It is being widely reported that the American-born and raised soldier alleged to have gone on a shooting spree shouted Allahu Akbar before he started firing.

Whether true or false, for the record the story is attributed to the “unidentified” daughter of an “unidentified” man, who reported it to Utah’s KSL 5 TV, on the condition that he not be “identified”. KSL 5 TV is a Division of Bonneville International, a wholly owned company of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the LDS Church). The news media have run away with the story without further verification.

Listen closely to what the anchors say (or read excerpt from Transcript below, emphasis added):

Woman: One man says his daughter heard the shooter exclaim “Allah Akbar” [sic.] as he opened fire.

Man: We want to stress that no government or military officials are reporting that and there is no way for us to independently confirm that it is true.

John: The family from northern Utah agreed to talk to us, on the condition we not identify them and blur out some photos they’ve supplied, because they’re worried their daughter could get in trouble with her superiors for making public what she told her family she saw.

…

He told KSL News soldiers were sitting in a staging area for medical and dental checks when the group was startled by gunfire.

“A person behind counter stood up, and he said, ‘Allah Akbar!’ And just opened up on everybody,” the father told us.

Again, that’s what the man tells us his daughter said, but no one else is saying that and we cannot confirm whether it’s true. He, himself a military veteran, says at first his daughter thought it was some sort of drill but quickly discovered it wasn’t.

Given the heinousness of the crime, it hardly matters whether what the “veteran” is reportedly telling is true or not. But it certainly is convenient in furthering anti-Muslim bigotry, the only socially acceptable kind of bigotry today. Although sane voices have not been entirely drowned out in the United States, unfortunately it is now widely accepted that when a man or woman kills it is because of something specific in his or her personal history; unless he or she is Muslim, in which case it is because of his or her Muslimness or Islam.

Let us therefore take a closer look at what we know of the Major Hasan, the alleged Ft. Hood shooter. American Major Nidal Malik Hasan, was born in 1970 in Virginia, joined the U.S. Army at the age of eighteen (immediately after high school), and has served in the U.S. military for twenty one years (based on Wikipedia). According to a CNN report, he speaks little to no Arabic, and there is no report that he has ever travelled outside America much less lived in any Muslim country. According to the New York Times: “Military records indicated that Major Hasan was single, had been born in Virginia, had never served abroad and listed ‘no religious preference’ on his personnel records” (emphasis added). In other words, Major Hasan was born and raised in America and is, first and foremost, an American.

Hasan in 2007

Yet, there is a blatant effort to paint him as a Muslim. Despite 21 years of military service, the media do not provide us with any image of him in uniform. Isn’t it strange that the most flashed and printed image is of him in “a traditional Islamic dress” (in fact, it is nothing of the sort: he is wearing a South Asian shalwar-qameez) getting a coffee — at 6 am, probably on his way from early morning prayers (hence what he is wearing?). Reportedly of Arab descent, it is highly unlikely that he wore this (non-Arab) dress frequently or at other times. Where are his high school pictures, pictures from his various graduation ceremonies, from Walter Reid Hospital where he served, from events in his military career? Are they being suppressed (or not being eagerly sought) because they would convey a more wholesome American image, and raise uncomfortable questions about what it is in American society that makes it difficult for non-WASPs in general and Muslims in particular to integrate?

The question to ask therefore is not whether and to what degree is this Virginian soldier a Muslim. Instead, Americans would be better served to ask — as is being done for Jason Rodriguez, the 40 year old Orlando shooter — what specific factors in his background led him to this horrendous crime. What racial and religious slurs did Hasan endure since 2001 (as is reported), and before, that caused him to go berserk? If, as is being reported, he wanted out of the military, why wasn’t he let go? Did he, like Jason Rodriguez, nurse a grievance against his employers that led him to kill?

Whether he shouted “Allah Akbar” [sic.] or not, in all fairness this one should be chalked up to America; not to Islam or Muslimness.

See Also:

Nidal Malik Hasan, Terrorphobia, and the Safe Haven Freakout