A 37-year-old man from Gloucester has been arrested in connection with an arson attack at the Masjid-E-Noor mosque in Gloucester.
Police have labelled it a 'hate crime' but said they do not believe it was a terrorist attack.
Fuel was poured on the front door of the Ryecroft Street mosque and set alight at about 12.50am today.
The attack comes just three days after an open day was held at the Muslim place of worship to welcome in the community.
Officers said the incident was caught on CCTV.
The door sustained light fire damage and no one was injured.
A statement issued today by the Gloucester Muslim Welfare Association condemened the alleged arson.
It said: "We are deeply saddened to report that there was an arson attack at our Mosque late last night.
"We want to reassure our worshippers and community members that the security at the Mosque is being treated very seriously.
"We are working very closely with the Police to deal with this very serious and cowardly act. We have every confidence in the Police and Justice System that they will deal with this matter and the perpetrators will be appropriately dealt with.
"Gloucester Muslim Welfare Association and the Mosque will continue and remains committed to work towards promoting peace, tolerance and community cohesion across all sections of the community."
Chief Inspector for Gloucester Richard Burge said: "Gloucester has a wonderfully diverse and welcoming community and I know people will be upset and angry about this.
"In recent weeks I've been buoyed by the fact we haven't seen any of the tensions there have been elsewhere in the country.
"I know now the community will come together, help us with our inquiries and show that it utterly rejects acts like this.
"We'll be increasing community patrols in the area and I'm confident we'll be able to find the offender swiftly."
Hempsted resident Hussain Vorajee, whose 10-year-old son goes to the mosque, said: "It's very sad.
"We have been a very tight community here in Gloucester for many decades now and this kind of behaviour must be zero tolerance.
"We hold an open day and the response was fantastic and then a day or so later it gets attacked.
"It could have easily been my father or my sons who could have been injured or hurt in this attack.
"Police will need to guard most of the mosques across the UK to stop this happening again. It's a matter of time before someone is seriously hurt or killed."
Anyone with information should call police on 101 quoting incident 15 of June 18.
Alternatively information can be given anonymously on 0800 555 111, or via the Crimestoppers website . In some cases Crimestoppers offer rewards of up to £1000 where information leads to a conviction.
