A Muslim preacher was hurt in an apparently religiously or racially motivated attack inside his mosque in the Scottish city of Glasgow, police, health officials and witnesses said Saturday. Imam Mohammed Shamsuddin, 53, the Bangladeshi imam at the Dawat ul Islam centre in Glasgow, was attacked Friday evening and taken to a hospital for treatment to minor injuries, health officials said. He was discharged Friday night. Witnesses said the suspect, a white man, shouted abuse at Shamsuddin before punching and kicking him with anything he could lay his hands on, including a safety deposit box and a chair.Strathclyde Police said they were treating the attack as racially motivated. The incident comes after a suspected arson attack on a mosque last week that caused 10,000 poundsÂ’ worth of damage. The mosque, which was established by members of the Bangladeshi community, is on the edge of the University of Glasgow campus and is used by Muslim students.
Khalid Rehman, a close family friend of the injured imam, said: “A man came into the mosque holding some stones and asked the imam something along the lines of why Allah permits people to be punished with stones.” Worshippers who had come to break their fast during the holy month of Ramazan were horrified when the man then attacked the imam, witnesses said. Tommy Sheridan, a member of the autonomous Scottish parliament, said the attack occurred because Muslims were being isolated and demonised by British politicians.