Young Muslim Man Rescues Jews from Thugs

*I cross-posted this on Dailykos & Streetprophets. You should click through and see how positive stories like this can really generate positive exposure about what Islam REALLY stands for*

The title initially brought all the Abrahamic faiths together… Initially, I had “Christian extremists” in lieu of “thugs”. But, I felt a bit queasy about even mentioning that the thugs were Christians, similar to my feelings when I keep hearing ad nauseum about “Islamic extremists” or Islamic radicals or what have you. Because really what does Christianity have to do with this, except that the thugs were misusing their religion? Just like what does Islam have to do when Muslims do crazy things in its name?

Regardless, the incident brought together practitioners of the three faiths (one being misrepresented of course), not on an interfaith stage, but rather in a bizarre incident; a strange twist that is positive on many fronts, yet negative on others.

Before you read this story, which is a rarity for its positive spin on Muslims, consider how the situation would have been if the thugs were Muslims? Would the headline have read: “Muslim terrorists attack Jewish on subway, to be saved by Christians”, or “Radical Muslims can't hear mention of hannukkah?”. Ponder over that, and consider how stereotyping has a numbing effect on our sensibilities.

So, the story goes:

Apparently, Adler, his girlfriend and a couple of friends (all Jews) boarded a subway, when someone in another group wished them “Merry Christmas”. To which Adler responded, “Happy Hanukkah”. According to the report, those were “fighting words” in what seemed to be an extremist rendition of Christian teachings, i.e. “Jews killed Jesus on Hanukkah”.

Allegedly then (one of the attackers denies antisemitism and in fact blames that Adler's group was drunk and was taunting them!), there was mayhem and the thugs started calling Adler and his friends, “dirty Jews” and other choice words.

Amid a huge scrum, Askari, a Muslim who just happened to be there, jumped in to help the Jewish passengers:

“I’m bleeding all over the place, there’s lots of people, they’re fighting with Hassan still, and I’m like, why isn’t anyone else doing anything?” Adler said.

Adler appreciated Hassan Askari's intervention:

The two new pals – Adler, 23, with a broken nose and a fat lip, and Askari, 20, with two black eyes – broke bread together and laughed off the bruises the night after the fisticuffs.

“A random Muslim guy jumped in and helped a Jewish guy on Hanukkah – that’s a miracle,” said Adler, an honors student at Hunter College.

“He’s basically a hero. Hassan jumped in to help us.”

Also, poor Askari was also one of the first to be hand-cuffed (I don't know what to make of that…whether it was just a reactionary thing in mayhem or a first-stereotype-based assumption?), only to be released when Adler told the police that Askari was helping!

It is interesting that one of the attackers (who denies the whole charge) has been involved in anti-black crime before:

Joseph Jirovec, 19 – the son of a city firefighter who is currently serving in Iraq – has pleaded guilty to a 2005 bias crime against blacks.

As I will explore in the series on Islamophobia, you will find that many of the bigots who are anti-Muslim are also racist. And racism spans many things: color, religion, race, nationality, etc. Bigots are opportunist… they exploit what is most convenient at the time.

In conclusion, GOOD JOB Hassan, for acting like a Muslim. Standing up for justice and against oppression, in whatever little way and whatever little form. For engaging in one of the correct forms of jihad! Whenever New York Post reports anything positive about Muslim, that is a day to be recorded in history books!

Also talking about it: MR , Naeem