smoke like a mushroom cloud,” said Ray Brewster, a security employee with the Islamic Society of the Coachella Valley.
The mosque was hit by gunfire in November 2014. Authorities treated that incident as a hate crime, but the suspect was never found. The mosque is about 75 miles from San Bernardino, where terrorists killed 14 people on December 2.
So far, 2015 has been the most dangerous year for American Muslims, with 63 recorded attacks against mosques since January. The previous record was 53 attacks, in 2010. There have been three times as many attacks against Muslim worship centers this year than in 2014.
A national wave of vandalism, harassment and violence targeting Muslims across America has had a chilling effect among the Islamic community. Just last week, a red pickup truck threw a pig’s head at the front door of a mosque in Philadelphia, a young girl in New York City wearing a hijab was assaulted by classmates who called her ISIS, and a Muslim store owner in Queens, New York was viciously assaulted by a customer.
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