When we see hate for Islam, or Islamophobia spreading in Western countries, those who deny it, ask for proof. They ask for proof, despite the documented evidence on hate against individuals belonging to the Islamic faith.
Indeed, Islamophobia has spread in Western countries, especially in the United States. In fact, since the Grand Old Party nominee, Donald Trump, made the disparaging comments that Muslims should be banned from entering the United States, hate crimes against Muslims have surged in the country.
A father of a seven year old boy previously living in the United States, has told a very disturbing story to the Independent. According to Zeeshan-ul-Hassan Usmani, his son, Abdul, returned from school with injuries to his head and other parts of his body. He said when his wife questioned their son about what happened to him, Abdul told her that he was beaten by five of his classmates, while they were returning from school, in a bus. Asked further why he was beaten, the boy revealed that his classmates told him they were beating him because he was a Muslim. Abdul attended the Weatherstone Elementary School, under the Wake County Public School System, in North Carolina. The Usmani family lived in Cary.
Abdul was quickly sent to the hospital for treatment. Mr Usmani said he was in Pakistan when the incident happened. His wife called him on the phone and narrated the story to him.
Usmani is said to have migrated to the United States from Pakistan, to study in 2004. He is now a trained data scientist. In 2010, he moved his family to Pakistan. They returned to the United States in 2014, but after this incident, his wife and three sons had decided to join him in Pakistan to stay. Mr Usmani revealed that when the incident happened, he was on an extended visit to Pakistan for this year’s Hajj and Eid.
Usmani said they were planning a move to California from Cary where they lived, but now, Abdul has told him that he does not want to return to the United States, anymore. Abdul is said to have been traumatized by the incident, and that it has affected his mental wellbeing.
“He was coming home in a school bus when one of his classmates came to him and started forcing some food in his mouth. Abdul said: ‘What is it? I only eat halal’. But the other boy wouldn’t say. Since we arrived in the US [in 2014], we started having problems with islamophobia and anti-immigration statements. Before 2010, we didn’t have these incidents. But we don’t feel safe in the US any more,” Usmani said.
He also described how his son was beaten. He said: “They hurt his fingers, threw his backpack to the back of the bus and kept hitting him all the way from school to home. It was a really shocking experience. He was traumatized.” Usmani granted this interview to the Independent in Pakistan via Skype.
Back in the United States, when the Independent contacted the school where Abdul attended, authorities at the Wake County Public School System said an investigation had been launched by the principle of the Weatherstone Elementary School.
An official, identified as Lisa Luten, said the principal of the school has revealed that one pupil who was in the bus during the incident, has admitted that some sort of play-fighting occurred between Abdul and other pupils.
Ms Luten said authorities of the school are now trying to get in touch with the Usmani family by phone, in order to see how they can both address the incident amicably.
Abdul has since recovered from his physical injuries, except for a bump to his head. Mr Usmani said the family would remain in Pakistan until after the November elections. They will then make a final decision on whether to return to the United States, or not. However, he said for the meantime, they do not wish to return.
Recently, we published a disturbing story of a Muslim woman who had her clothing set on fire in New York City. Apart from that, there have been other hate crimes committed against Muslims in the United States in recent times.
According to observers, what is currently happening in the United States is what terrorist organizations, such as the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, want. The terrorists’ main goal is to stir reprisal attacks against Muslims in the West, in order to convince them [Western Muslims] that the West hates Islam.
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