Bloody weekend in U.S.
The other weekend was a bloody one for the Americans. Media reported 31 died and scores were injured in separate mass shootings hours between each other.
The first shooting on 3 August, a Saturday, happened at a Walmart mall in El Paso, Texas where 22 were killed. In less than 24 hours, another shooting at Dayton, Ohio killed nine. The horrible crime came less than a week when a teenager killed three people in a California food festival.
America has a problem. And it is not coming from the nationals of the seven majority Muslim countries earlier singled out by President Trump as restricted from entering the US, a policy widely known as the Muslim ban.
Recall that on 27 January 2017 Trump issued an unnumbered Executive Order which seeks “to protect the American people from terrorist attacks by foreign nationals admitted to the United States.” It’s an executive fiat way off its mark. A study in fact shows that there were more killings perpetrated by white supremacist than by jihadists.
I write about the horrific carnage to describe my impulse feeling during the early hours after I learned about it from CNN.
Like everyone else, I had experienced initial shock. But even as my heart bled for the victims, I had this overpowering feeling of disquiet about the identity of the culprit. I had the same attack of mixed fear, anxiety and condemnation when I was watching the World Trade Center bombed to flames. Believe me, my mind was prepared for a report that the shooting was again the handiwork of Muslim jihadists. Images of the massacre of Muslim devotees attending a Friday congregation mass at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand immediately flashed back to me. I thought this must be an eye-for-an-eye retribution.
When the 9/11 holocaust happened, I shivered at the thought of its possible backlash to Islam and its adherents. I thought about innocent Muslims who will bear the brunt of hate for the crime of a few just because of religious affiliation. The dark and violent days of the Crusader wars in the Middle Ages came cascading in my mind. It will take a lifetime to heal the wound and scar inflicted by 9/11. To this day, the antipeace effect of 9/11 is felt.
Imagine my relief when authorities reported having positively identified the culprits as white supremacists who, in the case of the El Paso incident, targeted the local Hispanic community. The unfolding events showed that it was xenophobia, bigotry, racism and hate of homegrown white nationalists that triggered the bloodbath. It has no religious dimension. Politics came into play when critics of President Trump put the blame on his incendiary rhetoric against immigrants and flawed policy on gun ownership.
Readers, my initial reaction was a product of a mindset of non-Muslims engaged in profiling. Every time a mass shooting or violent terrorism occurs, the knee jerk conclusion of many is that it was done by a Muslim terrorist out to court death as his passport to paradise, where virgins await him. This is a crazy indictment, if not insulting to true Muslims.
The community of Muslims feel pain and insult being associated with violent and heinous crimes committed by an errant few.
Islam is founded and is deeply rooted in the teaching of peace. Somebody said that the three world great religions are known for their special teachings. Christianity teaches love, Judaism justice and Islam peace.
Contrary to earlier belief, evangelization of Islam was not carried through the sword. Early narratives of wars led by Prophet Muhamad PBUH during the infant days of Islam were defensive wars, waged in defense of the religion and the injustices committed against early Muslims.
The 9/11 by al-Qaeda and the Islamic State rampage have much to do with profiling Muslims and associating them with mass killings. This is understandable. But let us not be slave of that mindset. Let us accept the fact that in any forest there are snakes but this does not define the forest.
Prejudging anybody is not healthy. This is the cancerous source of social ills that we must extricate from our mind.
“Every time a mass shooting or violent terrorism occurs, the knee jerk conclusion of many is that it was done by a Muslim terrorist out to court death as his passport to paradise, where virgins await him.
“When the 9/11 holocaust happened, I shivered at the thought of its possible backlash to Islam and its adherents.