Police investigating burnt Koran

Costa Mesa police are hesitating to call a charred copy of the Koran found outside the Islamic Educational Center of Orange County on New Year’s Day a hate crime until they determine where it came from, officials said.

About noon New Year’s Day, a member of the education center was headed inside for Friday prayers when he saw something bulky that appeared out of place in the parking lot, said education center board member Fatma Saleh.

“The holy book is a cherished thing for Muslims. To be defiled in such a manner was upsetting,” Saleh said. “It was the first day of the new year. Not even halfway through the day and you’re already starting off the new year on a bad foot.”

Sgt. Phil Myers said police need to rule out other possibilities before calling the finding a hate crime. For example, someone could have burned a box of books and just tossed this one into the parking lot, he said.

“Before we wave the flag and call it a hate crime, we have to do some more investigation,” Myers said.

But just a week removed from an alleged attempted bombing aboard an international flight headed into Detroit, Saleh said the message was clear to local Muslims.

“There has to be some connection. To say otherwise is really ignoring the reality of things,” she said. “There always seems to be a backlash when things like this arise in the nation.”

Police have listened to center officials and have increased patrols of the area in the short term, Myers said. The Los Angeles branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations is pointing to the New Year’s Day incident as the latest in a recent spate of anti-Muslim incidents in Southern California.

In Mission Viejo, the Muslim portion of an interfaith holiday display was vandalized with text printed over it saying “No Islamic Lighthouses in the U.S.A.,” according to the council’s website.

Saleh said the burned text made many in the center nervous.

“A lot of people were taken aback and aghast. People were crying. A lot of high emotions were running when that happened. It was pretty dramatic,” she said. “To have such a thing amidst the holy day when people come here for peace, solitude and for comfort in God, that was something that was too much for many to bear.”