Defaced Quran found on steps at Islamic Center

Jerome Heath hasn't heard of a hate crime in Clarksville in the seven years he's lived here.

But now he finds himself in the midst of one — a crime that is placing Muslims on higher alert.

Two hours before the Islamic Center of Clarksville held its 1 p.m. Friday prayer service, called Jummah, a Quran was found vandalized on the front steps.

The front of the Quran, Islam's holy book, read "Mohammad pedophile" while an expletive was written inside, smeared under two strips of bacon, according to a Clarksville Police report. The report labeled the incident a hate crime.

The bacon strips are offensive to Muslims because they are forbidden from eating pork.

"We were upset. Actually some of us were outraged, but everyone was upset," said Heath, a representative of the center. "We see it a lot on the news in Nashville (because) Nashville has a large Muslim population. But here in Clarksville — being a lot smaller than Nashville and Clarksville being very diverse with Fort Campbell — it was the last we thing we expected." [Link]