http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/05/05/new.york.bomb.suspect/?hpt=T2
Like many of you I’ve been watching for days as this story of the foiled Times Square bomber unfolded. Up until now I think I’ve kind of gotten immune to this sort of thing. It goes without saying that we abhor things like this and it’s just shameful that these horrific acts are connected with Muslims. But the fact of the matter is my mind was usually preoccupied with what this meant for me and ‘my own’.
A few days ago all I kept telling my husband how sad it is that this is the world our kids will grow up in; one where the “enemy” looks like them, talks like them, etc. This “home-grown” twist makes me think first of my kids, who have not yet built up all the defenses they will need to stand up straight in a world so quick to judge them. When I was growing up, people didn’t know what the heck I was. I remember half my childhood was spent hearing “Pakistan?! Where’s that?” to which I would quickly reply, “Oh it’s right next to India.” Not knowing what to think of me is surely better than thinking something negative, right?
But today these thoughts are the furthest from my mind, and for the first time I’ve really begun to think, “what is going ON with our community??” This guy, Shahzad Faisal, seemed just like us. He was a thirty year old Pakistani guy with American citizenship, married with two kids. He just bought a house in the suburbs. Um…sounds familiar. It’s like something clicked today. I ‘snapped out of it’. And I’m just appalled. How can a MUSLIM do these things? It’s one thing to think of “Muslims” out there who are really ‘out there’ doing these things. But how can people who seem to get their knowledge from the places we get knowledge…how can THEY get to this point?
It’s like Umar Farouk Abdul Muttallab, the guy who tried to create an explosion on his Christmas day flight. He attended Ilm Summit. He sat with my shayookh. How in the world did he think that what he was doing was ok? It doesn’t make any sense to me. May Allah save me and all of the Muslims from straying from the Straight Path. Ameen.
I am reminding myself that this is our test. That Allah doesn’t give us more than we can bear. And that we bring this upon ourselves. What are we doing to remedy this problem? I never even thought about that, or felt a need for it before. I mean, its like common sense right? But apparently, not anymore. If we want Islam to spread and flourish we’re going to have to actively fight against these atrocious acts.
Confessions of a Muslim MOMma-holic 