Al-arab In UK | The Liverpool bomber... Jordanian or Syrian? Mu...

1446 محرم 20 | 27 يوليو 2024

The Liverpool bomber… Jordanian or Syrian? Muslim or Christian?!

The Liverpool bomber... Jordanian or Syrian? Muslim or Christian?! مفجّر ليفربول …أردني أم سوري؟ مسلم أم مسيحي؟! (فيسبوك/ Malcolm Hitchcott)
Adnan Hmidan 19 November 2021
The Liverpool bomber… Jordanian or Syrian? Muslim or Christian?! (Facebook/ Malcolm Hitchcott)

By Adnan Hmidan

The Arab community in the UK has seen a wide spread of fruitless debates over media’s updates concerning the identity of the perpetrator of the Liverpool terrorist attack.

Emad al Swealmeen, 32, detonated a car near the Liverpool Women’s Hospital. The explosion resulted in injuring one passerby, but it also killed the perpetrator himself.

Some hurriedly clung onto the story of him converting to Christianity. In their rush to exculpate Muslims – who have suffered great consequences due to such crimes – these people mostly failed to look into the reasons behind his conversion.

Others used the incident to further their case against Syrians and Syrian asylum in the UK. Thus, they were more interested in the initial media coverage that spoke of the liverpool bomber’s asylum case as one of the fleeing victims of the war in Syria. “This is our problem with Syrians,” they say. “Look at what happens when you let them in!” and other such statements.

 The Liverpool bomber... Jordanian or Syrian? Muslim or Christian?! قيل إن مفجّر ليفربول عما السويلمين كان مسيحيا بحقّ، بينما قال آخرون إنه اعتنق السياحة لمساعدة طلب لجوئه (فيسبوك/ Malcolm Hitchcott)
The Liverpool bomber, Emad al Swealmeen, was said to be a true Christian by some, while others said he had outwardly embraced Christianity to help with his asylum claim. (Facebook/ Malcolm Hitchcott)

Still others propagated the latest news confirming the attacker as a Jordanian from an Iraqi mother. It is said he submitted his asylum claim application as a Syrian, due to unlikeliness of authorities approving humanitarian asylum claim for a Jordanian – given that current living conditions are stable in Jordan.

As such, everyone is trying to save their own skin now. It is as if we are all locked in a dock, throwing accusations any which way to deflect them from ourselves and our “own”, even if that meant depending on the divisions placed upon us by the Sykes–Picot Agreement!

Otherwise – from a practical point of view – what is the difference between the people of Houran, for example, who all hail from one place and yet some hold Syrian citizenships, while others are Jordanian.

And who of us has not heard of Al-Rifai who was Syrian but held the position of Jordan’s Prime Minister, while his counterpart in Syria, Al-Zoubi, was of Jordanian origin.

Ultimately, all people are children of Adam, and Adam was created from dust.

The Liverpool bomber... Jordanian or Syrian? Muslim or Christian?!
The Liverpool bomber perished with his bomb, but his actions haunt the city still. (The bombed car near the women’s hospital in Liverpool/ BBC)

When such cowardly, unacceptable incidents occur, we, as Arabs, must all stand united by rejecting and condemning their perpetrators.

Moreover, we must also bring to light that, indeed, Western countries were the primary reason for the displacement of people and their need to flee from their homes, even before Arab dictatorships forced them to. Otherwise, why would anyone replace a stable life in their own country for a different one? (Adipex)  

Asylum seekers face extreme suffering in their home country, and go on to experience even more pain and anguish in their immigration journey and the endless transactions and documents to settle into a new country.

Is it strange, then, for these people to suffer from mental exhaustion leading to illnesses? In extreme cases, the pure inhumanity characterizing the asylum-seeking process might cost some their sanity; leading them to commit heinous, inexcusable crimes that no one thought them capable of doing. 

Was the Liverpool bomber one of them? How can we prevent such incidents from happening in the future? 

 


Read More:

When should we not emigrate to Britain?

Four stories about Muslims in British Media  

Arabs in the UK… Coordination is a Necessity, not a Luxury

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