By Sylvan Lebrun

After possible bullet holes were discovered at the Muslim Community Center this week, the Chicago office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations announced Saturday that they are calling upon police to investigate the incident as a potential hate crime.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations wrote in their news release that the “targeted act of violence” against the mosque “appears to be yet another attack aimed at the Muslim community.” Established in 1969, the Muslim Community Center in the Irving Park neighborhood is one of the oldest and largest Muslim organizations in Chicago.

According to Saif Mazhar, chair of the security committee for the Muslim Community Center, office staff first found what looked like bullet holes on the building’s glass doors during Labor Day weekend. When several new holes were found on Tuesday two days later, Mazhar said he then realized that the mosque was being targeted.

The community has since been very “shaken up,” Mazhar said. On Thursday, he reached out to the FBI to request it look into the incident as a potential hate crime, concurrent to the Chicago Police Department’s own investigation.

“We don’t want to be targeted again,” Mazhar said. “What we would like is for the FBI to really investigate the situation, as we’re citizens too. We live here as well. We’re American too. So we don’t want to be the ‘others’… we want to be part of the same team.”

Damage to the front windows and doors of the Muslim Community Center, at 4380 N. Elston Ave., was reported to police at approximately 6 a.m. Tuesday, according to CPD. No offenders have been taken into custody and detectives are investigating the incident, police said Saturday.

Glass on entry doors is held in place with tape at the Muslim Community Center, 4380 N. Elston Ave., on Sept. 7, 2024, in Chicago. The glass doors were found shattered earlier in the week. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)

Chicago police could not provide comment on whether the incident is specifically being investigated as a hate crime.

However, leaders of CAIR-Chicago reiterated that shooting at a mosque likely was not a random act.

“It’s unclear what the source of what look like bullet holes is, whether a gun, a BB gun, or something else, but what seems clear is that the person who inflicted this damage on a Muslim house of worship did not come in peace,” wrote Ahmed Rehab, executive director of CAIR-Chicago, in the Saturday news release. “This attack is not just on a building; it is an attack on the Muslim community’s safety and right to worship freely.”

The damage at the Muslim Community Center occurred at night when the mosque was closed, Mazhar said. Security footage did not capture the incident, he said, as the cameras were not directly facing the doors.

Mosque leaders had delayed repairs, Mazhar said, as they were hoping that the FBI or other investigators would stop by to analyze what look to be bullet holes. Yet since no one has come by, they now plan to begin fixing the glass doors, he added.

Mazhar, who was born and raised in Chicago, said though he’s felt more Islamophobia recently, “For years and years it’s always been this thing where you know, we seem like the others, and not a part of the community.”

Hafsa Haider, spokeswoman for CAIR-Chicago, said that there has been a marked increase in hate crimes against Palestinians and the Muslim community in general since the Democratic National Convention in August. This recent attack on a Muslim house of worship is “especially concerning,” Haider said, as mosques are meant to be the place where people “feel the most safe and comfortable and vulnerable.”

“We want to make sure that this is taken as seriously as if it was another religious group that was being targeted,” Haider said. “We’re finding that sometimes our voices and our community needs aren’t made a priority.”

The incident at the Muslim Community Center was not the only of its kind this week, CAIR officials noted. Another act of vandalism on a Muslim property occurred during Labor Day weekend, when the Palestinian-owned coffee shop Nabala Cafe in the Uptown neighborhood had its window shattered. A Palestinian flag had been displayed in the vandalized window.

“This is the second attack on Muslim property in recent days that the police have chalked down as mere destruction of property; hate motivation should not be ruled out without a thorough investigation,” wrote CAIR-Chicago staff attorney Joseph Milburn in the organization’s release.

From January to June 2024, CAIR received 4,951 complaints of Islamophobic discrimination — a 69% increase compared with the same period in 2023, according to the nonprofit.