London, Ontario: mosque receives hate mail

While violent protests are taking place across the Middle East and North America, a local mosque was concerned, but not totally surprised, when it received hate mail.

London Muslim Mosque Imam Jamal Taleb said the incident was reported to the police Sunday (Sept. 23), adding the mosque doesn’t know who sent the letter, but the institution does occasionally receive letters when conflict arises somewhere else in the world.

“Whenever something happens overseas, especially related to the Muslim faith, we get something by phone or by mail,” Taleb said. “They tell us, ‘We don’t want you here, you’re a stranger, we want you to be out of the country’.” The Imam added such messages are bothersome because they raise concerns about the safety of members of the local Muslim community.

While it may be unrelated, the letter was sent to the mosque in the wake of the mass protests that have broken out – which included an attack on a consulate in Libya that killed U.S. ambassador Christopher Stevens earlier this month – against the anti-Islamic film entitled the Innocence of Muslims.

Taleb stressed violent action isn’t acceptable. “We do believe people they have the right to get angry because the film about our prophet is bad and it’s insulting for the 1.5 billion Muslims around the world,” he said. “But the anger should not go to this level of killing and destroying houses and burning cars or attacking an embassy. This is not from Islam and we do not believe this is right.”

London Community News, 24 September 2012