۹ فروردین ۱۴۰۳ |۱۸ رمضان ۱۴۴۵ | Mar 28, 2024
Mosque member speaks out against recent hate crimes that 'heavily impact communities'

The Jamia Masjid Sultania in Sneinton was targeted when pork drippings and used nappies where thrown into its car park on May 18 and May 22 respectively, actions the mosque's groundskeeper has said are 'difficult to accept' as they took place during Ramadan.

Hawzah News Agency - (Nottingham - UK) - Member of a Nottingham mosque targeted in a series of hate crimes has urged the incidents to be taken 'seriously' because of the 'impact they can have on society'.

The Jamia Masjid Sultania in Sneinton was targeted when pork drippings and used nappies where thrown into its car park on May 18 and May 22 respectively, actions the mosque's groundskeeper has said are 'difficult to accept' as they took place during Ramadan.

Kamran Rafiq, who lives in Sneinton himself, works at E.ON in Nottingham and also spends most days volunteering as a groundskeeper at Jamia Masjid Sultania.

It was Kamran who found the soiled nappies in the car park and he has said that in a 'multicultural' city like Nottingham, it is important people feel they can "worship freely."

He added that his mosque and others in the city are also receiving letters in a white envelope that contain hateful messages.

Kamran, who is 36 and acts as a spokesperson for the mosque he regularly attends, said: "The mosque has not just been targeted, but the people who worship here as well.

"Us and other mosques have been receiving white letters that are quite distinctive and have hateful messages inside. The police have told us to not open them.

"On May 18th we saw a black car drive by and throw the pork drippings into the car park and then four days later the same black car threw a bag of used nappies.

"We posted on social media to make sure the community and our members were aware of what happened. We want people to be vigilant because we are a community and we need to pull together when unfortunate things like this happen.

"These kinds of crimes impact the community quite heavily and we just want the people doing this to stop and hopefully the police can catch them."

Although no arrests have currently been made, Nottinghamshire Police are investigating the incidents and have asked for anyone with information to contact them.

Kamran added: "Ramadan is all about the community and coming together, even though we haven't been able to do that this year.

"We haven't been able to come to the mosque so we've sacrificed our holy place of worship. it seems bizarre that someone has targeted us still and we won't tolerate this kind of behavior.

Younger people in the community may be less understanding when they are targeted like this so we need patience. The last thing we need is more disturbances, we don't want that to happen.

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