Response to the Orlando Shooting

By now it’s virtually impossible to not have heard about the shooting in Orlando, the worst mass shooting in US history*. Omar Mateen, a pro-ISIS Muslim, entered a gay nightclub where he killed 49 and injured many others.

I am planning on doing several posts on the subject of Islam later this year, but given this recent tragedy, I think it is more useful for me to post an email which was sent out by a local mosque here in Seattle:

Asslamu Alaykum / Peace be Upon You All,

The dust has barely settled on Muhammad Ali’s grave. It has hardly been a day since the whole world was heaping praise on one of the greatest Americans of our time. It was only a short time when the noble example of one Muslim united the whole America. And now, we have this. A young pro-ISIS Muslim walks into a club in Orlando and murders over 50 people claiming to do so in the name of Islam. This is a tragedy of untold proportion. 

MAPS stands with all of our fellow Americans, including the many Muslim organizations and mosques across the country, to express its deepest sadness and condemnation of the horrific massacre and senseless act of mass murder perpetrated against innocent civilians in Orlando, Florida. This wanton act of violence shocks the human conscience and causes us deep pain and consternation. Our hearts are with the victims of this terrible tragedy and we pray for a quick recovery for those injured. We need to understand that an assault on the rights on any minority group, including the LGBT group, is an assault on the rights of any other minority group, including Muslims. LGBT groups have been at the forefront of fighting bigotry and intolerance and have long stood with the Muslim community in opposing discrimination and prejudice. We express our deepest feelings of sympathy to the friends and families of the victims of this massacre.  

I have repeatedly said that groups like ISIS and those who are influenced by them “are not us and we are not them. Their interpretation of Islam is twisted and wrong no matter how much they justify it.” And borrowing from an eminent fourteenth century Islamic scholar and jurist, “thus, any ruling that replaces justice with injustice, mercy with cruelty, common good with intolerance, or wisdom with ignorance, is a ruling that does not belong to Islam.” I have repeated this statement time and again in my addresses and emails to the community. Let me make it clear once more in unequivocal terms: the ideology of groups like ISIS is ignorant, wrong, destructive, twisted, sinful, murderous and has absolutely no place whatsoever in Islam! Our position on this is unconditional, categorical and absolute!

We pray for the day when love overpowers hatred and when each human life is valued and protected. We pray for a day when the world will be rid of terror and groups like ISIS. And we pray for a day when people think of Islam they think of the example of Muhammad Ali.

Here is what you can do:

1. Donate blood: CAIR-FL has asked the Muslim community to take part in a blood donation drive [link]

2. Familiarize yourself: SoundVision has issued certain talking points and thinking points [link]

3. Attend the vigil in Seattle tonight in solidarity with the victims [link]

Ameen

Mahmood Khadeer
MAPS President

A little later in the day, an additional email was also sent out:

Assalamu Alaykum, 

This afternoon Redmond Police Department informed us that they received an anonymous call threatening MAPS. They are closely monitoring the situation. We will have increased security tonight – both from the Police Department and from private security personnel. In addition, we are implementing immediate security measures – only the front door will be opened. The leadership is in contact with several law enforcement agencies.

All of our programs, including Taraweeh prayers, will go on as planned.

Thank you

Mahmood Khadeer

Why am I sharing these emails here? Well, although I don’t think the association between Islam and violence can be quite so easily dismissed as it is above, I think these emails give some insight into what it’s like to be a typical Muslim in America at this time. Many will be distrusted and shunned. Many are scared. I would suggest that now is the time for Christian charity to be seen clearly.

On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

“What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”

He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”

He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”

“You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”

But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii^[c] and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’

“Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”

The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”

Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
– Luke 10:25-37

* One of my friends who works on an Indian reservation has pointed out that the actual largest mass shooting in US history happened in 1890 when 297 Sioux Indians at Wounded Knee Creek on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota were murdered by federal agents & members of the 7th Cavalry who had come to confiscate their firearms “for their own safety and protection”. The slaughter began after the majority of the Sioux had peacefully turned in their firearms. The Calvary began shooting, and managed to wipe out the entire camp. 200 of the 297 victims were women and children.