Queens, NY – Man Desecrates Prayer Rugs At Mosque

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    Queens, NY – A drunk barged into a Queens mosque last night and shouted anti-Muslim slurs as he urinated on prayer rugs, cops and witnesses said.

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    Evening prayers were disrupted at the Iman Mosque on Steinway Street in Astoria when the unhinged man “came in with a beer bottle in his hands, clearly very intoxicated,” said Mustapha Sadouki, who was attending services.

    “He fumbled over to our rugs where people were praying” and then committed the despicable desecration, Sadouki said,

    The man, identified by cops as Omar Rivera, also allegedly shouted slurs, calling the worshippers “terrorists.”

    Two men managed to subdue him. They put him a back room and called 911.

    Cops took him to a hospital and later charged him with criminal trespass.

    “He stuck up his middle finger and cursed at everyone,” said Sadouki, 43.

    “No one can pray now because the rugs are completely soiled. It was disgusting.

    “He calls us terrorists, yet he comes into our mosque and terrorizes other people.

    “This is a true hate crime.”


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    27 Comments
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    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    13 years ago

    Before this gets out of hand, they should severely punish anyone who desecrates a mosque or commits any sort of hate crime. A mosque has the same kedushah as a shul or beis medrash to their believers and warrants the same level of respect. Hopefully, there will be no yidden implicated in these shameful acts. If that happens, it will be open season on any shul anywhere as if we didn’t already have too many instantces of antisemitic graffitti. Leave the mosques alone before yidden are consumed in the very fires we set.

    MidwesternGuy
    MidwesternGuy
    13 years ago

    The media template is very clear: intolerant Americans are against a mosque in New York and are now so intolerant that they are “desecrating” Muslim holy sites. We must all be so Islamophobic.

    The truth is that this was one random drunk dude. Under normal circumstances, it wouldn’t have been reported. But since it fits the media’s template, they are happy to report it.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    13 years ago

    1 the guy was drunk 2 the guys name is Omar not an american sounding name.

    13 years ago

    He’s right…it IS a hate crime & is totally disgusting. However, it definitely shows how strongly anti-Ground Zero Mosque feelings are running. And more importantly, I think it’s a barometer for anti-Muslim/Obama feeling in this country, bearing in mind the perception is growing that Obama is a Muslim & his allegiance is not to the US.

    It won’t be long before these animals increase their violence against us. This country, once known for its freedoms, is rapidly becoming like 1930’s Germany. Big problems ahead. Thank you, Obama & Pelosi. You have managed to severely damage inter-faith, inter-race relations in 22 months

    CommonSense
    CommonSense
    13 years ago

    The media template is very clear: intolerant Americans are against a mosque in New York and are now so intolerant that they are “desecrating” Muslim holy sites. We must all be so Islamophobic.

    Media template?
    Do you think if someone came into a shul and pissed on the aron kodesh it wouldnt be reported?
    come on..get real

    bigwheeel
    bigwheeel
    13 years ago

    Poster # 3 (Says); Why are you so obsessed and guilt-ridden about Jews committing crimes against Goyim. Your mentality is the “Chillul Hashem” mentality, where Jews can never be right (or left alone.). When a person of the Jewish faith slips up somehow, right away it’s group guilt. The flip side of this way of thinking (and feeling) is that you justify any grave acts of hate or crime that are committed against Jews. In this specific case, it was a drunkard with an arabic-Spanish name. My personal view of things is that there are reasonable people of all faiths and nationalities, who don’t condone any acts of hate or desecration against any individual or group. Then you have the lunatic fringe, who will, with or without provocation commit heinous acts. But the skewed, liberal view (including yours.) is to justify any crimes committed against individuals and groups close to you and self-flagellate and read group-guilt into any crimes committed by deranged individuals, who happen to be of a certain ethnic or national background.

    m r
    m r
    13 years ago

    Yesterday assult on cabbie -drunk
    today in the mosque -drunk can ppl stop drinking or is it the Obama’s economic problems?

    HaNavon
    HaNavon
    13 years ago

    #7

    Actually you’re incorrect.
    A mosque does indeed have kedushah in that people go there to pray to our Deity, whom they call “Allah”.
    The Rambam allows us to pray in a mosque but not a church, and in one instance I myself dovined minchah in a mosque when I was in Singapore.

    As far as the urine rendering the mosque ‘desecrated’, I would say that you could still pray there if you pour water over the urine, which is ‘mevatel’ it, this is a din in the Gemara, and I believe that the law is the same in Shari’a.
    Keep in mind that camel urine is used in the manufacture of persian and afghani rugs, although camel urine would have a different status within Shari’a than it does in Halacha, since the Koran records Muhammed telling his students to drink camel urine for medicinal purposes, which has been done since time immemorial.

    13 years ago

    Being drunk is no excuse. This person was bigoted prior to being intoxicated, but because he was “three sheets to the wind” his inhibitions were diminished allowing his hatred to bubble to the surface. Alcohol is known to diminish impulse control.

    enlightened-yid
    enlightened-yid
    13 years ago

    #4 blaming Obama for Muslim hate fest in this country? LOL I lost count how many Rabbis in shuls and shiurim were spreading their anti-Obama hate fest to their sheep-lets saying he was another sign from the Torah that Gog-magog is near as king from Yishmael has taken thrown in America. I don’t think Pelosi is responsible for crazy rabbis and priests instilling hate mongering fear to their followers.
    I see people around everyday who would be outraged if a Synagogue was sprayed with a swastika find reasons why vandalizing Mosques is more tolerable. We can’t have it both ways

    Shmuel
    Shmuel
    13 years ago

    #8 : &#8 220;Yesterday assult on cabbie -drunk
    today in the mosque -drunk&#8 221;

    That&#8 217;s about the only comparison that can be made between these two events. In the first, a violence was commited against a man, who we have no reason to suspect of any wrongdoing other than belonging to a vile religion, he was injured and is sufffering. In the second, nothing of value was lost.

    bigwheeel
    bigwheeel
    13 years ago

    Poster # 9 (Ha Navon?); Your statement, comparing Sharia to l”h Halacha is doubtful. Unless you are as familiar with the details of the former, as you seem to be with the latter. Also, you gave me another reason not buy any Persian Rugs or from Afghanistan. (Which I’m not intending to do presently, or the foreseeable future, due to financial conditions and lifestyle.)

    MidwesternGuy
    MidwesternGuy
    13 years ago

    Reply to #14 ,
    Do you read, man? Where did I “sympathize”? I only was pointing out that the media are using this event to fit neatly into their preconceived notion that Americans are inherently “Islamophobes.” Nothing more, nothing less.

    And I’m sure that drunks to all kinds of stupid, immoral and illegal things all the time. They just don’t receive the worldwide attention that this particular drunk is getting. Do you get it now? This drunk=tons of attention, all the other drunks in the world=no attention. All because the media wants to play up alleged Islamophobia.

    Aryeh
    Aryeh
    13 years ago

    A mosque does not have any kedusha, it is parve. In fact, may of their minhagim are outright avoda zara from before their prophet. Hence the difference in opinions between Rambam and later Ashkenazi poskim. Very ironic though, that the pisher’s name is Omar! It doesn’t get much more Muslim than that.

    Anon Ibid Opcit
    Anon Ibid Opcit
    13 years ago

    It is appalling that anyone here would support vandalism.

    HaNavon
    HaNavon
    13 years ago

    Re: #9

    If you’re going to refrain from buying products that are made using urine, then perhaps you should not buy any tanned leather products either, since they are often made using the dung, urine and brain matter of animals.

    Now to address your comment about my reference to Shari’a law.
    I look at law in a very different way than do most other rabbis. Law does not have to be of divine origin in order to be binding, what makes law binding to any one group is the acceptance of those laws by that group, and this is similar to the opinion of the Rambam and other Jewish philosophers of that period.
    I do not accept Shari’a as “divine law”, but whichever laws that they do have in common with us, and that could be understood solely through an intellectual process of observing the nature of the world are indeed part of divine law, even if it wasn’t directly commanded to their ‘prophet’.
    The ‘Noachide laws’ are laws which could be understood through intellect alone, and are therefore examples of divine law which doesn’t require a communique from the Deity to a prophet.

    HaNavon
    HaNavon
    13 years ago

    Part 2, response to #16

    6 or the 7 Noachide laws are negative commandments, the one exception being the obligation to set up courts and a justice system.
    There are however more laws which are obligatory to non-Jews, and that is in the case of the group having come to the recognition of the one true God as the supreme and singular Deity. When non-Jews come to this realization they are obligated in even more things, which can also be deduced through intellect alone, and one of those things is prayer.
    It says in Yishayah 19:23 says that our God would be worshipped from Egypt to Assyria, and this prophecy is alluding to the advent of Islam, and the spread of monotheism throughout the lands that were idolatrous.
    I therefore look upon the laws of Islam regarding prayer with much respect.

    cowfy
    cowfy
    13 years ago

    hey pmo in florida. #15 whats all this can you prove ,can you state,what has been taken away.plenty has been taken away and if your deaf dumb and blind you probably don’t know that a socialist agenda gives more power to the gov. on many levels as an example with this screwy medical agenda anyone who is not covered by one of the options will be libel for a crime.CAN YOU PROVE THAT WHAT GLENN BECK CLAIMS IS NONSENSE AS YOUR SHALLOW COMMENTS ARE>YOU ARE PINK.the bitch is you progressives think your on the moral highground.you are clowns.clowns who are myopic.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    13 years ago

    I davened in a mosque (maares hamachpelah)

    bigwheeel
    bigwheeel
    13 years ago

    Poster # 19 (anonymous) Your rebuke to poster # 18 (that he / she doesn’t know what they’re talking about when referring to Omar as an arabic (origin) name.) is out of place. Because the one who doesn’t know, etc. in this case is you. Lots of Spanish words –and names– originate from arabic (And Hebrew-Aramaic) from the 14th Century when the Moslems were in control of the Iberian peninsula. I have some theories about the Etymology of some Spanish words and names. For example, the name Diaz, when inverted comes to Zaid. or “Medida”, which has exactly the same meaning in both, Hebrew and Spanish. Or “Toro”, which has an identical meaning in Spanish and Aramaic. Since this isn’t an Etymology blog I’ll stop here.

    schwartzi
    schwartzi
    13 years ago

    EH! whats up doc? ( as bugs bunny used to say) hey, the drunk wasnt so bad. i am sure i am not the only blogger who feels this way. most of you are just too scared, or too politically correct to admit this. ITS ABOUT TIME! what goes around comes around! I am NOT CONDONING IT.and when the twin towers were destroyed,the arabs werent dancing in the streets and giving out”sweets” right? I dont have to elaborate. just read some of the N.Y. post and daily news bloggers’s comments. And Kudos for # 4 he hit the nail on the head. People,its time to wake up from our slumber. this isnt the same America as the one in the 1960’s and 70’s or whenever. This is not your Daddy’s USA anymore. political correctness is destroying this great country. as are the bleeding heart liberals re; Bloomberg. and co.
    It is becoming a very different and very DANGEROUS america. and I am not a war monger. Things are NOT going to get better as time goes on. History seems to be repeating itself.