After fire destroys Texas mosque, thousands chip in to help rebuild it

Firefighters respond to a fire at the Islamic Centre of Victoria at the weekend in Victoria, Texas. Photo / AP

Nearly US$1 million has been raised online to help rebuild a mosque in Texas, which was destroyed in a weekend blaze.

By today, more than US$950,000 had been pledged through a GoFundMe page to the Islamic Centre of Victoria.

"Our faith in humanity has been rekindled again," the mosque said on Facebook as money - and prayers - poured in.

"The thousands of messages, prayers, and donations from all over the globe have been phenomenal," mosque officials added.

A service station clerk told the Victoria Advocate that he called emergency responders after he spotted the smoke and the fire from the blaze, the cause of which is not yet known.

"It's sad to stand there and watch it collapse down, and the fire was so huge," the mosque's president, Shahid Hashmi, said, according to AP. "It looks completely destroyed."

Officials are still working to determine the cause of the fire, according to the Advocate, which reported that the investigation process could take some time.

Fire Marshal Tom Legler also cautioned against a rush to judgment, the Advocate reported.

But the Texas office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations urged investigators "to keep the possibility of a bias motive for this fire in mind," citing "growing anti-Muslim bigotry in our nation, and . . . the recent spike in hate incidents targeting Islamic institutions and individuals".

Whatever the cause, the blaze came amid a rise in anti-Muslim rhetoric, behaviour and vandalism in the United States. In November, US law enforcement agencies had reported more than 200 anti-Muslim incidents in 2015. That was an increase of more than 60 per cent from the year before.

The fire also came amid a heated debate about President Donald Trump's executive order temporarily shutting US borders to refugees and migrants from seven Muslim-majority countries. The order - signed on Saturday - sparked confusion and led to heated protests in airports across the country.

More than 18,000 people had donated to rebuild the mosque, and the campaign had already surpassed its goal of US$850,000.