Dayton mosque incident revisited
Wednesday October 1, 2008
Categories: Islamerica
The case of the attack on the Dayton, OH mosque just became murkier - police have thus far found no physical evidence of the chemical irritant:The girl was watching children whose parents and relatives had gathered at the Islamic Society...
Filed Under: Islamophobia, Obsession DVD
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About City of Brass
City of Brass by Aziz Poonawalla approaches issues from the perspective of a Muslim of the West. Aziz, a member of the Dawoodi Bohra Muslim community, has been blogging since early 2003. His other major Islamsphere projects include the group weblog Talk Islam and the annual Brass
Crescent Awards. Aziz currently resides near Madison, WI with his wife and children.
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I am ashamed of the fear my partners in Christ harbor and I am embarassed by it. But even more I am haunted by their ignorance. They seem to have some horrid expectations of the Qu'ran and those who read it. They do not understand how prominent Moses and especially Jesus is in the revelation given Mohammed. They do not understand that you cannot know the Qu'ran without also knowing the stories of the First Covenants and the Gospels. This preference for fear over knowledge is the very thing that allows people to behave in horrible ways.
Though I cannot speak for the people of Dayton, on behalf of those people I serve in our church a thousand miles away, I apologize. And an apology is not enough. I promise to work at educating and opening the hearts of the people I serve in Christ's name to the continuing grace made evident in the Qu'ran and the people whose lives are guided by it. We all need to work against hatred, violence, and fear in all of our communities.
CAIR state chapters showing solidarity with Jews when they're victimized is a brilliant idea. It might be best if it were "organic," i.e., preceded by contacts, during calm times, to synagogues and Jewish groups so that it's not seen as opportunistic when the sad occasion arises. I'd suggest expanding it to other frequently hate-crimed groups as well -- e.g., Blacks, gays, American Indians.
Thanks for sending me this. I'm putting together a post today. I'm going to link to other blogger reactions about the Dayton incident and the film itself. It's more important, in my mind, that there's a diversity of voices and alternatives than reiterating one-sided mainstream coverage and understandings of Islam and radicalism.
I'm not sure if it makes sense in terms of resources and expertise for CAIR to be catologing hate crimes against Jews and others (although it's certainly not anything objectionable). I would note for the record that CAIR here in Chicago, and according to reports this is true of many other local chapters is active in interfaith dialogue with Jews during calmer times and has responded along with many other members of the public at large when there have been publicized incidents of anti-semitic vandalism or other "hate crimes."
Here's a rundown of some 'interfaith' activity according to CAIR's own website: http://www.cair.com/AmericanMuslims/Interfaith.aspx
Salaam Abu Noor I am gratified to hear from you again. With respect to interfaith outreach, that's certainly good for community ties, but the benefit of a combined catalogue of hate crimes would be more strategic in nature. I think that there's not that much more work involved - its just monitoring the news, after all. Whatever expertise CAIR has in catalouging hate crimes against musloims is certainly applicable to same for Jews. I really think this is something that would pay dividends over the long run.
Well Aziz, you have quite a conundrum. You have made some very foolish assertions. If you would have read the news article with an open mind you would have heard the leaders of the Mosque, the police and even the Dayton Daily News say it was not a hate crime and not related to the DVD. But you would have no part of it. You are determined to find a crime even if it doesn't exist. You have a witch hunt to fulfill. You spread hate while accusing others of spreading hate. It turns out the "criminal" the "terrorist" involved is a 10 year old boy, a member of the mosque. Now what? Do we hang him?
http://www.daytondailynews.com/n/content/oh/story/news/local/2008/10/07/ddn100708mosquefolo.html
I live just 4 blocks from the mosque and I am sick of the lies and accusations being spread by bloggers like yourself. Knock it off! You fell for the posting on the Daily Kos which is more than suspicious and cited it in your story. Did you bother reading this news article about that blog?
http://www.daytondailynews.com/n/content/oh/story/news/local/2008/10/03/ddn100308mosque.html
"Rodda said she "sensationalized" the headline on her blog to draw attention.
"I was mad, so I sort of shot from the hip," Rodda said, adding she has not talked to any law enforcement agencies, hospital officials or Islamic Center president Dr. Tarek Sabagh. She said her information came from people who know some people that attend the mosque."
Shot from the hip? She shot herself in the foot and now all of you who cited this bit of nonsense look very foolish. My neighborhood meeting is tonight and I'm hoping we will have someone from the Dayton PD there to give us the straight facts. Perhaps even Dr. Sabagh will be there. Again knock it off!
"Nothing in these new revelations undermines the claim that the mosque was attacked in any way."
By whom, though?
Police have questioned a 10-year-old boy about the alleged attack. His family are members of the mosque.
http://www.daytondailynews.com/n/content/oh/story/news/local/2008/10/07/ddn100708mosquefolo.html
How about a retraction, Mr. Poonawalla?
http://www.daytondailynews.com/n/content/oh/story/news/local/2008/10/07/ddn100708mosquefolo.html
Well, if I read it right, there's nothing odd about the fact that they didn't find any chemicals--there's not much reason they would in a case like this--but it does seem plausible that this was a prank by a young boy and nothing more. I don't know if we'll ever see more in the press or not, although I'd like to.
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