On Oct. 31, a major tragedy happened in Manhattan, N.Y. A tragedy consisting of eight people killed and many more injured due to the ignorance and idiocy of a terrorist by the name of Sayfullo Saipov, as he yelled in the streets “Allahu Akbar.” Do you know what that means?
“Allahu Akbar,” one of the most frequently said phrases in the Muslim world, and the integral part of a Muslim’s prayer, means “Allah is the Greatest.” Now, how can God, the Omnipotent, Merciful Being be great if in His name there are radicals killing people? Does that mean that since Muslims say this often, that all Muslims, or a majority of us, believe that it is OK to say the name of God to justify killing?
As a Muslim who tries to follow the teachings of the Holy Quran, the exact word of God Himself, I can assure all Americans that have a fear of the phrase “Allahu Akbar” that God truly is the Greatest, and that no true Muslim will justify the killing of a person, especially God forbid, with the name of God Himself.
Why? God gives the answer. He says in the Quran that the killing of one person is as if all of mankind was killed (5:33).
Now, I think, that does warrant “Allahu Akbar,” and I hope that all my fellow Americans realize that the meaning behind this phrase is not of evil but rather of beauty and hope.
Haris Qamar
Clifton
The writer is a member of Muslim Writers Guild of America and is a senior at Thomas Jefferson High School of Science and Technology.