Islamophobic Rant At San Francisco Park Leaves Community Stunned
A man walking two dogs at San Francisco’s McLaren Park verbally attacked a Muslim group gathering for communal prayer on Monday morning, coinciding with the annual Eid al-Adha holiday, as reported by members of the Islamic Center of San Francisco to SFGATE. In a video provided by Islamic Center board member Shahbaz Shaikh and reviewed by SFGATE, the man is heard saying, “Your religion is full of hate” at the start.
Around 50 people were assembling in the northern part of the park at 1150 Wayland St., where tarps and prayer carpets were spread across the grass. This occurred around 8:30 a.m., just before the morning prayer, which eventually brought together approximately 200 people. The man continued to hurl racist remarks, saying, “You come from a fucked-up country,” and, “You’re not welcome here, you cocksuckers.” Shaikh responded calmly, stating, “I was born here, but thank you.” The man then yelled, “You’re a devil,” before walking away.
At the end of the video, the man is seen walking off with his two small dogs, shouting, “Fuck you all, assholes,” and putting on a pair of headphones while repeating, “You’re the devil.” The San Francisco Police Department confirmed in an email to SFGATE that they responded to a report of a person making “verbal threats to a group” at 9:25 a.m. in the area where the prayer was being held. Paulina Henderson, a spokesperson for the department, stated that this is an active and ongoing investigation. Shaikh, who has been a member of the center’s congregation for all 34 years of his life and whose father previously served as a board member, expressed that he had never encountered such hatred before.
“We were shocked because we were just conversing amongst ourselves, and he just came up to us and started shouting this abuse,” Shaikh recounted. “We felt very unsafe. We didn’t know this person. It was shocking the way he was so casual with his racism and xenophobia.”
Elvin V., who chose not to disclose his full last name for his family’s safety, has been a practicing Muslim for 14 years and was equally taken aback by this act of verbal aggression. “What he said is pretty much a script,” Elvin noted. “If you watch other Islamophobes on YouTube, it’s the same thing. They say the same things.”
Elvin mentioned that he has prayed outdoors across the city in various neighborhoods when he’s unable to make it to the mosque. “This is the first time I’ve witnessed hate speech,” he said.
Muslims worldwide celebrate Eid al-Adha, or the Feast of the Sacrifice, which commemorates the story in the Quran of the Prophet Ibrahim’s willingness to sacrifice his son, Ismail. “It shares parallels to the biblical event, an act of sacrifice, gratitude for God’s blessings, and community gathering,” Shaikh explained.
Following the prayer, the center organized a picnic with activities for children on Monday afternoon. Established in the 1950s, the Islamic Center of San Francisco is the third-oldest mosque in California, according to Shaikh. “We had a permit to be at the park,” he wrote in an email. “We have never experienced this level of aggression, racism, and hatred before.”
Despite the incident, the community continued with their planned celebrations, emphasizing the importance of unity and resilience in the face of such adversity.
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