Authorities are investigating a fire last Friday on property belonging to Dar-Al Farooq Islamic Center in Bloomington as a potential arson.
However, Bloomington Fire Chief Ulie Seal told Sahan Journal that as of late Monday afternoon, he has “no indication or no reason to believe that this fire was a hate crime.”
“The small structure adjacent to the soccer fields was unsecured and open to trespass,” Seal said in a prepared statement. “There was evidence that someone was possibly using the structure for a shelter.”
The fire occurred in a two-story shed in the mosque’s back field, which also houses Success Academy, a separate K-6 charter school. Members of the mosque noticed an unidentified male walking near the shed Friday afternoon — an unusual occurrence — after prayers had wrapped up, according to Abdullahi Farah, a board member of Dar-Al Farooq.
Mosque members notified administrators about the man, and by the time they looked out a window, they saw the shed on fire, Abdullahi said.
Jaylani Hussein, executive director of the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MN), told Sahan Journal that witnesses saw a male running to and from the shed during the fire.
“It is a busy time of the day because of the Friday prayer,” Jaylani said. “So that also adds a lot of stress for the whole situation.”
Both Abdulahi and Jaylani said that security footage captured a man walking away from the building around the time of the fire. The footage has been turned over to authorities.
The local fire department showed up within minutes and extinguished the fire, which reached the shed’s second story.
“At that moment, we were all in shock,” Abdullahi said.
The shed has been used in the past as a concession stand, and is currently used for storage. The lower level contains several laptops, bikes and sporting goods equipment. The shed also features a staircase to a second floor, which was completely engulfed in flames.
CAIR-MN is calling for an investigation to determine whether there was a possible bias motive for the fire, especially given past attacks on the mosque.
Dar-Al Farooq has been attacked multiple times in the past, most notably in 2017 when an extremist group from Illinois firebombed the mosque. This history, as well as the recent mass shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis, which killed two children during mass, has the community on edge, Abdulahi said.
Dar-Al Farooq held a community event on Sunday, where several faith leaders and community supporters from around the area showed up to support the mosque. Abdulahi said the event was held to bring a sense of peace to the community.
“This is one of those moments when something happens, instead of people living in fear, there’s an opportunity to bring people together to talk,” he said. “That’s what we’ve modeled before and that’s what we’re going to continue doing.”
