The Alabama chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations is calling on public officials to condemn growing anti-Islamic sentiment, specifically a flier they say has been distributed in northern Alabama. CAIR says the recruitment flier from the Ku Klux Klan has been seen in Cullman and Decatur and urges people help the group “fight the spread of Islam” in the United States.
The flier adds to tensions among Alabama Muslims sparked by Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump’s call to ban Muslims from entering the United States and a mass shooting in San Bernardino, California, last week which left 14 dead. Investigators believe the act was committed by a radicalized Muslim couple.
Birmingham area mosques have increased security. Birmingham resident Labeebah Abdullah is among those troubled by Trump’s comments.
“[I’m concerned] that someone with some type of ideology that connects with him will want to do something crazy,” said Abdullah. “And that’s the danger of that kind of rhetoric.”
Meanwhile Birmingham Islamic Society President Ashfaq Taufique says he’s contacted the FBI after several members received suspicious messages on social media. He says mosque members received friend requests from an unknown person. He says one member received a message from that unknown contact saying, “We are at war and we must stick together.”
Taufique says the communication came before the San Bernardino shootings and that the message is unclear, but it could be tied to extremism.