Muslim student responds to ignorance, reacts with tolerance
By Sarah Williamson | gargoyle@flagler.edu
Photo by Sarah Williamson
Bunder Shageer’s face differs significantly from the Muslim man on the cover of Newsweek last month. The magazine revealed a close-up of a male rioter spitting violently in protest of an American-made film, “Innocence of Muslims.” The magazine headline, in bold print, said, “Muslim Rage.”
Shageer, a 27-year-old transfer from Seminole State College in Orlando, is one of the few Muslim students at Flagler College. Regardless of the headlines, many like Shageer say the majority of practicing Muslims were not in rage.
“Islam teaches us to be peaceful. If we want to protest we can protest all day long, peacefully. It’s not our right to suppress others. It’s not our right to react violently,” Shageer explained.
Controversial snippets of the film on YouTube depicted the prophet Muhammad as someone far from holy, and prompted protests by Muslims throughout the Middle East, and even beyond.
Shageer first heard of the film while at home watching ABC News. His first response was disappointment in the reaction of the Arab world, he said.
“The problem overseas is that people are looking at them [the rioters] as all the Arab nation. That’s not what Islam teaches us,” Shageer said.
Shageer explained that when situations like this arise in the Arab world, he and his family, both in the United States and Saudi Arabia, must respond through education. They hope to spread the word of Islam through peace, in contrast to the media’s furious faces.
“Our goal is to stress the fact that it’s not what Muslims do. It’s a teaching period for us. Yeah, what’s happening is a fact: riots, death, but it’s not what Islam is about.”
Dr. James Rowell, a professor of religion and Islamic politics at Flagler College, agrees.
“It’s very unfortunate you have this violent reaction,” he said. “All of these extreme ideas really are fostered in positions of political and cultural repression and lack of freedom.”
Rowell described wisdom from Benazir Bhutto, Pakistan’s former prime minister who was assassinated in 2007. Bhutto said that democracy is like oxygen that will drive out any kind of extremist. For those who do not have certain freedoms, a video such as “Innocence of Muslim’s” is very corrosive to the moral fabric of their society and will cause severe unrest, Rowell explained.
Shageer said the extremists’ point of view is due to lack of knowledge, where leaders control them.
“It’s a big picture kind of deal,” he said. “Small groups of people cause problems and makes it look like the whole nation is problematic. It’s also power. They want power they don’t have. They want to put fear in the hearts of those that maybe they fear [the most].”
Shageer does not know any other Muslim students at Flagler College, but said his minority status does not faze him. As an older student, his interests differ from most 20-year-olds, he said.
He is a licensed mechanic and studying communication. While he is still uncertain what he’ll do with his degree, he stresses the importance of gaining knowledge within the Islamic faith.
Outside of work and classes, Shageer spends a significant time each day reflecting on the practices of Muhammed.
“For me, it’s second nature. If it’s time to pray, I pray. If it’s time to fast, I fast. If people are in need of help, we must help them. The thing about Islam, it’s not just a religion. It’s a way of life. [That’s] the beauty if it. It’s a way of life.”
Editor’s note: This story was published before the Obama administration declared the Benghazi attack a “terrorist attack” and originally contained reports that rioters in Libya were responsible for the death of U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens.
Well first of all I would like to correct you THERE WAS Rioting in Egypt PRIOR to the attack of the American Embassy. I think your facts need to be straight before you go accusing and pointing fingers. Yes its true a MAJORITY of the people who were protesting hadn’t seen the video and won’t, just as I won’t and I never will I don’t approve of such a gesture. As for the so called “Islamic Leaders” who promoted violence and as you say “put a price on there heads”. I can’t deny such events because they had occurred, HOWEVER you are talking about a group/sect of Islam known as the Shi’ite or Shi’a and they make up ONLY 7.5-11% of the almost 2 billion Muslims worldwide! So making the ignorant assumption that this small group represents ALL the Muslims is incorrect. If you read the Qu’ran or any TRUE stories about the Prophet Muhammed(pbuh)and how Muslims should live then you would see that Islam doesn’t teach nor approve of OFFENSIVE violence. This is what our Qu’ran tells us about killing, so regardless about what happened our holy book teaches us otherwise. So feel free to have all the opinions you want but you can’t point the blame finger on the religion because the horrible events that occur around the globe cannot be blamed on the Islamic religion but blame it on the radicals that CLAIM to be affiliated with Islam.
One Murder is Equal to Killing the Whole of Humanity
“Whoever slays a soul, unless it be for a manslaughter or for mischief in the land, it is as though he slew all men; and whoever keeps a soul alive, it is as though he kept alive all men.”
(Surah al-Mā’ida 5:32)
“In Libya, a riot led to extremists taking the lives of four Americans, including Ambassador Christopher Stevens.”
Please stop spreading lies. The film had NOTHING to do with Stevens’ death! Furthermore, there were NO riots prior to the attack! You speak of ignorance, yet you have no problem spreading it.
“The problem overseas is that people are looking at them [the rioters] as all the Arab nation. That’s not what Islam teaches us. God bless his soul the ambassador of Libya. The fact that he is harmed is a breach in contract with the Islamic religion,” Shageer said.
If it isn’t what Islam teaches, why are the religious leaders condoning it? Offering money for their heads? Why doesn’t Shageer protest the spreading of lies by these so-called religious leaders? Isn’t he concerned for the future of his religion? Instead, he chooses to refer to it as an unfourtunate lack of knowledge and just let it hang there and perpetuate.
>>> Silence=consent <<<
The majority (if not all) of the protesters haven't even seen the video. They were TOLD to protest, though you can keep deluding yourself to believe they were freely protesting.
First I would like to say you all make good points, however I feel the attacks took place around the time of the uproar caused for the movie so that it wouldn’t be viewed as a terrorist attack. Though the public that care to learn more would look into the situation deeper and see that even though the movie had caused and uproar those radical folks were able to use this to the advantage of there greater purpose. That’s exactly what they wanted to do, cause problems and hope the ignorant general public would assume the attacks were due to the movie which they weren’t. Nonetheless the Arab nations were upset because of the re-release of the movie about our Prophet Muhammed (pbuh) due to the level of disrespect they felt. I don’t think any man or woman should suffer for someone else’s mistakes, however the Arab community was upset because they viewed the United States as a whole as being a greater entinity which should have intervened to prevent any backlash or eruption but they didn’t. It is our right for the Freedom of speech we have here, but I feel if you have this freedom and use it to damage, hurt or degrade others not to mention putting the lives of innocent in danger then those rights should be revoked. Just how I feel it’s my personal opinion and the Freedom of speech I have allows me to express that. I did not attend to offend or argue just expressing my views.
I think there is a bigger issue at the table here. A month ago the media and the government sent the US and the world the message that it was this disrespectful, poor quality movie “Innocense of Muslims” video that fueled and initiated these protests and terrorist attack. First of all, the media was portraying in video that there were peaceful protests at the Embassy in Benghazi. So maybe the media was generalizing that Muslims were upset and protesting about this video and the footage was Cairo or somewhere else. Regardless it was a misrepresentation or a lie. So here we are today, post congressional hearings with the witnesses stating that these were solely terrorist attacks, there were no peaceful protests sheilding them….the government was covering up. OK my point is that the left had a spin the right had a spin and the government had a spin on this story and who do we believe? The truth is in social constructionist theory. I like the “fact” that Sarah make this a human interest story…that is where my truth lies.
It is a personal RESPONSE from a student, regarding the media content available.****At the time of the interview, which was before this NEW information had surfaced.
Also, how could protesters exist and then not exist? I think you have a valid point and it is up to us to decide what media content we choose to trust and absorb.
Appreciate your comment, Phil. The main focus of this piece isn’t the video, however. It is a personal RESPONSE from a student, regarding the media content available. If attacks were separate from the video, that is yet to be determined. There was a violent protest- regardless of cause- and this article is sharing a students reaction to it.
Sentence correction: If it wasn’t the video, why didn’t* the State Department and Obama admin. say they are still gathering all the facts?
Eh too bad those so called “riots” never happened. Here is a link as my source:
http://thehill.com/blogs/global-affairs/terrorism/261347-issa-to-probe-administrations-libya-claims-as-gop-clamors-for-rice-to-testify
It’s sad to me that college students and professor’s alike do not keep up with the news enough to know what happened in the congressional hearings based on the Benghazi attacks. Not too mention the State Department is now saying that they never said this attack happened due to a youtube video. So this is a little off base and biased, obviously from the viewings of distorted liberal media. If it wasn’t the video, why did the State Department and Obama admin. say they are still gathering all the facts?
Smells like a cover up and also sounds like a bigger story.