By Sikander Hayat
Muslims in the west wake up every morning with the fear lurking somewhere in their minds of possible attacks in the west in the name of Islam. There lies the fear of many that any such attack will bring their faith into disrepute and put their lives in danger.
What happened in Fort Hood, Texas, was the realisation of their worst fears. A Muslim army officer Major Malik Nadal Hasan killed 12 of his fellow soldiers at this base and injured many others.
It is not uncommon in United States to have shootings at the public places and many people get killed each year due to lax gun laws and habit of many US citizens to carry guns but when a person with a Muslim name is involved in any such incident, implications become huge. 9/11 is not a very distant memory, also US is fighting two increasingly unpopular wars in the Muslim countries of Iraq & Afghanistan and this reality of an ongoing war between US & Islam fuels deep emotions on both sides of the divide.
It cannot be said for sure that motivation for this attack was political and coming days will give
us a concrete answer on the inspiration for this attack. The shooter is in custody of the US army albeit with grave injuries and there is a good chance that he will be able to provide an account of his crime and what urged him to commit this crime.
We shall wait for that moment and hope that this was not an act committed in the name of Islam because that possibility will create problems for the American Muslims whose overwhelming majority seeks nothing but the American dream and do not want to have anything to do with random acts of violence.
Muslims in the west wake up every morning with the fear lurking somewhere in their minds of possible attacks in the west in the name of Islam. There lies the fear of many that any such attack will bring their faith into disrepute and put their lives in danger.
What happened in Fort Hood, Texas, was the realisation of their worst fears. A Muslim army officer Major Malik Nadal Hasan killed 12 of his fellow soldiers at this base and injured many others.
It is not uncommon in United States to have shootings at the public places and many people get killed each year due to lax gun laws and habit of many US citizens to carry guns but when a person with a Muslim name is involved in any such incident, implications become huge. 9/11 is not a very distant memory, also US is fighting two increasingly unpopular wars in the Muslim countries of Iraq & Afghanistan and this reality of an ongoing war between US & Islam fuels deep emotions on both sides of the divide.
It cannot be said for sure that motivation for this attack was political and coming days will give
us a concrete answer on the inspiration for this attack. The shooter is in custody of the US army albeit with grave injuries and there is a good chance that he will be able to provide an account of his crime and what urged him to commit this crime. We shall wait for that moment and hope that this was not an act committed in the name of Islam because that possibility will create problems for the American Muslims whose overwhelming majority seeks nothing but the American dream and do not want to have anything to do with random acts of violence.
Comments
Post a Comment
Thanks for leaving comments. You are making this discussion richer and more beneficial to everyone. Do not hold back.