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Calgary Muslim community reeling from attack on Prophet's Mosque

Calgary Muslim community reeling from attack on Prophet's Mosque

Calgary's Muslim community is reeling following a suicide bombing outside the mosque that is the burial site for the Prophet Muhammad.

Four security officers were killed and five people injured in Monday's attack in Medina, Saudi Arabia.

There were similar attacks outside a Shiite mosque and a U.S. consulate in two other Saudi cities.

Calgary Imam Syed Soharwardy said it's a wake-up call to Muslims.

"This is not a war between Christians and Muslims, this is not a war between Muslims and Jews, this is a war on our faith," he said. "And we do not know who are behind this war, but we know there are people who are attacking the whole faith."

End of Ramadan

Soharwardy said five million Muslims are visiting Saudi Arabia right now as Ramadan wraps up.

"God forbid if this attack had been inside the mosque, fortunately the attack on the Prophet's Mosque took place in the parking lot, not inside the mosque. Hundreds and hundreds and thousands of people would have died," he said.

Soharwardy warned that an attack on one of the holiest sites in Islam, as well as a rise in Islamophobia in Canada and beyond, will lead to more radicalization.

"I am sure that these attacks would not be done by any Muslim regardless of their sect," he said.

Soharwardy said Canada's Muslims are calling on Muslim governments around the world to conduct their own investigation into who is behind the attacks, rather than relying on western resources.

The attacks in Saudi Arabia come after a series of bloody attacks over the past week in Turkey, Bangladesh and Iraq.