Sunday, March 19, 2006
The AlMaghrib course I was taking was nothing short of amazing. However, on the last day (today), we were frightened and distressed to see the following...
Someone tried to run over four brothers from the course after shouting racial slurs out at them. This happened at the U of T, St. George campus. Please see CAIR-CAN's press release
I ask you to keep the injured brother and Muslim students on campus in your duas. May Allah (swt) protect us, for there is no protection remotely equal to His.
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12 comments:
How come this hit & run was not on the news and is the MSA doing something about it?
Do u kno who the person who got hit was?
Well, MSA is looking into it. I found out today though that it may not have been totally like a hate incident after all: Varsity article
Assalaamu Alaikum :)
Yikes. My du'as go out for everyone. May Allah Swt put love and peace into our hearts and the ability to ward off any trouble in a respectful manner that comes our way.
From the Varsity article, and Fowzia Duale's eyewitness testimony, it seems like the driver was likely drunk and belligerent. It seems like it would have been wiser for the students to ignore him, but from the article, it seems like they goaded him and he responded like a maniac.
Of course, this doesn't mean that the action of the driver does not constitute a hate crime. Just because his judgement was likely impaired does not excuse his apparently calculated action of waiting for the students to begin to cross and then timing his speeding such that he hit them. Perhaps he did not mean to hit them but come close enough to scare them. The fact remains, however, that he did hit one student and that it was likely intentional. If the students hadn't been young men of African heritage who were possibly dressed/or otherwise seemed to be Muslims--would that driver have been so bold? Would that driver have tried to run over some young punk-rock girls of European heritage who spoke abusively and goaded him like the young men?
I don't think that being drunk somehow essentially changes who you are. Arguably, as it erodes your inhibitions and the effects of your socialization are temporarily suspended, what you're all about often comes out even more truthfully. If you have a lot of hate in you--then that's what comes out. It's not like alcohol or anger transform all the kindness in your core to hate when you're goaded.
Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems to me that this was definitely not an ordinary crime--that it should be treated like a hate crime--and that the administration of U of T has mishandled the situation again. I wonder how angry the vice-provost would have been if a young Chinese man or a young Jewish woman had been hit by this driver and treated like this...
Squeeky, thank you for your duas. We really need them at times like these.
Mohammad, I agree with you. I don't think that an argument is just cause for someone to run someone else over. And yes, it should be seen as a hate crime; I highly doubt this would have happened to a non ethnic or religious minority.
Drunk or not, he still attempted to KILL someone - how much more serious can you get?
As for the U of T admin: it's like they want to help, but they don't know what to do. It's ridiculous.
The varsity article was almost entirely fictional. The brother did NOT initiate the altercation AT ALL.
The misinformation was fed to the reporter BY ADMINISTRATION, which I personally overheard.
The incident was most definitely a hate-crime, which administration is trying to downplay in order to protect its image. Apparently, in their eyes, attempting to massacre four people is tantamount to cutting someone off on the highway.
While I'm on the verge of a full-blown rant, I just wanted to make the point the administration is doing nothing about Muslims being targetted on campus and are forcing a blind delusion about it, claiming they're just 'isolated incidents'.
I never fully understood what Ibn al-Qayyim meant when he said that nine tenth of those with beards are as delusional as cattle. I know what he means now...
anon, I agree with you that the admin has not done enough to address this issue. Talk is not enough - action is needed.
I urge you, if you KNOW that the Varsity was incorrect, you need to speak with them, or with the St. George MSA immediately. We didn't see what happened, so we can't deny anything the Varsity says.
We are involved in this, so your help would be very much appreciated. Feel free to email me: asmhuss at yahoo dot ca
Anon2: those are some serious, serious allegations. If you have any way of hooking the MSA up with that info, please do so. Also talk to CAIR-CAN, or one of the other Muslim agencies involved (including, possibly, the alMaghrib institute).
and yeah, if you can tell the varsity that the information is incorrect, please do that as well. keeping quiet is only going to make things worse, because as we all know, the UofT admin can be a real pain sometimes.
Oh my, I just read about it in the paper and now here.. That's pretty scary..
I read that the guy turned himself in.
I certainly hope things will get better. (Inshallah).
Assalamu aleikum,
Yeah, I thought the Varsity article was a bit wired. From what I heard, the guy started swearing at the group first, and etc. Don't want to say more; it's just hearsay from my end after all.
*sniff sniff* farewell o LOG
Dude's out on bail... prolly driving again.. what a messsed up legal system. :@
anon, that's one of the LEAST messed up things in the legal system. There are much bigger problems with the political, social, and criminal system.
And don't worry, all final judgements lie with Allah (swt) - if you're worried about justice, don't be :)
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