I am deeply disturbed and saddened by the latest episode of workplace violence in Oklahoma City. In this moment, I have a couple of thoughts about Islam in general, particularly about Muslims in Oklahoma, and how others might respond. The news was breaking just as I was traveling from the US back to Jerusalem. My time in the US was made poignant by the launch of US airstrikes against ISIL targets in Iraq and then Syria. This event in OKC, my hometown, appears directly related to ISIL calls for people to engage in violent acts against western civilians. This act of violent extremism has produced a good deal of violent rhetoric on the rightward spectrum of the Internet. I am thankful for my cousin Josh’s links to some of those stories. People in Oklahoma and Texas have a way of imagining themselves as being on the frontlines against terrorism, perhaps because so many of them are directly employed by the military-industrial complex. All of this is heightened because we have just launched another war in the Middle East, inaugurating a new phase in the so-called War on Terror. Some people are engaging in rhetorical games to distance the apparent details of this event from Islam itself. While this is approach is necessary for maintaining public order and preventing right-wing rhetoric from producing a bloodbath in Oklahoma City (we prefer to keep our wars ‘over there’), it warps our ability to honestly confront the factors that may have motivated this event. Moreover, such approaches cloud the reality of the ideological struggle within Sunni Islam itself and the necessity of Muslims working to get their own house in order. Many Muslims are engaged in that important work; their efforts should not just be applauded but matched by Christians seeking to root out the various forms of extremism within our own communities. We cannot separate manifestations of extremism in Syria and northern Iraq—and now in Oklahoma City—from Islam. I am the first to argue that these acts do not represent either the core message or ideal practice of Islam. But there is no denying that these acts are being conducted by people who consider themselves to be faithful Muslims, no matter how misguided, perverted or addled by mental illness their interpretation of Islam might be. In a way also intimately connected to Oklahoma City, we cannot completely separate the actions of Timothy McVeigh from Christianity. While neither event reveals much about the essence of either Islam or Christianity, they each reveal ways the traditions can become perverted in ways that produce unconscionable violence. I am deeply concerned for the wellbeing of Muslims living in Oklahoma City. I remember well how windows in mosques were shot out following the 1995 Murrah Building bombing, before we knew that McVeigh was a white Christian from Kansas. Just as Israel’s build-up to this August’s war in Gaza produced an almost uncontrollable level of anti-Palestinian street violence here in Jerusalem, the situation in Oklahoma City could get out of hand. I am specifically concerned for the other local Muslims pictured in the alleged attacker’s Facebook photos. His actions have put them in considerable legal jeopardy but also may have compromised their personal safety. By all accounts, the incident in Oklahoma City resulted from a combination of mental illness, social disconnection, and religiously-sanctioned extremism. My best guess is that this young man thought of himself as the direct object of ISIL calls to inflict pain on ordinary Americans. This was his path to meaning and martyrdom. The greater tragedy would be if this perverted interpretation of Islam and of life were allowed to result in further violence. Given the broader context of the rebooted version of the War on Terror, my optimism on that front is low.
Posted on: Sat, 27 Sep 2014 07:47:10 +0000
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