(RNS) — Days after the holy month of Ramadan began, shootings targeting an imam in Utah and an Islamic center in Pennsylvania have rattled Muslim Americans as they look forward to weeks in which they gather frequently and in large numbers.
In Utah, a gunman shot multiple rounds at the spiritual leader of the state’s largest mosque in West Jordan, south of Salt Lake City, missing the clergyman as he left his home Monday evening (Feb. 23). The attack at the Pike County Islamic Center in Pennsylvania occurred one day earlier, hours after worshippers had finished congregational prayer.
No one was harmed in either incident. Police in both locales are investigating motives and have not arrested any suspects.
Advocates have warned recently that Islamophobic rhetoric from political leaders can make targets of Muslims and their houses of worship.
“No one will be surprised if those attacks turn out to be incidents of anti-Muslim hate,” said Edward Ahmed Mitchell, national deputy director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations. “We have to see what the police investigations finds, but the fact that no one would be surprised by it is a sign of the fact that anti-Muslim bigotry is out of control.”
Imam Shuaib Din of the Utah Islamic Center told Religion News Service he is nearly certain the attack was targeted. The individual followe …
