A Muslim Girl was Murdered in Great Britain.Thousands Donated to Help, Then the Money Was Clawed Back
By: Nathan Matsko
Photo by Mostafa Meraji via unsplash
State College — It was the afternoon of May 17th in Blackburn, England. Aya Hachem, a 19-year old law student at the University of Salford in Manchester, was on the way to her local grocery store. Out of nowhere, two shots rang out from a passing car.
The projectiles were intended for a local car wash in an apparent business dispute. Though the first bullet hit its target, the second hit Aya, fatally wounding her.
Aya’s death saw an outpouring of grief and support from people around the world, particularly the Muslim community. Before long, multiple individuals had created online fundraisers to help with any costs the family would accrue, attracting thousands of dollars in donations.
Many people changed their tune, however, when it was discovered that Aya was a Shia Muslim.
Suddenly, the funds that had been raised for Aya began to dwindle as countless Sunni Muslims withdrew their donations, with some fundraisers being shut down entirely.
Shia and Sunni Muslims alike aired their outrage on social media, criticizing those who chose to retract their support.
Not all posts, though, were supportive in nature. After the controversy became mainstream, a number of users utilized the topic to directly target Shias and their beliefs. Posts went far beyond ideological disagreements in an attempt to dehumanize Shias entirely.
THE SPLIT
The differences between Sunni and Shia go back to the earliest days of Islam following the death of the Prophet Muhammad. When the Prophet’s followers were deciding on who would succeed Muhammad in leading Muslims, most supported Abu Bakr, a father-in-law of the prophet, and went on to form the Sunni sect of Islam. A sizeable minority, however, supported Ali, the Prophet’s cousin and son-in-law, and went on to become Shi’a Muslims.
Abu Bakr was the first Caliph of the Rashidun, meaning “Rightly Guided”, Caliphate. Ali would be the fourth Caliph after his predecessor, Uthman, was assassinated, though Shia maintain that Ali had been the only rightful ruler of the Caliphate.
Those who would form the Sunni sect, with one of the Prophet’s wives Aisha at the head, wanted swift revenge against the rebels who killed Uthman, while Ali sought more time to do so. Tensions boiled over into the Battle of the Camel in 656, in which Ali was victorious. This event would begin to drive the wedge between Sunni and Shia.
The next several hundred years would see a tumultuous back and forth between Sunni and Shia. There would be periods of peace and cooperation, such as the Islamic Golden Age during the Abbasid Caliphate, which was brought about through cooperation between Persian Shia and like-minded Sunnis. This period saw revolutions in science, mathematics, and art, with its capital Baghdad being referred to as “The Navel of the World”.
In modern times, however, this cooperative effort seems like a relic of the past as sectarianism becomes more and more deeply seeded. Over 85% of the 1.8 billion Muslims today are Sunni, with Shia and other minority sects making up the remaining 15%.
Making up the overwhelming minority, Shia often face discrimination and even violence from Sunni sectarians. Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State alone have committed untold acts of terror on Shia mosques, businesses and public services in the past two decades. On a more institutional level, Shias in Sunni majority countries like Saudi Arabia — the center of Islam — see immense levels of discrimination and oppression; religious practices are limited, textbooks are skewed in favor of Sunni doctrine, and Shi’a have been arrested and executed for participation in protests.
SOCIAL MEDIA SECTARIANISM
Even online, Shia are experiencing abuse and harassment at unprecedented levels, as became apparent after the fallout following Aya Hachem’s death. As social media sites gain more and more users but maintain only a few thousand employees responsible for content moderation, anti-Shiism often flies under the radar.
Abbas Husain, a Shia Muslim who goes by Shia Shogun on Twitter, has seen firsthand how the vitriol being injected into the dialogue is affecting those it is directed at.
“No Shia who is active on social media can escape from anti-Shia rhetoric,” he says, “it’s a product of systematic anti-shiite propaganda. I used to see that it was only Salafi/Wahabbi Sunnis that hated Shias, but because of the many platforms spewing this vitriolic propaganda on the internet, its starting to affect the masses.
“The hate manifests in continual jokes about our religious practices; they target Shias through memes, death threats, and disgusting jokes.”
Abbas’s experiences go beyond the digital realm, however. After retaliating to harassment by making a joke about Sunnis, Abbas was doxxed--that is, his personal information was leaked.
Though he now regrets making that joke, Abbas speaks of the toll that the constant harassment has taken.
“Sectarianism amongst Shias, in my opinion, as a product of necessity in facing anti-Shia oppression. I, along with many others, didn’t used to be very outspoken against Sunnis, but its out of necessity of self defense that some of us have become abrasive.”
These sectarian attitudes are stoked not only by religious differences nowadays, but also geopolitical ones. Some of the images and opinions shared by anti-Shia rhetoriticians feature prominent, controversial leaders, such as Bashar Al-Assad of Syria, and attribute their human rights violations to their religious affiliations.
“I really can’t begin to express the hurt, anger, and frustration I feel every time I log on to see yet another person blatantly and openly insulting us and our beliefs, further encouraging others to do the same,” says Fatima Zaidi, a staff writer for The Depaulia. “It brings tears to my eyes.
“We’ve been told how fundamental brotherhood, sisterhood, friendship, and unity are in the religion of Islam but on social media, especially Twitter? You don’t see that. You don’t see that at all.”
Following suit with many of the images already discussed, Fatima describes tweets in which anti-Shia users post about dreams in which they bulldoze sites holy in Shia Islam, as well as insulting important religious figures with incredibly vulgar language. Though many would assume these posts violate the terms & services of social media sites like Twitter, it seems far too many slip through the cracks.
“I’ve seen some accounts suspended, but there are several tweets out there that are just as bad, if not worse, that haven’t been deleted. Some people will delete their own tweets after they’ve received enough pressure, but others will keep it up. The more we feel hurt, the more they feel accomplished in their mission.”
After Aya’s death, Fatima was incredibly disheartened by the lack of support from her Sunni friends. “I wasn’t expecting them to say sorry or anything, just to show an ounce of love and support. That didn’t happen,” she says. “That’s a heartbreak I don’t think I’ll ever forget.”.
Zainab Farrukh, another Shia twitter user, shares a similar sentiment. “Sunnis are usually not carrying out the discrimination, but the ones who do are heavily influenced by the Salafi or Wahabi Ideologies. Nonetheless, silence is violence, and unfortunately most of the Muslim community is silent on hate.”
While Zainab has received support from some close Sunni friends, they themselves have been similarly victimized. “I have a couple of Sunni friends who are very close to the Shia faith due to the research they have initiated after observing the hate we receive. They also have the same issue as they say they have to hide this from their families since they would be ex-communicated, disowned, or worse.”
Zainab reflects on her father’s experience in Pakistan prior to the rise of Wahabi and Salafist influence, in which Sunni and Shia frequently intermingled without consequence. However, after General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq took power in 1978 and instituted a wide range of anti-Shia policies, things changed. Shia were ostracized by their former Sunni friends. “Sunnis would not even drink water from their homes. My dad was bullied and physically assaulted for being Shia, and carrying his identity, and that is why to this day he is careful in showing his true identity.”
Some of the anti-Shia tropes that resurfaced after Aya Hachem’s murder are being co-opted by far-right personalities to push their political agendas. In the UK, unsubstantiated rumors that Aya’s family are supporters of Bashar Al-Assad and that her father was a Hezbollah fighter made the rounds amongst anti-immigrant personalities.
Online abuse of Shi’a Muslims does more than just offend: it dehumanizes an already vulnerable minority and widens the rift between Sunni and Shia. Many Shia do not want an apology, only for Sunni Muslims to speak up about this kind of hatred.
“Lets put aside emotions and attempt to understand each other’s ideologies and our reasons of difference,” says Zainab. “Don’t be silent, I beg you please don’t be silent. Once you go silent, you take the side of the oppressor and show who you ally with. Even one measly post on your social media page can mean so much.”