A mosque in Murfreesboro, Tennessee was vandalised over the weekend with 'F**k Allah' spray painted onto the walls and bacon wrapped around door handles.

Islamic Center of Murfreesboro called the vandalism an "expression of anti-Muslim hatred" in a social media post before thanking the wider local community for "support and solidarity".

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"We hope that this incident is not a setback to all the progress we have made in our community since the opposition we faced when we built our new facility, just a few years ago."

The centre's outreach committee Chair, Dr Saleh Sbenaty referred to previous troubles the Islamic centre had had in the area. "We are certain that this incident will reinforce our unity and will not negatively impact our beautiful city and county."

The centre said that they were inviting people to come and show support on Tuesday night: "We will send a clear message that this type of hatred is absolutely not acceptable, and that there is no place for such hateful incidents in Murfreesboro or anywhere else in the United States of America."

Along with the spray painted graffiti, pictures of the vandalism show bacon pieces which appeared to be attempts at spelling out words.One picture showed writing saying "We are VANDAL group".

One of the mosque's founders, Abdou Kattih, also posted pictures of the damage, adding: "To the vandals: your hate will not reach beyond the walls of our center. We will clean it and your hate will make us stronger. Our Muslim community is all about love and caring."

"Get to know our community. Get to know our faith. Get to know us as individuals." Kattih also said in a Facebook post.

Rutherford County Sheriff's Office said that they had collected evidence and spoken to federal authorities about the crime. The Sheriff's Office said that the incident took place overnight on Sunday (9 July) and called on anyone with information to contact officers.