LAS VEGAS, Nevada (KSNV) – Las Vegas authorities are searching for a man who was caught on camera defacing a local mosque, with bacon.
Pork is considered unclean in the Islamic tradition, and Muslims are forbidden from eating or touching it.
The raw bacon was wrapped on door handles outside Masjid-e-Tawheed.
Surveillance video shows worshipers finding the pork Sunday just before early morning prayer.
At 3:17 a.m., you can see a man tossing bacon at the backdoor of the mosque. Seconds later, you see him at the front door, struggling to open the package as he puts a few strips in his mouth.
Local Muslims try to make sense of it all.
“Am I disgusted? Yes. Is this a crazy idea? Yes, it is. Am I offended by it? I am,” said the Masjid-e-Tawheed mosque’s founding member, Rokai Yusufzai.
“What if one of us came early to do some prayer, and he met this person face to face, what will happen? Maybe he could be armed,” said member Ismaeel Almughrabe.
The act is being described as a hate crime.
Despite being offended however, one member of the mosque extended a peaceful invitation to the vandal to come speak with them.
