Islamophobia On The Rise As Muslims Observe last Ten Days of Ramadhan

As Muslims observe the last ten days of Ramadhan, there is fear of the rise of Islamophobia globally. The Toronto police hate crime unit is investigating the recent drive-by shooting ‘as a precaution.

Muslim leaders are urging their community to be extra vigilant in the wake of the drive-by shootings at a strip mall in that wounded five men who had just finished Ramadhan prayers at a nearby mosque in the Scarborough neighbourhood.The shooting is not being called an act of terrorism as suspects are unknown.

The shooting is bringing back raw memories of what happened in Jan. 29, 2017, Quebec City mosque shooting, when a gunman killed six worshippers and injured five more, said Hamilton Mountain Mosque Imam Sayed Tora.

Alexandre Bissonette who killed six men who were praying at Quebec City Mosque was never charged with any hate crime or terrorism. However, Nathaniel Veltman who killed four famly members walking in a park in London Ontario was charged with terrorism in a rare and “hugely important” move experts say signals a shift in who is considered a national security threat.

Terror attacks by Muslims are generally consindered to be terrorist attacks. However, terror attacks by non-Muslims are not usually called Terrorist attacks. Frank R James, has now been charged with Terrorism for the recent New York subway shootings. He was not initially changed with terrorism where the motives were not clear. There does not seem to be consistency of what are considered acts or terrorism.

Tora said it’s time to act on the recommendations of the National Action Summit on Islamophobia held in the wake of an attack on a Muslim family in London, Ont., in June last year. The family was out walking when they were hit by a vehicle, seriously injuring a young boy and killing his mother, father, sister and grandmother.

“We have to call out” Islamophobia, he said. “We have a lot of sugar-coating and we have to have some tangible actions in our communities to feel safe.”

In New Delhi, authorities used bulldozers to raze a number of Muslim-owned shops before India’s Supreme Court halted the demolitions days after communal violence shook the capital and saw dozens arrested.

For nearly an hour after the Supreme Court order, officials continued to demolish structures, including the outer entrance and stairs leading into a mosque. They stopped the bulldozers just outside the entrance of a Hindu temple, about 50 meters (160 feet) from the mosque, and began to retreat, spurring outrage from Muslim residents who said they were being targeted.

Anti-Muslim sentiment and attacks have risen across India in the past 10 days, including stone throwing between Hindu and Muslim groups during religious processions and demolitions of a number of properties, many belonging to Muslims, in another state last week.

Police have arrested at least 24 suspects since communal violence broke out during a Hindu religious procession in New Delhi’s northwest Jahangirpuri neighborhood. They said Hindu and Muslim groups threw stones at each other during a procession to mark the birth date of Hindu god Hanuman, leaving eight police officers and a civilian injured, local media reported.

Officials say their demolition drive targets illegal buildings and not any particular religious group. But critics argue this is the latest attempt to harass and marginalize Muslims, who are 14% of India’s 1.4 billion population.

“They don’t want Muslims to live in this country. Why? Are Muslims terrorists?” said Sabiran Bibi, 31, who has lived in the area all her life.

Raja Iqbal Singh, mayor of the North Delhi Municipal Corporation said authorities were only bringing down “illegal buildings that have encroached onto the roads.” He said the action had nothing to do with the earlier violence but that some of the shops belonged to people accused of rioting.

A similar demolition drive occurred last week in central Madhya Pradesh state’s Khargone city after a Hindu procession on April 10 to mark the birth anniversary of Lord Ram erupted in violence, with Hindu mobs brandishing swords and sticks as they marched past Muslim neighborhoods and mosques. Soon, groups from both communities began throwing stones at each other, according to police.

A day later, bulldozers razed about 45 buildings, including homes and shops, in five parts of Khargone city. Many of them, though not all, belonged to Muslims, local media said.

In Jerusalem, group of Israeli ultra-nationalists said it is determined to go ahead with a flag-waving march around predominantly Palestinian areas of Jerusalem’s Old City, brushing aside a police ban of an event that served as one of the triggers of last year’s Israel-Gaza war.

In a sign of the already heated atmosphere, a small group of Palestinian protesters threw rocks at police while hundreds of Jewish visitors entered the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, known to Jews as the Temple Mount.

The hilltop shrine in Jerusalem’s Old City is the third holiest in Islam, while for Jews it is their holiest site, where two temples stood in antiquity. It is the emotional ground zero for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and a flashpoint for previous rounds of violence.

Amateur video from the scene appeared to show police using sponge-tipped plastic projectiles intended to be non-lethal as the protesters barricaded themselves inside the mosque. Police said a firebomb thrown by one of the protesters set a carpet outside the mosque on fire, but it was quickly extinguished. No injuries were reported.

Israeli police said a large number of officers were deployed around Jerusalem’s historic Old City, home to religious sites for Jews, Christians and Muslims, out of concern that confrontations could further ignite an already tense situation in the city during the Jewish holiday of Passover and the Muslim holy month of Ramadhan.

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