Daily Times

The ‘shooters’ responsible for the latest mass killingin the US are of Pakistani origin. The woman was a Pakistani citizen and the man an American of Pakistani origin. Obviously, their actions have no direct relationship toPakistan. In the US, the question comes up on why such seemingly normaland quite well off people are ready to kill and be killed. One of the reasons for such a transformation frequently mentioned is Islam, or at least a rather extremist version thereof. My purpose today is not to indulge in a religious debate about issues like this. I will,however, like to iterate that most law-abiding American Muslims have no reason to be apologetic for the actions of Syed Farooq and his wife. But they must all condemn what these two people did.

Syed Rizwan Farooq was an educated American with a decent job, making much more than an average US income. He was recently married to Tashfeen Malik, a Pakistani woman with a postgraduate degree. They had a six-month-old child and lived a decent life. However, they chose to go on a murderous rampage and then died in a hail of gunfire. They left behind a child,who will grow up never knowing a mother’s love or a father’s protection,and will forever live under the shadow of her parents’dastardly deeds. What makes somebody do that is at best an enigma. I have lived and helped bring up children in the US, guiding them through childhood and their teenage years, and then watching them grow up into responsible adults. What worried me the least through all those years of parenting was the idea that they might become Islamist radicals.

Even today, as I look around at the Pakistani American families I know including relatives, colleagues and the extended social group in my part of the country, there are no young men or women that have become radicalised to the point where they become threats to people around them. This includes many young peoplewhoare more religious than their parents and are quite vocal in the expression of their religious beliefs. This is true even outside our immediate circle of acquaintances in the Pakistani American community since news of such transformations definitely travelsquite rapidly. Interestingly, during the last few years that I have spent more time in Pakistan, the same is true of my extended family and the people I know as well as those I worked with who come from all socio-economic backgrounds. However, my interest today is about what made a Pakistani American man and his wife kill innocent people.

In the US, as in the ‘west’, much is being said about Islam as a religion that predisposes ‘believers’ towards violence. The recent massacres in Paris and now in California have brought Islam and Muslims into unwanted prominence. Donald Trump, presently the leading contender for the Republican nomination to run for president in 2016, has evensuggested that the entry of Muslims into the US should be banned. It is extremely unlikely that Trump will be elected president of the US and it is even more unlikely that Muslims will be banned from entering the US. That said, already travelling to the US as a Muslim is becoming increasingly uncomfortable. That has been happening since 9/11 but it could conceivably become a lot more unpleasant.

As far as ‘home grown’ jihadists in the US are concerned, it is still a very unusual phenomenon but it is something that needs to be thought about both by the Muslim community in the US as well as law enforcement agencies. In every culture and in every religious tradition, zealots exist and so do they in the US. The recent Planned Parenthood killings by an anti-abortion activist in the US are a typical example. At this time, the Middle East is in a state of complete turmoil and Islamic State (IS)controls a lot of territory,spreading a rather virulent version of our religion. The use of social media has made IS quite popular among disaffected Muslim youth in many western countries. The female California killer posted a message of support for the head of IS just before she was killed. Yet investigation suggests that the couple were already ‘radicalised’ even before IS had become established as a political entity. It would then seem that IS, its media penetration and social media presence are inciting a pre-existing group of disaffected Muslims especially in Europe and possibly in the US to jihadist action.

In the US, where most Muslim immigrants have integrated quite well and are partaking of the ‘American dream’, the question arises as to why a couple with a decent life chose a path of violence that, in all likelihood, was suicidal. Investigations suggest that the husband had thought about jihadist action a couple of years ago but gave up on it for fear of detection. Clearly not a true jihadist it would seem. But it all changed after he got married. Evidently, marriage to Tashfeen Malik gave him the courage to embark upon the deadly attacks. So it would seem that much of the blame would be heaped upon the woman. What makes that easier is that Tashfeen Malik was born in Pakistan and grew up in Saudi Arabia. Why a woman, however religious, gave up a ‘good life’, abandoned her infant and chose certain death for herself and her husband is the question that needs an answer. And, no, I do not believe that religiosity is the answer we are looking for.

The world is full of very religious people. What drives some of them to extremes depends on the environment they live in. In the US, so far, Islamic radicalisation of the sort we saw in Syed Farooq is an aberration. It is important that it should remain so. And Muslim Americans must try their best to keep it so.

The author is a former editor of the Journal of Association of Pakistani descent Physicians of
North America (APPNA)