Muslim group sent defaced Quran page in mail

The nation’s largest Muslim advocacy group on Monday said it received a page of the Quran smeared with “a foreign substance” assumed to be feces.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said the message sent to its Washington, D.C., headquarters also contained a “racist” image depicting former President Obama as monkey.

“This is just a sample of the hate targeting American Muslims and other minority groups in the wake of the presidential election,” CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad said on Facebook. “These bigoted acts will never stop us from defending the civil rights and freedom of all Americans,” he added.

{mosads}CAIR said Monday’s message originated from an apparently fake return address in Michigan and will be turned over to law enforcement officials.

Images posed on the group’s Facebook page show one page of an English translation of the Quran defaced with a dark brown substance.

At least two pictures show Obama’s faced superimposed over a chimpanzee’s body, with one photo bearing the caption “Primate in Chief.”

CAIR has called for investigations into potential bias motives inspiring 35 incidents targeting mosques across the country so far this year.

The Muslim advocacy group recorded 19 such incidents during the same period spanning January to March last year.

CAIR last month accused the Trump administration of “deafening silence” on the rise of anti-Muslim incidents nationwide. 

“President Trump must speak out against the growing Islamophobia in our nation for which he bears substantial blame,” Awad said in a statement.