When the Murderer Is Not Muslim …

Deah Barakat was a 23-year-old Syrian-American studying dentistry at the University of North Carolina. He was a successful student, beloved friend and caring citizen.

His last Facebook post was a picture he took while voluntarily providing oral care for homeless people in North Carolina. This coming summer, he was planning on coming to Reyhanli, Turkey as a volunteer to help Syrian refugees with their dental care. He created a benevolent fund for Syrian refugees and succeeded in raising $20,000. Apparently, he had a strong political identity and was well versed on Middle Eastern issues. “It’s so freaking sad to hear people saying we should ‘kill Jews’ or ‘kill Palestinians.’ As if that’s going to solve anything SMH ….” These are the words he wrote in a discussion about Gaza and these statements have become the summary of his political view.

Last December, Deah got married to 21-year-old Yusor. She was also planning to start studying dentistry. In her wedding pictures, she looked very happy in her beautiful white wedding dress. In those pictures, she had a big smile and a proud expression on her face with her husband and her sister. Her sister, Raza Mohammad Abu-Salha, was 19 years old and studying architecture.

On Feb. 11, these three young people were killed in the U.S. Their neighbor, Craig Hicks, was taken into custody as the murder suspect. From Hicks’ Facebook posts, it is understood that he is a militant atheist and a close follower of Richard Dawkins, who is known for his anti-Islam ideas.

Due to its limited coverage by the mainstream media, the massacre caused an upheaval on social media. These murders that took place in the middle of America became “worthy” enough to talk about in the American media only after creating huge indignation on Twitter.

Here is CNN’s coverage of this news: “Three young Muslims were murdered in Chapel Hill, NC. May the victims’ faith have played a role in this incident?”

Islamophobia makes it easy to judge all Muslims. If the murderer is Muslim, blame Islam and question all Muslim for self-criticism. If the victim is Muslim, again blame all Muslims. Then ask shamelessly whether this murder happened due to the victims’ faith. Piece of cake! No matter what, the guilty one is the Muslim. This viewpoint should be abandoned.

Others that didn’t cover it in a similar manner to CNN tended to underestimate the situation. Of course this is not a terrorist act — it only counts as terrorism when the perpetrator is Muslim — rather, it is the insanity of a deranged and lonely man. This is indeed sad and should be condemned. But it shouldn’t be generalized. We should go back to the perpetrator’s childhood and examine the traumas he experienced in his family life.

We definitely shouldn’t relate this incident to increasing Islamophobia in Western countries, and militant atheism shouldn’t be discussed at all.

When the murderer is not Muslim, the crime is personal and the incident is psychological. Let’s stop talking about America for a moment. I wonder if anyone in Turkey would ask all the atheists to criticize themselves because of this incident. When the atheists don’t question themselves about it, would anyone hold them responsible? If the atheists condemn this incident with “buts,” would anyone call them insincere? Would anyone say, “A tendency for violent acts is in the nature of atheism”? Would anyone say, “All atheists are responsible for this incident until the ones contaminated by violence get acquitted”?

I hope no one asks these questions because they are all nonsense. They are all racist questions. However, when the murderer is Muslim, these questions shouldn’t be asked either. Violence shouldn’t be attributed to any religion. A person’s wrongdoing shouldn’t be ascribed to any identity. The personality principle of crime shouldn’t be forgotten. Like school principals of previous eras, people shouldn’t despotically be questioned. A massacre shouldn’t be exploited as ammunition for a political war. When the murderer is Muslim, the crime shouldn’t count as collective. The incident shouldn’t be considered sociological or political.

Simple enough? Yes, racism is very simple.