Leaders of several faiths in the Toronto area have condemned the alleged actions of a woman who appeared to rip several pages of the Qur’an and put them on the windshields of cars parked outside mosques.
The Muslim Council of Peel say on March 22 at about 5:20 p.m. a woman named Sandra Solomon visited Masjid Dar-Al Tawheed mosque in Mississauga, ripped up pages of the religious text and placed them on the windshields of vehicles belonging to those praying inside.
The council says the same thing happened at two other mosques as well.
Jewish, Sikh, Christian and Muslim community leaders, as well as several local politicians, gathered Monday to condemn the actions.
“I’m so proud that we could get so many groups together so quickly,” Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie told CP24 following a news conference.
“We have no tolerance for any intolerance in our city.”
Navdeep Bains, MP for Mississauga-Malton, visited the mosque recently to talk with worshippers about the incident and the impact it had on the mosque.
“I was deeply shocked to hear about this hate-motivated intrusion that took place in a peaceful place of worship,” he said.
Rabia Khedr, executive director of the Muslim Council of Peel, said several mosques in the region are now reviewing their security protocols and are asking for increased police presence in the area.
“This woman promotes hatred and tries to profit off of it,” she told reporters. “Our Muslim community is not going to be fazed by someone like her who is trying to simply promote her personal agenda.”
The Muslim Council of Peel has contacted the Peel Regional Police, who confirmed they are investigating the matter.
A now-deleted livestream of the incident was posted to the Facebook group “Never Again Canada.” In the video, a woman is seen ripping pages of the Qur’an--which she calls a “satanic evil book”--and placing them on the windshields of several vehicles in the parking lot.
The woman then enters the mosque and tries to converse with the imam. While waiting, she looks through a series of books which she calls “all garbage.”
Imam Ibrahim Hindy, of the Masjid Dar-al Tawheed mosque, said he is generally open to a dialogue about religion, but not in this case.
“Please do not mistake this assault on our mosque as an attempt for conversation or a critique of religion,” he said. “This was a plain attempt to instigate strife.”
Hindy said this isn’t the first instance of bigotry outside the mosque. He said he’s received death threats and witnessed “suspicious behavior.”
Bernie Farber, former CEO of the Canadian Jewish Congress, says synagogues in the Toronto area have also been hit with similar incidents.
On March 22, the same day as the alleged incident, a woman named Sandra Solomon posted to the "Never Again Canada" Facebook group, where she offered her recap of the events, which she calls the first day of her “visitation to the mosques” and campaign to designate the Quran as “hate literature.”
She says police told her she couldn’t get into legal trouble as long as she doesn’t return to the mosques. Peel police could not confirm that conversation.
Khedr is calling on the federal government to stop hateful messages from spreading on social media.
“There is simply no recourse for online hate,” she said. “We need stronger laws to protect us from online bullying and hate.”
