Officials have deemed a fire at a Houston mosque on Friday “suspicious”, as investigators work to determine the cause.
No injuries were reported, though about 200 people had been inside the building for prayer an hour before the fire started around 2.45pm on Christmas day.
A special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ (ATF) Houston field division, Nicole Strong, told CNN that it was “too soon” to determine what caused the fire at the Savoy Mosque.
Strong said, however, that the fire had “multiple points of origin” and “appears suspicious”.
About 80 firefighters responded to the fire, which also caused smoke damage to a neighboring pharmacy. Prayer on Friday night was held at an alternative venue and will continue to be held in alternative locations until the mosque is repaired.
Members of the mosque told local news station that the facility was only a few years old and well-maintained.
Dramane Diallo, who opens the mosque for morning prayer, said that the facility did not have a kitchen or electrical equipment that could cause a fire. “It’s very hard to believe it was an accident,” Diallo told the Houston Chronicle.
MJ Khan, president of the Islamic Society of Greater Houston, said the center had not received any threats before the fire.
Mustafaa Carroll, the executive director of the Houston branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (Cair), told ABC13 that the organization hoped it was not arson.
“It makes it a little better if it’s an electrical fire, we’re hoping it’s not arson. It is one of the holiest days of the year for a lot of people,” Carroll said. “We don’t necessarily celebrate Christmas, but we actually revere prophet Jesus and so these things for us are paramount.”
Cair said that there was “an unprecedented and dramatic increase” in violent and hostile acts towards Muslims following the terror attacks in Paris. Cair communications director Ibrahim Hooper said that hostile mood continued after the shooting in San Bernardino.
Days after the shooting, a small group protested an Arabic teaching school in Houston. It was Montgomery County Citizens Against Illegal Immigration’s second protest against the school.
In February, Darryl Ferguson allegedly admitted to setting fire to Houston’s Quba Islamic Institute and was charged with felony first degree arson. That arson occurred days after three Muslim students in North Carolina were fatally shot by their neighbor.
