Once again, following another Muslim terror attack, we are told it is not Islam at fault. No. Today the blame rests on Donald Trump! It’s his fault that two beautiful words “Allahu Akbar” have lost their glory. Not to be confused with “Aloo akbar” which means potatoes are great. A little humour.
I listened to this man, Wajahat Ali, on CBC the morning of Nov 6, 2017 speaking with Carol Off on As It Happens as she, as it happens, helped him share the blame for all of this on Donald Trump and his extreme vetting: the result of connecting “Allahu Akbar” with” terrorist attack.”
She interviewed him after reading his tale in the New York Times about the NY city terror attack.
Carol “It’s in the same breath that it’s said that he was a terrorist … so these are synonymous things in the public mind, aren’t they?
Mr. Ali “Exactly, and you said the same breath. It was the same headline. Because I was watching the rolling coverage… “In [Las Vegas], a month ago, Stephen Paddock, a white man, killed 58 people, injured 500. He’s still seen as a lone radical. We’re talking about mental health, and no one’s called him a terrorist. But what we know now is that if he had simply said “Allahu akbar,” it would have changed the whole conversation.
Yes, Mr. Ali, it would have changed the whole conversation. We would have known the motive.
Ali: “It seems like if a suspect is white, President Trump is utterly neutered in his response and can’t advocate any policy change. But if the suspect says “Allahu akbar,” within hours he said we’re going to do extreme vetting and then he also said we’re going to end the Diversity Lottery Visa that brought the individual here.”
And this is wrong for what reason?
Carol Off and guest did not mention that President Trump called the mass shooting in Las Vegas an “act of pure evil” on Monday following the attack where at least 59 people were killed and more than 500 injured in the deadliest such event in modern US history.
“Our unity cannot be shattered by evil, our bonds cannot be broken by violence and although we feel such great anger at the senseless murder of our fellow citizens, it is our love that defines us today and always will forever.”
The lesson from Mr. Ali: If President Trump had not put “terrorist” and “Allahu Akbar” together it would not have been a Muslim terror attack. It’s the language you see.
Wajahat Ali said referring to the terrorist attack in NY “The attack had similarities to the one that took place in Charlottesville, Va., in August, when a neo-Nazi, James Alex Fields, rammed his car into a crowd of people who were protesting against a rally staged by white nationalists, killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer and injuring 19 people.”
No, the attack in Charlottesville had similarities to Islamic terrorism that takes place all over the world in the name of Allahu Akbar. The attack in NY followed the pattern.
Ali said ,“President Trump defended his initial response blaming violence on “many sides,” saying, “It takes a little while to get the facts.” That caution doesn’t seem to be applied when the suspects have been described by witnesses as “Middle Eastern” — and definitely not when they’ve said, Allahu akbar.” Hmmm.
And Mr. Ali worries every time there is an attack.
Carol:When you heard news stories, as we did on Tuesday, that the New York City attacker shouted “Allahu akbar” after police apprehended him, how does that affect you?
“It’s Groundhog Day for Muslims after 9/11, because you sit there and you do something called the Muslim drill, which is a drill that many people of colour do. It’s a prayer: “Please don’t let it be a Muslim. Please don’t let it be a black guy. Please don’t let it be an Asian. Let it just be a white dude.
“Because if it’s a white dude, you know, white people — some of my best friends are white people — they will not be indicted, interrogated, investigated, convicted and sentenced by a nameless judge, jury and executioner and held accountable for the criminal actions of a few.”
Really?
But he is right about Groundhog Day. All of us wait for the official statement and when it includes that the suspect called out Allahu Akbar-God is great- we live the nightmare of Groundhog Day. We know what will come after another attack because we live in the New World Order of more security, more barriers, more inspections, more delays, and more fear, all of us. no matter race, creed, colour religion or sexual orientation, because of Muslim terrorism.
I suggest that Mr. Ali wants to portray himself and all Muslims as victims. Victims of…Islamophobia. He fears for Muslims, not Americans or Frenchman or Germans or Dutch or Jews for that matter. He fears blowback. We fear terror.
We have learned from history that these words, Allahu Akbar, indicate a terrorist attack. And we are not talking a few. That is the error. We are talking thousands.
The Twin Towers; Flight 92; The Pentagon; the Jews murdered in Israel in the name of Allahu Akbar-God is great. Open this
And here is a link to terror attacks across Europe just from the Charlie Hebdo attack: January 7, 2015 to Barcelona August 2018; which of course is now outdated.
And then there are the 1,332 people (mostly Jews) murdered by Palestinian (Mulsim) violence and terrorism since September 2000. Something that is rarely, if ever, reported on the CBC because for some reason Jews murdered in Israel don’t count.
Let us never forget 1994 attack in Argentina against a Jewish community centre killing 85 people and wounding hundreds more which came two years after a similar attack, also a car bombing, on the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires, on March 17, 1992, which murdered 29 people.
Ali:
“I’m 37 years old. In all those years, I, like an overwhelming majority of Muslims, have never uttered “Allahu akbar” before or after committing a violent act. Unfortunately, terrorists like ISIS and Al Qaeda and their sympathizers, who represent a tiny fraction of Muslims, have.”
He might be right. Maybe they commit terror without using that language. Or maybe the tiny fraction is not so tiny. This was recorded in 2014.
If still in doubt, watch this video. This is Islam, 1989, planning its entrance into America to take over the country “Making all of America Muslim.” And the words are spoken lovingly and calmly by a Muslim woman wearing a Hijab.
From the Ethics of the Fathers: “Rabbi Tarfon used to say, it is not incumbent upon you to complete the task, but you are not exempt from undertaking it.”
