As the initial hearing for Craig Hicks approaches, we hold in the light Deah Shaddy Barakat, 23, his wife Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha, 21, and her sister Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, 19, as well as their families and the Muslim communities, both near and far, weathering this loss.
We mourn for them as we mourn for the many other Muslims whose lives are cut short by religiously motivated attacks. We recognize and feel the fear that these attacks inspire, and we stand beside our Muslim brothers and sisters, charging our communities to put an end to anti-Islamic violence.
In recent years, Islamophobia has continued to grow in our country, and while Hicks’s attack has not been confirmed as a hate crime, the threat of violence looms over the heads of Muslims and Arabs.
Of the Guilford community, we ask for support for those grieving and affected by the reverberations Craig Hicks’ gunshots created.
In the wake of this tragedy, we must remember those who are left feeling threatened.
For those of us who have the privilege to practice our beliefs without fear, it is our duty to practice empathy, to listen attentively to the concerns of our neighbors and to work toward making Guilford College a safe place for those who feel unsafe.
For those of us who are Muslim or from Muslim families, we must remember to persevere and hold hope that our voices will be heard, insha’Allah.
Omid Safi, director of Duke University’s Islamic Studies Center, offered an eloquent call to prayer and action at UNC Chapel Hill’s Feb. 11 vigil.
“We can join the families in their grief and hold them in our prayers and thoughts,” said Safi, according to The Daily Tarheel. “We can take part in fulfilling their dreams: they were all proud Syrian Americans, proud Muslim Americans. Let’s fulfill their dreams — they wanted to change the world. Let’s pray in every language. Let’s pray in action.”
As a community, this is our time to come together in support of one another. Let us work to extinguish Islamophobic violence and hate speak, and remember to hold in the light those we have lost.
