Tuesday, July 05, 2005
Burned Quran left by Muslim
The man left the Quran in the hope that mosque members would dispose of it properly.
The incident, which gained national media attention as a possible hate crime against Muslims, began June 11, when members of the Islamic Center of Blacksburg found the burned religious text in a plastic bag near the front door of the building. The case began to break last week after a Virginia Tech student who read about the burned Quran in The Collegiate Times informed police he was with the man who dropped off the Quran at the center, Blacksburg Police Chief Bill Brown said Monday.
On Friday, police contacted that man, who is now in Egypt, by e-mail and confirmed that he left the burned Quran at the mosque, Brown said.
The man said he was traveling to Egypt and did not know what to do with the text, which had been damaged in a 2004 house fire in Blacksburg.
Brown said the man left the Quran in the hope that mosque members would dispose of it properly. A note he attached apparently blew away, Brown said.
Sedki Riad, the director of the center, said the Muslim community in town is relieved that the case has been solved and that hate was not involved.
"There is nothing better than knowing that Blacksburg is what we expect it to be - a caring, friendly and supporting neighborhood. It is a big relief," Riad said.
Although police investigated the incident as a possible hate crime, police suspected other motives from the beginning, Brown said.
Because the Quran was in Arabic - English versions are easier to find in the area - Brown said officers believed it was owned by a Muslim. The text also was found doubled bagged, which made police believe someone was trying to be careful with the contents, Brown said.
Riad says Muslims may properly dispose of a damaged Quran by respectfully burning or shredding it entirely.
