On Saturday, October 27th, a white supremacist Robert Bowers killed eleven people and injured six others in a Pittsburgh synagogue. After exchanging gunfire with police he was taken into custody while stating, “They’re committing genocide to my people. I just want to kill Jews.” Robert Bowers is facing several criminal charges including a hate crime.
Comment:
This deadly shooting highlights the significant rise of hate crimes in the country and the toxic political environment underpinning such crimes. During the past few years, we have seen white supremacist and nationalist emboldened to openly articulate their views with mainstream coverage and rallies as seen in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017. The rise of the ‘alt-right’ or the far-right political parties across Europe and in some South American countries is a product of Liberalism and not an aberration. The very foundations of Liberalism breads intolerance against anyone that opposes their ideas, values or ethics and its natural outcome is hate or persecution against a minority group that differs from the majority. There is historical precedent for this as was seen in several European countries with the rise of populism and parallels can be drawn to our current discourse. President Trump cannot be solely blamed for the climate in the country but he has definitely emboldened the racists, nationalists, Islamophobes and xenophobes.
Moreover, we should point out the inconsistencies of how terms like ‘terrorism’ or ‘hate crimes’ are used. This incident accurately fits a definition of terrorism – an act of violence to further political aims or ideology. However, the current discourse is devoid of any use of the term terrorism. Hate crimes against Muslims like the three students that were killed in Chapel Hill, North Carolina which occurred during the Obama administration is an example of such bias. Craig Hicks, the suspect was not charged with a hate crime and the media coverage was reduced to an altercation over a parking space. Furthermore, far-right white extremist have been responsible for more domestic terrorism incidents as compared to any other group1.
We have also seen how the Muslim community responded to this unfortunate event by giving support to the Jewish community including raising a significant amount of money. Islam teaches us to honor life and protect places of worship. It forbids racism and evaluates one’s superiority only upon the level of Taqwa (God consciousness) and righteousness of the individual.
Allah سبحانه وتعالى says,
يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ إِنَّا خَلَقْنَاكُم مِّن ذَكَرٍ وَأُنثَى وَجَعَلْنَاكُمْ شُعُوبًا وَقَبَائِلَ لِتَعَارَفُوا إِنَّ أَكْرَمَكُمْ عِندَ اللَّهِ أَتْقَاكُمْ إِنَّ اللَّهَ عَلِيمٌ خَبِيرٌ
“O mankind! We created you from a single (pair) of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that ye may know each other. Verily the most honored of you in the sight of Allah is (he who is) the most righteous of you. And Allah has full knowledge and is well acquainted (with all things).” (Al-Hujurat: 13)
Moreover, under the Islamic system (Caliphate), non-Muslim citizens (Dhimmi’s) are protected and are not abused or considered second-class citizens.
The Messenger of Allah (saw) said: “He who harms a person under covenant (Dhimmi), or charged him more than he can, I will argue against him on the Day of Judgement.”
Historically, under the Ottoman Caliphate, Jews flourished and were protected from persecution, a fact that is lost to the Zionist Israeli state. Historian Stanford Shaw mentions in his book, Jews, Turks, and Ottomans: Fifteenth through Twentieth Century, “The Ottoman Empire had for centuries provided a safe haven for Jewish refugees from Europe. The large-scale migrations of Jews from Spain, Portugal, and other European countries in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries are well known and have been discussed in detail. However, later Jewish population movements to the Ottoman Empire are less well known. Still, over the years, many European Jews individually or in small groups continued to settle in Ottoman dominions for political, economic, or religious reasons. In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the influx of Jewish refugees into the shrinking Ottoman lands rose again. This time, the migration was mainly caused by persecution in the newly independent Balkan states.”
One must challenge the so-called tolerance of Liberal societies where Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, racism and xenophobia have become mainstream and normalized. The melting pot is surely boiling over.
