‘Motive to mosque attack’
Community ‘does not believe attacker unstable’
‘WE ARE not buying that,” said community activist Imran Mukadam to the Somali Association of SA’s claim that the Somalian national who allegedly attacked a mosque in Malmesbury was mentally disturbed.
Mukadam believes there is a lot more to the attack. “That is an excuse that we are not buying, because there was some sort of motive behind this,” Mukadam said.
Somali Noor Abdulle Araale was on his way to Vredenberg to celebrate Eid. The Somali community said that Araale was “unstable and restless”.
“We are still appealing for calm, but we want the Somali leadership to be open and transparent with us, and tell us the real story,” Mukadam said.
He’s also calling for security to be stepped up at the country’s border posts. “We are letting people cross the border into South Africa without vetting them or going through the proper security checks.
“…And they could be part of radical groups or extremists, potentially dangerous,” Mukadam said.
The Somali Association of SA chairperson Abdikadir Mohamed said the attack at the Malmesbury mosque was due to Araale’s unstable mental health.
“There was no sinister motive behind it. The Muslim leadership understands how accidents happen. And the accident affected all of us, and we are sorry about it,” Mohamed said, adding that they will be engaging with the Muslim Judicial Council (MJC) and the Muslim community to discuss security measures.
Tension within the Muslim community has been escalating, since Muslim organisations signed a peace agreement, the Cape Accord, about three weeks ago.
A media briefing was expected to be held last week, but was cancelled after some signatories were threatened.
Gatesville Civic Association chairperson, Sataar Parker said he didn’t want to speculate on the motive behind the attack.
“Speculation is not warranted and we condemn this in the strongest possible terms,” Parker said. He urged the community to remain calm and allow the authorities to do their work.
The MJC said the attacks were in no way linked to the signing of the Cape Accord. “There e always been differences of opinion in the Muslim community just like other religions, but that doesn’t mean we must attack each other ,” said MJC spokesperson Mishka Daries.
THE lead article, “Wife tells of Mosque horror”, refers (Cape Argus, June 15).
The brutal attacks in Ottawa, KwaZulu-Natal and Malmesbury in Cape Town undeniably need to be condemned in the strongest possible terms.
However, without a police report or other evidence, it is disingenuous to connect them to intolerance among Muslims or difference of opinions among Muslim scholars, or anti-Shia sentiments, .
At the moment there is a lot of speculation. Most of the statements are not supported by research and so are definitely questionable.
I cannot understand why some sections of the mass media are trying their best to link the attack in Ottawa in KwaZulu-Natal to this attack in Malmesbury.
Despite the fact that the Hawks have made no arrests and have not commented about the progress of the investigations, I find that some reporters are writing in their articles or news reports that sectarian tensions or alleged heightened discord within the Muslim community could be behind the violence. Is there credible evidence or reliable data to prove this?
For centuries, various groupings of Muslims have lived in South Africa, and the relationship between themselves with their multiplicity of practices and fellow South Africans includes years of coexistence and co-operation – not conflict and violence.
Why, suddenly, are we hearing and witnessing these unheard-of, strange and violent attacks? This cycle of speculation must immediately end.
Allow the law-enforcing agencies to complete their investigations and release a statement before commenting and analysing the situation.