Sunday, July 10, 2005
Solace
Today I was called a "London bomber," to my face. I have to admit, I am pretty upset about this. I have this notion that Toronto is somehow a more tolerant place than other random towns or cities.
About the London bombing event, a fellow blogger writes: "I feel humiliated before the non-Muslim public – and before my non-Muslim friends." I must respectfully disagree. I am not humiliated. The cowards that committed this act of terror aren't members of my family, I don't know them, and I have nothing to do with them or their beliefs. I didn't commit any crimes. Although I am against the horrible event that took place last week, I adamantly refuse to apologize for something I had no hand in doing.
You know, people aren't as ignorant as we think. I mean, I'm pretty sure the man who called me a London bomber knew I didn't have anything to do with it. He only wanted to insult me.
"Whosoever follows My guidance, on them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve." (Qur'an 2:38)
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18 comments:
wat a dork! calling u such names :mad:
..this time i'm first to comment :D
As Salaamu Alaikum Asmaa,
Are you doing ok?.....
Actually, I'm not that worried, you're one tough cookie. Good thing for his sake you did not have your bouncy ball with you at that time :P
take care
p.s. Yippie I'm 2nd to post!!!
(you ppl never heard of the saying:
1st is to detest & 2nd is the best)
This makes me sad and angry. People who blame one race of people for the ills of the world don't get it--that we're all responsible for what happened. We are all contributing to this problem, willingly or unwillingly, by living in a society that tolerates hate and injustice. You are no more at fault than I am--a white Christian woman. Know that I am angry for you, and had I been standing next to you I would have given that guy an earful.
I've been enjoying your blog for about a week, maybe longer. I like your writing. I've got your blog in my "favorites" setting!
Assalaamu Alaikum :D
What in the world ... I cannot believe that man had the nerve to put his frustration upon you. And you're right, why would we apologize for acts that weren't committed by us? I hate how people just generalize us that way. But I agree with "the hunky one", you do seem like a tough cookie and masha'Allah ... with the faith we have put in Allah Swt ... things like this should not bother us, insha'Allah
*muah*!
i ate tuna sandwich today
Oh, guess what guys...someone on a bike yelled "Saddam Hussein" at me today. I need to start carrying pepper spray.
Well, given the ignorance about the actual Muslims faith in the hearts and minds of the majority of westerners, I'd expect this kind of thing...
A woman e-mailed BBC and said she'd taken a subway train the day after the blasts in London. She felt very sorry for a young Muslim, sitting terrified in the train, clutching his backback - everyone was staring at him with expressions of the deepest mistrust and loath.
Al-Jazeera, the english website run by the tv channel, had this story about an American who took the challenge of becoming "Muslim for 30 days". It's quite an interesting piece of news but I can't find it anymore on their website, or I'd provide the URL for everyone.
Ameera, the show that you're referring to is called '30 days'
Its made by the same guy who made 'Supersize Me' (Morgan Spurlock)
The premise of the show is simply put someone in another's shoes for 30 days. It runs on FX, I did not see the show but I saw Morgan's interview.
The person who agreed to be a Muslim had to live, dress, do everything a Muslim did for 30 days.
The interesting part was that guy had never ever been stopped at the airport in his life. However, the 1st day he wore a 'Muslim garb' (I assume this means the arabic attire) He was stopped & questioned at the airport!
http://www.suntimes.com/output/entertainment/cst-ftr-30days15.html
Asmaa: Your last name is Hussein too so maybe the guy on the bike was shouting "Sannam Hussein, Sannam Hussein!!" meaning ' loved/my dear Hussein' & you heard wrong?! ;)
i jus thought of something.. how can u be a london bomber when ur not in london :o how stupid :p
This is truly disheartening. There are tons of bigots out here like that. I've come across some on the subway, and out on the street too.. but not recently. I guess they wait in anticipation of such events to expose their true hatred against us.
I do hope you carry a cellphone. What I've found is that when these hatemongers see that they can yell obscenities and get away with it one or two times, the next time they take it a step further. Which is why I think you should relay these incidents to any prominent Muslim civil rights group (e.g. CAIR-CAN), which can document this case and report on them.
I think this bigotry and ignorance - instead of causing us to retreat or feel ashamed - actually strengthens our resolve to be better Muslims; something the haters are baffled by.
God knows best.
Destiny Overture, I know about the show from the Al-Jazeera report. Also, to clarify, the "Muslim garb" was a Pakistani 'shalwar' and 'kameez'... he had also grown a beard. He was stopped at the airport, and he was also the source of "terror" for a woman seated next to him on the airplane! She was so scared that she couldn't knit... she thought she was sitting next to a "terrorist".
I'm sorry you had to live through this..
If this happened infront of me.. I'd have yelled 'slave trader' back.
that just reflects their ignorance, it's bad enough that we're dealing with it...and yes there's nothing to apologize for, i'm glad you stood your ground sis
asmaa hahaha
music is great i dunno y i wrote that hahaha well salam
At a talk this year Haroon Siddiqui mentioned he often gets emails when things happen in various parts of the world (decapitations is Iraq, suicide bombings, etc)...with angry readers saying "well, what do you have to say about THIS, Haroon".
He said his reply is always "Nothing. I didn't do it."
Salaams Sister
I'm originally from London and now living just outside of London. On the day of the bombings, both my sister and brother-in-law missed the attacks by minutes. My family were unable to contact them on their mobiles as you can imagine the network was completely jammed. You can imagine the worry and fear we felt for them.
Since then I have experienced racial abuse and racial hatred from both the ignorant and the educated alike in both London and here in my home town.
Although the British are aware that not all muslims are bombers, they fear us all as they feel anyone of us could be carrying something.
I personally dont feel ashamed or responsible for what has happened as I believe it was not the action of true muslims. But I do feel saddened and hurt as the acts were barbaric and innocent people were hurt and killed. More to the point, 2 of the areas where the bombs went off were predominantly muslim areas ( Edgwere Road & Aldgate ).
What happened was totally wrong and now for every muslim, be it a British or american or canadian, I think all muslims in the west need to show the non-muslims who and what muslims are really about. We are peaceful, loving, caring people who have contributed so much over time to many countries and civilisations in this world.
I'm sorry you were spoken so terribly to, but keep your head up high and think of Allah SWA , May he guide and strenghen you.
Wassalaam
Umm Aisha
Excellent, that was really well explained and helpful
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