Two-alarm fire at mosque under investigation

HOUSTON (FOX 26) - From the outside the damage to the mosque seems to be small. But when a house of worship burns the implications are huge.

A spokesperson with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) says the fire appears to be suspicious, citing multiple points of origin to the fire.

Saturday morning  the Houston chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Houston) called on local, state and federal law enforcement authorities to investigate a possible bias motive for the fire.

Abdruman works in the mosque. He says everything is in good mechanical order. 

"For me it would be hard to understand that something would happen like an accident inside this facility like electrical."

It started around 2:45. Although firefighters got to the scene two minutes after being called,  the inside of the mosque was already an inferno. 80 firefighters in all battled the flames which pretty much stayed in the just mosque.

"The fire stops helped contain the fire and keep it from spreading but also the the firefighters did a good job." said Deputy Chief Fernando Herrera.

Houston arson investigators are trying to figure out how it started.

They aren't the only ones.

This was a house of worship, so the Feds are here too.

Although it will be a while before we know, attacks on Muslims and mosques have increased sharply since the Paris and San Bernardino attacks but remain below the post-September 11 levels.

Not everyone is convinced there was foul play.

"Come on. We could make speculation out of this," said Sikindar Kahn. "Stuff happens all the time. I doubt it, I doubt it."

"I know it was a short circuit.  Accident. Nothing more ." insisted Dr. Muhammad Yousef.