{"id":921962,"date":"2026-07-09T00:04:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T00:04:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/921962\/"},"modified":"2026-07-09T00:04:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T00:04:15","slug":"civic-interfaith-leaders-rally-to-support-northeast-philly-islamic-center-after-apparent-arson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/921962\/","title":{"rendered":"Civic, interfaith leaders rally to support Northeast Philly Islamic Center after apparent arson"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) \u2014 Religious and political leaders gathered at the Northeast Philadelphia Islamic Center on Wednesday to express their support as the center attempts to recover from an apparent arson attack over the holiday weekend.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>Just a few feet from where someone set fire to the porch of the masjid and mosque at the center on Tyson Avenue, dozens of imams, rabbis, pastors and local legislators condemned the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.audacy.com\/kywnewsradio\/news\/local\/northeast-philly-mosque-damaged-apparent-arson-attack\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">early Sunday morning attack<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are grateful that no one was injured, but we know we now face the unexpected challenges of the rebuilding,\u201d said Masukul Islam Khan, president of the masjid. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are here to affirm that religious liberty will not die, religious liberty will not be stifled, and we&#8217;ll continue to do the work that we need to do,\u201d said Imam Quaiser Abdullah, director of the Mayor\u2019s Office of Muslim Engagement. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe, many of us, gathered at the National Constitution Center to honor and acknowledge Pope Leo XIV, and we presented him with the Liberty Medal, and we gathered there to recognize and to commemorate this religious liberty, and less than 48 hours later, someone actually attacked that religious liberty.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/pa.cair.com\/pressrelease\/nepic-arson-attempt\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">Video shared by CAIR-Philadelphia<\/a> this week showed a man walking up to the building, lighting a bag, and throwing it inside. He then walked away. <\/p>\n<p>Philadelphia City Commissioners Chair Omar Sabir pledged $2,500 toward the reward offered by federal authorities and the Council of American Islamic Relations-Philadelphia for information leading to a conviction. <\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s in addition to a $2,500 reward from the Philly chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations and a $5,000 reward from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you saw something, know something, come forward and contact the Philadelphia Police Department,\u201d Sabir urged.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, the facility is accepting donations to help rebuild <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gofundme.com\/f\/help-us-build-a-mosque-for-a-growing-philadelphia-community\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">through GoFundMe<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>Khan took the time to single out a neighbor, not present at the rally, who called 911 on Sunday when she saw what happened, calling her \u201cour angel.\u201d He also spoke of how the center has been a second home for many in the community. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cFamilies and children come here to pray and find peace. What happened there is heartbreaking,\u201d he said. \u201cHate will not divide our community.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) \u2014 Religious and political leaders gathered at the Northeast Philadelphia Islamic Center on Wednesday to&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":921963,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5132],"tags":[5229,8339,5025,327979,62465,10324,1448,2830,1311,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-921962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-america","tag-arson","tag-fire","tag-islamic-center","tag-mosque","tag-northeast-philadelphia","tag-pa","tag-pennsylvania","tag-philadelphia","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/921962","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=921962"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/921962\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/921963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=921962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=921962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=921962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}