Ahmed al Ahmed, the man who tackled and disarmed one of the Bondi beach attackers, recovers at St George Hospital in Sydney.Supplied/AFP/Getty Images
Sheema Khan is the author of Of Hockey and Hijab: Reflections of a Canadian Muslim Woman.
Ahmed al Ahmed was meeting a friend for coffee by Sydney’s Bondi Beach when a scene of mass murder unfolded before him. Unbeknownst to him, two gunmen had already murdered a Jewish couple, Boris and Sofia Gurman, who had come out to celebrate their 35th wedding anniversary, and who had courageously tried to stop the attackers as they first emerged from their car with firearms to unleash carnage upon a Hanukkah celebration nearby. In the end, 15 people were murdered, including a 10-year-old girl, an 87-year-old Holocaust survivor and two beloved rabbis who each left behind young families; at least nine children lost a parent that day.
In a now-iconic video, an unarmed Mr. al Ahmed confronts one of the gunmen. After wrestling away the weapon, Mr. al Ahmed points the gun at him as the man retreats, and then even has the presence of mind to lay it down. Mr. al Ahmed would later require extensive surgery after being shot by the second gunman. Tributes have poured in for Mr. al Ahmed – a father of two young girls – as have donations.
Video captured the moment a man rushed one of two gunmen at Bondi Beach and disarmed him while the second gunman continued to shoot from a nearby walkway. The state’s premier hailed the man as 'a genuine hero.”'
EyePress
Many credit his heroic actions for saving many lives on that beach. The fact that a Muslim man, originally from Syria, helped save the lives of Jews, was a ray of light on a day of immense darkness. He embodied the Quranic teaching: “Whoever saves a life, it will be as if they saved all of humanity.” In the coming weeks, his bravery will be rightly highlighted at Friday congregational prayers, lectures and conferences in Muslim communities, for he embodies the best of Islamic teachings.
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But that video also highlights an uncomfortable fact: the two suspects – one died on the scene and the other has been charged with murder and terrorism – were reportedly inspired by the Islamic State, and were ostensibly Muslim. In that context, Mr. al Ahmed’s physical struggle against an armed zealot becomes an apt metaphor for the internal struggle that Muslim communities must engage in, urgently: the fight against religious extremism.
It is not enough to celebrate Mr. al Ahmed’s courage. The community must also confront who and what he fought against: a hateful, murderous ideology that is the very antithesis of Islam.
The Prophet Muhammad warned against religious extremism, and forbade the wanton killing of civilians. And the Quran commands Muslims to stand up for justice, even if it is against themselves; one can never hide behind “my tribe, right or wrong.” The evil of Islamic State ideology must be condemned in the same breath that Mr. al Ahmed is lauded.
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The Muslim community in Sydney has taken a clear stand: it will not receive the body of the deceased terrorist, nor perform funeral rites over it. Dr. Jamal Rifi, a prominent Muslim leader in the city, said: “We don’t see [the offenders] as inside the fold of Islam or as Muslims,” adding, “what they have done is not condoned by any of us and it is killing innocent civilians. We know it is a verse in our book, killing an innocent civilian is the same as killing all humanity.”
Australian authorities have yet to indicate if the attack was related to Israel’s violence against Palestinians. Nonetheless, this is an opportunity to clearly delineate the actions of a government from those of Jews worldwide. It is not antisemitic to criticize and oppose the Israeli government’s genocidal actions against the Palestinians in Gaza and its brutal military occupation of the West Bank. The war crime of Oct. 7, 2023 cannot justify war crimes in which tens of thousands of Palestinian women and children are killed and populations are starved. It is antisemitic, however, to blame all Jews for the actions of the Israeli government. It is antisemitic to vandalize Jewish institutions, businesses and communities in protest. It is antisemitic to instill fear in Jewish communities – and Muslims know all too well the danger of being blamed and targeted for the actions of a few.
After the terrorist attack at a Quebec City mosque during which six worshippers were gunned down in cold blood, and after the murder of three generations of the Afzal family in London, Ont., by an Islamophobe, Canadian Muslims understandably feared for their safety. And while government and law enforcement responded to assure a shaken community, it was grassroots support and love by ordinary Canadians that helped in the healing process.
Our Jewish friends, colleagues and neighbours are hurting and fearful. Let us all reach out with wings of mercy and compassion, to build stronger communities – and to build a stronger Canada.