The mystery of the burning Qurans in Dearborn appears to have been solved.
Niraj Warikoo of the Detroit Free Press reports that Ali Hassan Al-Asadi, 51, a Detroiter born in Iraq who says he has a history of psychological problems, has admitted to burning Qurans in Dearborn on three separate occasions in the past month.
Al-Asadi says he was raised in Iraq as a Shia Muslim, but converted to Christianity and attends local churches.
One of the incidents on June 10 had raised speculation that it may have been tied in some way to the whacky Florida Pastor Terry Jones, who had plans to come to Dearborn days later.
The Freep reports that he was arrested June 25 outside the Karbalaa Islamic Education Center on Warren Avenue in Dearborn after he burned a Quran while holding a wooden club.
The Freep reports that Al-Asadi told police he burned another Quran earlier that day on Chase Road north of Warren Avenue in Dearborn and three Qurans on June 10 outside the Karbalaa center.
Police said that Al-Asadi claimed “a high-ranking official in the mosque defrauded him out of a large sum of money, and when he asked for it, he was belittled, humiliated, and hit with shoes.," the Freep reported.
He told the Freep on Monday that he had burned a dozen Qurans over the past year at several locations because of negative views about Muslims and a financial dispute with an Iraqi-American Muslim.
