Ismail Gula, ISGD secretary, said people were praying during the weekly service when some in the audience began to cough and experience breathing troubles, then left the building. Once outside, several of them called 911, Gula said.

Tarek Sabagh, a member of the ISGD board, wasn’t present when the incident occurred.

He said his daughter called and told him to stay away because of the possibility of remaining fumes. Sabagh arrived shortly after and watched from the mosque’s steps as members were allowed back inside about 11 p.m. to collect belongings.

“It’s very disturbing,” Sabagh said. “Something like this has never happened before.”

Sabagh said members moved to a Beavercreek school to finish their prayer session as police continued to investigate.

“I don’t know if people will have the feeling of trust to come back tomorrow or next week or next month,” Sabagh said. “I don’t know how people will feel.”

If this had happened at a Christian church, there would be search teams out looking for the responsible parties. It would be the top news story on every national publication and news show. But it didn’t happen to Christians. It happened to Muslims. 

In what is probably not a coincidence, the DVD ”Obsession: Radical Islam’s War Against the West” was distributed last Monday via advertising inserts in the newspapers in the area (and nationwide in other swing states). Distribution of the Islamophobic film was handled by the Clarion Fund and Endowment for Middle East Truth. The Clarion Fund has ties to a pro-Israel organization and may face a FEC investigation due to a pro-McCain article they posted (then retracted). The board of the Endowment for Middle East Truth includes James Woolsey (one of John McCain’s foreign policy advisers) and Frank Gaffney (neoconservative extraordinaire). There are many neoconservative/Republican fingerprints on this DVD project that aims to stoke fears of another terrorist attack. The fearmongering itself adds fuel to the fires of domestic terrorists like those that sprayed chemicals into that Ohio mosque. The irony is thick. 

The religious community of Dayton is gathering in solidarity around those effected by this incident and are speaking out about the message of the DVD: 

Also on Sunday, members of several Dayton religious groups were scheduled to view and discuss a DVD about Islamic radicalism mailed to some area homes and circulated with newspapers here and around the country.

“Obsession: Radical Islam’s War Against the West,” was a paid advertising insert in the Dayton Daily News, Springfield News-Sun, Hamilton JournalNews and Middletown Journal, all owned by Cox Ohio Publishing, on Monday, Sept. 22. It appeared in more than 70 other newspapers nationwide.

The Rev. Gary Percesepe, executive director of Greater Dayton Christian Connections, characterized the DVD as “fanning the flames of fear and prejudice against Muslims, with the potential to inspire hate crimes.”