photo: The U.S. Army/ BY-NC-SA

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) sent out an official statement regarding the Fort Hood shooting. CAIR is America's largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. They want the media and the general public not to hold this one incident as precedent for all Muslim Americans. While investigators are searching for a motive, CAIR does not want the fact Major Nidal Malik Hasan was a Muslim to take precedence over any other evidence. CAIR’s Executive Director Nihad Awad says,

“We reiterate the American Muslim community’s condemnation of this cowardly attack. Right now, we call on all Americans to assist those who are responding to this atrocity…The motive of the attacker is not yet known. We urge all Americans to remain calm in reaction to this tragic event and to demonstrate once again what is best about America – our nation’s ability to remain unified even in times of crisis. We urge national political and religious leaders and media professionals to set a tone of calm and unity.”

CAIR doesn’t want investigators and the media to pin the Fort Hood shooting on the Islam religion and continue the “Muslim terrorist” stereotype.” This may create Muslim backlash leading to harm of innocent Muslim Americans. CAIR urges American Muslims, and those who may be perceived to be Muslim, to take appropriate precautions to protect themselves, their families and their religious institutions from possible backlash.

When horrible incidents occur, like the shooting on Fort Hood, we need to come together as a nation. When there are so many victims from this shooting and so many of their families suffering, people want a villain, a reason, and someone to blame. This is not the time to point fingers, this is the time to try to find ways to prevent this from repeating. What could have been done to help Major Nidal Malik Hasan before he decided to take the lives of our soldiers? We should question all the effects this war is having on our community. Let's not blame or hurt anyone, let's work together to create solutions.