Not long after a prayer meeting Tuesday night at the Islamic Society of Augusta's mosque off Pleasant Home Road, Mr. Hashmi, the society's president, got a call about vandalism.

A profane message to Osama bin Laden, along with the words ''coward'' and ''U.S.A.,'' had been spray-painted on the brick Islamic Center sign.

Mr. Hashmi said he isn't angry - or surprised. Within hours of the Oklahoma City bombing in April 1995, trash had been dumped near the mosque and a brick hurled through a window, he said.

Like other Muslim organizations across the country, the Islamic Society of Augusta issued a statement Tuesday condemning the attacks in New York and Washington.

Maintenance worker Ricky Allen cleans anti-Muslim graffiti off the sign at the Islamic Center of Augusta. The center was also targeted after the Oklahoma City bombing was falsely blamed on foreign terrorists. ANDREW DAVIS TUCKER/STAFF

Several news accounts already have linked men rumored to be of Arab descent to the jet hijackings. American Muslims know some people will want quick revenge, and they don't want to be targeted.

About 350 Muslim families live in the Augusta area, Mr. Hashmi said.

Muslim leaders point out that the Koran teaches that anyone who kills an innocent person, including a Christian or a Jew, can't enter paradise. They also want to remind their neighbors that many Muslims likely perished in the attacks Tuesday.

''All of us wish this had never happened,'' said Mahsoub Elnaggar, the imam, or minister, of the Islamic Society of Augusta. ''All of us have the same pain.''

If some extremist faction turns out to be responsible, ''I think the entire Muslim population would disavow them. I would have a hard time accepting that they're Muslim,'' said Shabeer Abubucker, a third-year medical student at the Medical College of Georgia who was born in India.

Clyde Flanagan, a psychiatrist at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine, said people must avoid the irrational fear that led to Japanese-Americans being interned in concentration camps during World War II.

''We can't get caught up in the desire to do something and turn to scapegoats,'' Dr. Flanagan said.

According to the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations, there haven't been as many attacks on Muslims this week as there were after the Oklahoma City bombing. Research Director Mohamed Nimer said the council received more than 200 reports within 48 hours in 1995.

It had received 70 reports since Tuesday, including two businesses set on fire in Bethesda, Md., and a drive-by shooting at a mosque in Irving, Texas, Mr. Nimer said.

The council has asked those who wear Islamic garb to stay indoors or not wear the clothing, for safety reasons, he said.

The thought crossed Hajra Hasan's mind before she went to class at Lakeside High School. The 17-year-old senior said she has been wearing her hijab, a head cover, to school anyway.

''I'm not going to forsake my religion because of a few extremists,'' Hajra said.

Reach Johnny Edwards at (706) 823-3225 or johnny.edwards@augustachronicle.com.