{"id":34580,"date":"2022-08-08T04:02:40","date_gmt":"2022-08-08T04:02:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/?p=34580"},"modified":"2022-08-08T04:02:40","modified_gmt":"2022-08-08T04:02:40","slug":"muslim-community-expresses-fear-after-killings-of-men-in-albuquerque","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/08\/muslim-community-expresses-fear-after-killings-of-men-in-albuquerque\/","title":{"rendered":"Muslim Community Expresses Fear After Killings of Men in Albuquerque"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> [ad_1]<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Muhammad Imtiaz Hussain is afraid to step outside his home in Albuquerque to water his plants. Or retrieve books from his car. Or even venture out onto his balcony.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cMy kids won\u2019t let me go outside of my apartment,\u201d said Mr. Hussain, 41, whose younger brother Muhammad Afzaal Hussain, 27, was fatally shot a week ago Monday just a few blocks away. He was one of <a target=\"_blank\" class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/08\/06\/us\/muslim-men-killings-new-mexico.html\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener\">four Muslim men<\/a> who were killed recently in the city \u2014 three in the past two weeks \u2014 and authorities believe the deaths are connected and meant to target the Muslim community.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The latest victim, a Muslim man in his mid-20s from South Asia whose name has not been released by the police, was killed on Friday just before midnight. Another man, Aftab Hussein, 41, was fatally shot on July 26. Authorities say that the killings of all three might be connected to the November 2021 killing of Mohammad Ahmadi, 62, outside a business he and his brother ran.<\/p>\n<div class=\"css-79elbk\" data-testid=\"photoviewer-wrapper\">\n<div data-testid=\"photoviewer-children\" class=\"css-1a48zt4 e11si9ry5\">\n<figure class=\"img-sz-small css-1m53jiu e1g7ppur0\" aria-label=\"media\" role=\"group\"><figcaption class=\"css-7jn687 ewdxa0s0\"><span aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"css-jevhma e13ogyst0\">Muhammad Afzaal Hussain, left, with Muhammad Imtiaz Hussain, his older brother.<\/span><span class=\"css-1u46b97 e1z0qqy90\"><span class=\"css-1ly73wi e1tej78p0\">Credit&#8230;<\/span><span><span aria-hidden=\"false\"> <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">As the Albuquerque Police, the F.B.I. and the State Police appealed to the public for help in finding the killer or killers \u2014 on Sunday authorities described a vehicle of interest, a dark-colored, four-door Volkswagen sedan \u2014 the attacks have left Muslims in a state of terror.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">One member who attended the Islamic Center of New Mexico, the same mosque as all four of the victims, said that he may never return, citing a fear of becoming \u201cbait.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Other members have temporarily left the state to stay with family members in other parts of the country to wait out the investigation. One man, who immigrated from Iraq, said that he felt safer back when he first came to the country in the 1980s. Another member, Salem Ansari, said that some who attend the mosque and work night shifts have quit their jobs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThis situation is getting so much worse,\u201d Mr. Ansari said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Ahmad Assed, president of the mosque, said that he grew up in Albuquerque attending the Islamic Center but never felt isolated as a Muslim in the city. But now, he said, the community is going through a \u201csort of managed panic.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The elder Mr. Hussain said that he had lived safely in his neighborhood for eight years since moving to the United States with his wife and children. His brother Muhammad arrived in 2017, and both men would go to the library at midnight or buy coffees late into the evening while attending the University of New Mexico as international students.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cNow, I look outside the window and think, \u2018Oh, this is the place where my brother was killed. Should we move?\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Hussain said that he had initially hoped to send his brother\u2019s body back to be buried with family in Pakistan, but the numerous gunshot wounds had made his brother unrecognizable, and Mr. Hussain did not want his family to see him. The killer \u201cwanted to finish him \u2014 the whole nine yards,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In general, anti-Muslim hate crimes in the United States have been trending downward. Brian Levin, a professor of criminal justice at California State University at San Bernardino and the director of the school\u2019s Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism, said that the number of hate crimes reported against Muslims was lower in 2020 than in any year since 9\/11, though he added that those numbers may be skewed because of pandemic restrictions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But he said that hate crimes remain a concern: They rose more than 20 percent in 2021 and increased another 4.7 percent in the first half of 2022, the center reported. Also, \u201cunderlying anti-Muslim attitudes\u201d are pervasive and resurface during times of national hardship, according to Professor Levin\u2019s studies.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The authorities said that they are refraining from using the term \u201chate\u201d in labeling the crimes until a motive could be established.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Just last year, the Islamic Center faced an attempted arson from a woman who the police say set three fires on the mosque playground and one fire at the mosque\u2019s main entry. No one was injured, and the woman was arrested and charged with arson. The case is pending.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The Islamic Center has instructed its nearly 2,500 members to stay home as much as they can, use the \u201cbuddy system\u201d when going out and refrain from \u201cengaging with or agitating\u201d anyone, Mr. Assed said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">He added that he still felt supported by other communities but that this time he also was feeling a sense of \u201chopelessness and despair.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cI do watch my back and get in the car. I\u2019m watching all my surroundings,\u201d he said. \u201cYou don\u2019t know whether they\u2019re following you from the mosque, if they\u2019re actually watching people going in and out of the mosque and following them elsewhere. The pattern is unknown.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Some community members have expressed frustration about the lack of details from the police investigation, but Mr. Assed said he was in contact with authorities and understood why they have kept any developments under wraps. Authorities have neither elaborated on why they believe the killings are linked nor indicated whether there were any witnesses.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Hussain said that he wanted the federal and state governments to pour as many resources as possible into catching the killer.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But until someone is caught, nothing is likely to lessen his fear \u2014 or his grief.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cMy 5-year-old keeps asking, \u2018Hey, where is my uncle?\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cShe\u2019ll see me crying and say, \u2018Are you a crybaby? Why are you crying?\u2019 But we can\u2019t tell her. Not yet.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p>[ad_2]<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/08\/07\/us\/muslim-killings-albuquerque.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[ad_1] Muhammad Imtiaz Hussain is afraid to step outside his home in Albuquerque to water&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":34581,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34580","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-learningtheory"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34580","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34580"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34580\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34582,"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34580\/revisions\/34582"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34581"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34580"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34580"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34580"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}