Aug 04 2016
Accident exposes hate, intolerance
By Daoud Kuttab
The incident was tragic by any standard, but the response appears even more tragic.
When Shadi Abu Jaber, a 17-year-old Jordanian, along with another passenger died in a car accident in Amman, social media users started talking about the young man whose life was cut short.Â
Among other things, friends recalled various things about young Abu Jaber, including that his mother sang in a local church (his uncle is an evangelical pastor) and that he was a guitar player in a local band.
Words of condolences filled the Facebook page of a local TV station’s website that broke the story. People used the normal words in such occasions, such as “Allah yerhamo†(May God have mercy on him).
The outpouring of warm words and condolences apparently did not please some people who seem to have a problem with such normal human reaction.
How can people express such words of sympathy in the case of a young man who “played the guitarâ€?Â
And anyway, said others, Muslims are not allowed to call for mercy on non-Muslims. Continue Reading »