Author: NATE KARLIN

Source: The Tennessean

http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070410/NEWS06/704100349/1023

CLARKSVILLE — Jerome Heath hadn't even heard of a hate crime in Clarksville in the seven years he's lived here.

That changed Friday. That day, just two hours before the Islamic Center of Clarksville held its 1 p.m. 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." 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.

Bacon is offensive to Muslims because they are forbidden from eating pork.