Toronto police are investigating an incident where two men who hand out information about Islam and copies of the Qur’an at St. Lawrence Market say they and their books were sprayed with urine.

On Feb. 25, between 10:30 and 11:30 a.m, Quazi Islam and his friend Gerges Hamad were in their usual spot, by the LCBO, talking to people.

Islam said he was about two feet away from the table, and when he came back he saw something like water on it.

“I asked my friend Hamad if it rained,” Islam said.

The pair looked around and saw that the tablecloth, the copies of the Qur’an and the chair were wet.

“And it smelled . . . bad,” he said.

Islam and Hamad have been giving out information on the religion for about two years. While there are the “occasional bad apples” Islam said most people are “very nice.”

The men reported the incident to police, who confirmed they are investigating the potential mischief charges, but have not ruled out the possibility of a hate crime.

Islam said most of the abuse is verbal, though he added that he’s also had people spit on him.

He said the most hate and abuse he receives is when there is a big terror incident, such as the Paris shootings.

“They say Prophet Mohammed is a pedophile . . . Some people say we oppress women,” Islam said. “Why I am distributing this dirty idea of Islam in this country?”

People usually have misconceptions about the religion because they confuse the culture of a country with that of Islam, he said, but added that there are more people who stand up for them than abuse them.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

“Most people . . . 99.9999 per cent of people are supportive,” he said. “If someone uses abusive language, people stop and fight (on) our behalf.”

With files from Vjosa Isai