New Mexico mosque set on fire in the latest incident of Islamophobia in U.S.

While the woman has not yet been identified worshippers believe it may be connected to a woman who showed up at the center last week and was hostile towards them.

“For us to see that anybody could just walk in and do this, we just don’t feel safe,” Aneela Abad, the center’s general secretary, said. “It’s a hate crime. It’s very targeted towards Muslims. Islam is, the word Islam, means peace. We stand for peace.”

While the woman walked away almost immediately after starting the fire, some men who were working across the street ran to the center in attempt to put out the flames.

“Watch this, the fire explodes in his face at this point. You see that? He’s literally pulling it out, look at that,” Abad said. “That guy is on the phone with 911 so this is the time when the call went through to 911 and look they bring a fire extinguisher.” Abad also noted that these people reminded the worshippers of the good in the world.

While the crime is being investigated by the FBI and local authorities, it has not yet been declared a hate crime. Advocates and local civil rights groups are thus calling for an investigation as such. Hate crimes are defined by the FBI as crimes “motivated by bias toward race, ethnicity, ancestry, religion, sexual orientation, disability, gender, and gender identity.”

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Islamic Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, is among those who have called on local and federal investigators to view the incident as a hate crime.

“Given recent hate incidents targeting mosques and prominent American Muslims, New Mexico law enforcement authorities and the FBI should investigate a possible bias motive for this incident,” CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper said. “Silence and inaction in the face of growing hate nationwide only provides encouragement to bigots targeting all minority communities.”

Worshippers also believe the center was targeted because it is the largest and oldest Islamic center in the state.

“This was not just a normal crime. This was crime on the religious institute,” Tahir Gauba, a mosque goer, said. “She came in with the agenda of burning down this place of worship.”

“Now the families, they are actually scared to bring the kids here,” The Center’s Director of Education Reda Hussain Elkomy noted that while the community has always been open to bringing their families, ‘“now the families, they are actually scared to bring the kids here.”

Members of the community are now afraid because this is not the first but second time the mosque has been targeted. According to KRQE News 13, someone threw a Molotov cocktail at a wall, scorching a section of the building in 2014.

“We don’t partake in violence and we don’t condone it, and we speak out against it,” the center told KRQE News 13 at the time of that incident.

The latest incident follows a similar incident in Washington state last week, in which a video released by the state’s local CAIR chapter found that a car drove up to the Islamic Center of Olympia and tossed an explosive device on the ground in front of the mosque.

CAIR is thus urging houses of worship to take extra security precautions and to use its “Best Practices for Mosque and Community Safety” booklet. The advice in CAIR’s security publication is applicable to religious institutions of all faiths. The booklet may be viewed at:

Incidents of Islamophobia are increasing nationwide on both a state and federal level.  Just last week, Rep. Ilhan Omar, a Muslim member of Congress, shared threats she received after an Islamophobic attack from a colleague.

Additionally, a new survey exploring the lives of Muslim Americans found that more than two-thirds of U.S. Muslims personally experienced Islamophobia, Daily Kos reported. The survey supports data compiled by the FBI which found that hate crimes in 2020 were reported at a significantly higher rate than those in 2019.

As investigations continue advocates and others are requesting that anyone with information about the  Albuquerque contact the FBI or the Albuquerque Police Department.