Community leaders call for further investigation after Minneapolis mosque fire ruled accidental
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A fire at a basement entrance to a Minneapolis mosque on Monday evening has Muslim leaders in the Twin Cities on edge and calling for further investigation. That’s despite an investigation from the Minneapolis Fire Department Tuesday concluding that the fire was “accidental.”
The Minneapolis Fire Department said the fire was reported at 5:31 p.m. on Monday at the Alhikma Islamic Center on 32nd Street in south Minneapolis, which includes both a mosque and a child care facility. Firefighters extinguished a “rubbish fire” made up of clothes and trash near the basement entrance before it spread inside the building. The inside of the mosque was undamaged and there were no injuries.
Neither police nor firefighters interviewed anyone on the scene or asked to view surveillance footage of a person leaving the entrance before flames erupted, said Jaylani Hussein, executive director of the Minnesota chapter of the Council of American-Islamic Relations.
“We want law enforcement to engage on this matter immediately. And to ensure that the public and our communities and churches and mosques across the state of Minnesota, and here in Minneapolis, can rest assured that there’s not another attacker who’s loose who is starting another fire,” Hussein said.
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Muslims in the region have been rattled by previous attacks on mosques. Hussein said they’ve documented 16 attacks on mosques in Minnesota in 2024. Just last month, 38-year-old Jackie Rahm Little pleaded guilty in federal court to arson and damaging religious property for setting fire to mosques in Bloomington and Minneapolis in 2023.
Alhikma’s Imam Abdirizak Kaynan said between 50-60 children are typically at the daycare attached to the mosque. He said investigators “treated this like a dumpster fire in an empty lot” even though children were nearby.
A spokesperson for the Minneapolis Police Department said they take all community members’ concerns seriously and that investigators arranged to get surveillance video from the mosque’s leaders. Police said the investigation is still ongoing. Police are urging anyone with information on the fire to contact investigators.
A statement from the Minneapolis Fire Department said it was “determined to be an accidental fire from possible unhoused population utilizing the stairwell area.”
The mosque’s leaders said the basement entrance had been used by homeless people. They say attempts to lock people out were unsuccessful. Minneapolis police said accumulated trash and drug paraphernalia had been an ongoing issue at the site.
