(In the Name of God, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful)
(Peace be upon you)
Understandably, and most likely you won't either: Whether it's 9/11 or Paris Attacks or this, Muslims are also an unfortunate part of the death count but the narrative of "all Muslims being the problem" is less digestible and thereby less sensational if media elects to widely report on Muslims deaths in these attacks as well. Also, the public (especially the right wing) wants to hear that Muslims are the problem because then otherwise they'd have to have a serious look at the foreign policies of the nexus of Western countries that have widely contributed to and instigated the status quo; and uncomfortable questions about foreign policies are not what the public wants to review and therefore publicized is the version that will be most popular: Muslims are currently the problem because of x, y, and z, and of course, all Muslims are also the same.
On the Internet elsewhere, I have talked to people of the mentality of the perpetrator - warped persons of this ilk (i.e.
Daesh sympathizers and in one instance a self-confessed
Daesh member currently in Syria) - and what I've found from these conversations is that they have an aversion to Muslims in the West whom they believe are "deviants" for living in the West when the
ummah is suffering elsewhere in the world; of course, I don't pretend to know the suffering of innocent Muslims killed daily elsewhere in the world, and I can't imagine it and it would be disingenuous for me to claim otherwise. Yet what these Muslims are hell-bent on is proving how moderate Muslims are the enemy, whether in the West or the East but especially so in the West. That is why deaths in the West of Muslim persons are considered "our" [moderate Muslims'] fault because we "choose" to live apparently in the West and so we are complicit in the crimes of our government by their logic; that is why Muslims deaths to terrorists or radicalized lone wolves in attacks like these is a collateral damage worth pursuing because in the end their goal is still to hurt the West at any cost even if they're in the end killing other Muslims.
Also, from what I've learned so far about this perpetrator, he wasn't a practicing Muslim by any stretch of the imagination, yet in the end he chose to go on a killing spree. He had been criminally charged before for road rage. He used to beat his ex-wife and was alienated from his family in Tunisia. His 3 children also didn't live with him but with his ex-wife. Basically, his life sucked, and if he did die, nobody would really miss him. So, of course, what is the easiest solution to a person whose life sucks? To kill others.
To be honest, I think imams need to start speaking loud and clear from the pulpit on Fridays about this
hadith (prophetic tradition) which is part of a larger
hadith of which I'm only quoting the relevant portion: "The first of people against whom judgment will be pronounced on the Day of Resurrection
will be a man who died a martyr. He will be brought and Allah will make known to him His favours and he will recognize them. [The Almighty] will say: And what did you do about them? He will say: I fought for you until I died a martyr. He will say: You have lied - you did but fight that it might be said [of you]: He is courageous. And so it was said.
Then he will be ordered to be dragged along on his face until he is cast into Hell-fire." Seriously, this
hadith needs to be circulated through all sections of the Muslim community and Western media needs to bring in Islamic scholars talking about this
hadith because I'm getting tired of persons whose lives are by all accounts miserable to try to commit suicide by what they believe will get them a get-out-of-Hellfire-card under the guise of martyrdom when it is clearly
not martyrdom and an emotional act of cowardice and a crime against humanity and clearly also seen as evil in the Quran and
Sunnah (prophetic way).
Acts like this and reactions in their aftermaths make me question my place in the West and the world: It doesn't seem to matter to the radicals that I'm a Muslim because I'm not the right kind of Muslim and the right kind of Muslim would presumably in their eyes be the kind that supports murder, death, and destruction, and it doesn't seem to matter to the right wing who has a big problem itself with me professing adherence to Islam in any way, shape, or form and therefore I'm presumed the covert enemy within their ranks in the West. Things like truth or humanity or mercy doesn't seem to matter to either the radicalized Muslim or the ring wing: it's all about how one can burn the world down with the rage simmering in one's blood.
:wa: (And peace be upon you)