Photo via the New York Daily News
This past weekend, 28-year-old Ahmad Khan Rahami terrorized New York for a brief period, setting off two bombs made from pressure cookers while planning to detonate at least ten more. Those ten bombs went undetonated for a number of reasons, including but not limited to his poor planning and the lucky timing of a few luggage thieves. Mr. Rahami, to make light of a serious situation, is not a very good terrorist. It is worth noting that terrorist is singular, not plural, and that Mr. Rahami carried out his poorly thought out plan himself. Rahami’s father, Mohammad Rahami, owns a fried chicken restaurant in Elizabeth, New Jersey. It is a popular late-night spot, so much so that Mohammad has clashed with the town government over noise complaints and their 24-hour schedule. In the last few days, the restaurant’s Yelp page has been flooded with thousands of negative reviews. To give the general idea, two kind reviewers denounced the restaurant as a terrorist haven “run by filthy mohammaden savages” and “camel jockeys.” Now, I should know better than to make a plea to trolls (both online and in real life), but I guess I do not.
Mohammad Rahami called the FBI twice in the past few years to report his son for suspicious behavior or crimes, including a domestic violence incident that led to a three-month jail stint for Ahmad. In a conversation that he later recanted, Mohammad called his son a terrorist and told the FBI he was hanging out with a bad crowd and that his behavior had changed. He was questioned in connection with his son’s terrorist activities, as was everyone he knew, however, the FBI says they believe he acted alone.
Mohammad is, as described by the New York Times, a hard-working small business owner, a devout follower of Islam, and a father. Other sources close to Mohammad say that he was against the war in Iraq and Afghanistan (as we all should have been), and detests the Islamic State. In short, Mohammad Rahami is a model immigrant: a hard worker who came to the United States for a better life and found it through opening a small business and contributing to his local community. He maintained his faith and cultural customs while also thriving in an American community. He is everything we hope immigrants will be when they come to the United States. Yet, inexplicably, we trash his restaurant online and lump him in with his son, a lone wolf terrorist who became radicalized over time, a change his father noticed in his behavior and clearly never participated in.
When terrorist organizations like the Islamic State or Al-Qaeda need material to back up their claims that Americans hate Muslims and are intolerant of Islam, they will point to our ostracization of Mohammad Rahami as evidence. And they will be right. Internet trolls and xenophobic individuals who make up a surprisingly large part of our population (ahem, basket of deplorables) are tearing down Mohammad’s hard work as a small business owner and an immigrant. They are a driving force of the radicalization that they so vehemently speak out against. When we as a society lump Mohammad Rahami in with his son despite all evidence to the contrary, we are giving credibility to the argument that Americans are intolerant of Islamic values. We should be working in the other direction, praising Mohammad Rahami for his success and lamenting the fact that he is now forever associated with his terrorist of a son. But since we are not doing that, I will say this. The next time anyone I know wonders why radicalized individuals show such hatred for the United States, I will point to our trashing of Mohammad Rahami as evidence.