Bacon Left At MN Mosque: Group Calls For Hate Crime Investigation

ROCHESTER, MN — The Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations has called on law enforcement to investigate an "attempted religious desecration" of a mosque in Rochester as a possible hate crime.

Members of the Abubakar Islamic Center found bacon by the front door and in the parking lot of the mosque. Muslims are prohibited from consuming pork products.

"Bigots often use pigs or pork to offend Muslim sensibilities," CAIR-MN said. The incident was reported to local police.

"As with a number of similar attempted acts of religious desecration nationwide, the use of pork products to target an Islamic institution is a clear indicator of a bias motive and should be investigated as a possible hate crime," said CAIR-MN Executive Director Jaylani Hussein.

Community member Muhamed Elrashidi condemned the act, but also joked at the expense of the perpetrator, saying "it’s not like pork is kryptonite to us and our Muslim super powers are diminished."

"I couldn’t tell, but these looked like decent cuts of bacon - Jimmy Dean or something I don’t know - but you should be ashamed of yourselves for having wasted food and you definitely owe bacon lovers a sincere apology."

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