After any attack, there’s a time of shock. Of mourning. Of frantic looking for answers as to why something so traumatic and horrible happened. We want to know who did it, why they did it, and what we can do to stop it from happening again.
I thought now would be a good time to remember that your Muslim friends, neighbours and countrymen are not responsible for the acts of horror which occurred. That most victims of extremist sects are actually other Muslims. And to share that my many Muslim friends and colleagues are amongst the most selfless and kind people I know, and they are all aghast at what was done, supposedly in the name of their religion. I fear that they and many innocent Muslims may face prejudice or retaliation for the very acts they were first to condemn. We cannot fight hatred with hatred, nor harm to innocent people with harm to other innocent people.
I’ll finish with a quote one of my Muslim friends shared with me, which sums up how many of them feel after attacks like these.
“Whoever kills a person [unjustly]…it is as though he has killed all mankind. And whoever saves a life, it is as though he had saved all mankind.” (Qur’an, 5:32)
