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A few months ago, an evangelical preacher claiming to be acting on behalf of a divine revelation attempted to hijack an Aeromexico flight with 104 passengers and a crew of eight. Armed with a Bible and several cans of juice — which he hid under his jacket and pretended were bombs — this would-be hijacker threatened to blow up the airliner.
The story was initially aired by the mainstream media with high publicity until it was known the hijacker was not a Muslim. Then coverage stopped.
No further speculation was made of his religious motivations or his radical associations. There are countless events of terrorism fueled by extreme ideology like this worldwide. As an American Muslim, it bothers me when people expect Muslims to condemn violent crimes perpetrated by other Muslims. Nobody expected Christians to condemn or even apologize for the Aeromexico hijacker, the murderer of Dr. George Tiller, the Holocaust Memorial shooter, the Oklahoma bomber or the Lord’s Resistance Army, which commits heinous atrocities in Uganda. The list goes on.
The reason no Christian is asked to speak to these issues is that it’s assumed that homicidal Christians are not representative of Christianity as a whole. Muslims aren’t afforded the same assumption.
Since 9/11 there has been almost no civility in the American public discourse when it comes to dealing with Muslim or Arab citizens. Muslim-bashers, waiting or praying for the next act of terror committed by a Muslim, come out of the woodwork as soon as tragedy strikes.
I’m sure we have not yet forgotten how many people questioned Barack Obama’s middle name (Hussein), his Muslim father and his childhood years spent in Indonesia. Despite making it abundantly clear he was a practicing Christian, many Americans still believe Obama is a Muslim. But there is a deeper question to be asked than about why so many Americans were obsessed with Obama’s religion.
When did it become a crime to be a Muslim in this country?
The American Family Association, a conservative Christian group, has posted an article on its Web site that argues the tragedy at Fort Hood was a reason to start banning Muslims from the Army. Bryan Fischer, director of issues analysis for the association, wrote the article.
“This is not Islamophobia, it is Islamo-realism,” Fischer wrote. “It is time to stop the practice of allowing Muslims to serve in the U.S. military.” The reason? “The more devout a Muslim is, the more of a threat he is to national security.”
It is outrageous some people were making it a big deal that Maj. Nidal Hasan, the alleged shooter at Fort Hood, said “Allahu akbar” before his rampage, as if that meant anything. A good friend of mine, a Marine veteran, told me that while deployed, he was instructed to start shooting if he heard certain keywords, such as “jihad.”
He explained to his superior that as a practicing Muslim, he would say the words “Allahu akbar” while running or training. These types of words are called “dhikr,” which loosely translates to “remembrance of God.”
Despite American Muslim communities unequivocally condemning the Fort Hood shooting as a horrible murderous act, Muslim-bashers increased their assault on Islam and its followers. That is because most fear mongers misunderstand the real strategies of our enemies. Terrorists first provoke their enemy, hoping they will retaliate against potential supporters. Terrorism is nothing more than provoking the enemy to act irrationally, the same exact type of irrationality exhibited by Brian Fischer, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and the like. They count on the anger, fear and prejudice of their enemy and want to cause a knee-jerk reaction to make people act in such as a way to validate whatever message they want to spread.
It is up to Americans of all faiths, or lack thereof, to stand together for the rights of all citizens against harmful stereotypes based on religion or race.
Ismail Warsame hates the double standard and the name calling that is based on the irrational fears of the unknown.
