Officials at the Eccles and Salford Islamic Centre believe the gang was disturbed by the Imam, who returned to the mosque unexpectedly. Otherwise the damage could have been worse.
The attack happened late on Friday night. Secretary general Ali Anees says the incident has caused distress in the community. He is appealing for people living nearby to be on the look-out in future.
He said: "When we finished the last prayer on Friday night at 10pm everyone left the mosque. When the Imam came back to the mosque at about 11.30pm he saw the front door was open and the lights were on - but he didn't read that much into it because he just thought that someone was inside.
"He went in through the back door, which was open as well, and then found that the Koran was on the floor and paintings with Koranic verses on the walls had been smashed - and all the windows had been smashed too. All the glass was on the floor.
"The front door by then was closed - and we think they may have been disturbed. There was also paint stripper that had been left behind. It hadn't been used for anything."
Over the weekend officials have been clearing the broken glass and boarding up the broken windows. They are hoping for donations to pay for repairs.
Mr Anees says the mosque has a good relationship with the community. But recently thieves stole 15 pairs of shoes from outside the mosque.
"The next day we found them," said Mr Anees. "They had been thrown onto the roof of a garage nearby."
Deborah.haile@men-news.co.uk
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I'm not a particularly religious person, but are there no sacred places left anymore? It wasn't too long ago when a church being attacked would have been a shocking news story. But no one bats an eyelid these days. Attacks on any places where people practise their faith are despicable. It's slightly comforting that the culprits wouldn't know what that word means. In fact, they don't know the meaning of anything, because their brains are too small to accomodate any knowledge or understanding.
I think this is absolutley pathetic...i think its true that not much will be done about this and that all hell would break loose if it was a church....why has everyone got this way ?...people have become so ignorant about respecting religion and culture....they try to make excuses for this behaviour...
i hope if they find the people(hardly!) that did this ,that they have their photos on the front page of the national newspapers.....why is tolerance allowed if it is a hate crime against muslims ,jewish and sikhs and not against christians and catholics.....all should be equal....
i think this act of vandalism is totally out of order, and downright disrespectful. at such times as now and the way the world is just now we as all religions should be comming together as one but no as always the small minded and ignorant seem to crawl out of their hole and gloat on the troubles! chin up!
'Anon' is seriously wrong. Attacks on churches in Lancashire are commonplace and rarely reported beyond the local paper.
Also, what's the reason for differentiating between 'Christian' and 'Catholic'?