Advertisement
On Saturday, January 4, the Islamic Foundation of Central Ohio (IFCO) and the Columbus Muslim community celebrated the re-opening of the Columbus Islamic Center with an open house. The Islamic Center closed last year after being attacked by vandals.
“The re-opening ceremony of the Islamic Center has an important meaning for people of all faiths. It sends the message that Muslims are an integral part of our community and that the attack on their Mosque was an attack on everyone in our state,” said Ahmad Al-Akhras, president of the Ohio office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Ohio). “We are very proud of our Center. It has been an icon of the social and religious fabric of Columbus for many, many years and it is here to stay,” said IFCO president M. Nabih Tarazi. “We are not going to allow the bigoted acts of a tiny minority to create an atmosphere of apprehension and fear in the American Muslim community,” added Tarazi.
Last year, vandals caused extensive damage to all three floors of the center. Copies of the Quran, Islam’s revealed text, were shredded, water pipes were ripped out of walls and broken in a way that caused maximum damage to the center. The attack was not the first against Ohio religious institutions. Immediately after the September 11th terrorist attacks, the Greater Cleveland Islamic Center was attacked by a drunk driver who smashed his car through a wall, knocked over three pillars, and landed atop a built-in fountain in the mosque rotunda. The Islamic Center of Greater Toledo was targeted by a drive-by shooting. There are an estimated 30,000 Muslims in central Ohio, 130,000 in Ohio and seven million in America.
CAIR-Ohio, Council on American-Islamic Relations, Ohio, 4700 Reed Road, Suite B; Columbus, Ohio 43220, 614-451-3232, fax: 614-451-3222, ohio@cair-net.org, www.cair-net.org.
“The re-opening ceremony of the Islamic Center has an important meaning for people of all faiths. It sends the message that Muslims are an integral part of our community and that the attack on their Mosque was an attack on everyone in our state,” said Ahmad Al-Akhras, president of the Ohio office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Ohio). “We are very proud of our Center. It has been an icon of the social and religious fabric of Columbus for many, many years and it is here to stay,” said IFCO president M. Nabih Tarazi. “We are not going to allow the bigoted acts of a tiny minority to create an atmosphere of apprehension and fear in the American Muslim community,” added Tarazi.
Last year, vandals caused extensive damage to all three floors of the center. Copies of the Quran, Islam’s revealed text, were shredded, water pipes were ripped out of walls and broken in a way that caused maximum damage to the center. The attack was not the first against Ohio religious institutions. Immediately after the September 11th terrorist attacks, the Greater Cleveland Islamic Center was attacked by a drunk driver who smashed his car through a wall, knocked over three pillars, and landed atop a built-in fountain in the mosque rotunda. The Islamic Center of Greater Toledo was targeted by a drive-by shooting. There are an estimated 30,000 Muslims in central Ohio, 130,000 in Ohio and seven million in America.
CAIR-Ohio, Council on American-Islamic Relations, Ohio, 4700 Reed Road, Suite B; Columbus, Ohio 43220, 614-451-3232, fax: 614-451-3222, ohio@cair-net.org, www.cair-net.org.