{"id":975,"date":"2016-07-24T13:07:56","date_gmt":"2016-07-24T18:07:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/?p=975"},"modified":"2016-07-24T13:07:56","modified_gmt":"2016-07-24T18:07:56","slug":"yes-one-can-criminal-muslim-background-not-terrorist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/yes-one-can-criminal-muslim-background-not-terrorist\/","title":{"rendered":"Yes, one can be a criminal of Muslim background and NOT be a terrorist"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the Name of God: The Extremely and Eternally Loving and Caring<\/em><\/p>\n

It does not diminish its terror; it does not diminish its horror; it does not diminish its savagery. Still, it is important to know why someone commits a crime. With respect to the horrific shooting in Munich, Germany<\/a>, it appears that it had nothing to do with terrorism or religious extremism<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n
\n

The gunman who killed nine people in a rampage in Munich on Friday was obsessed with mass shootings and appeared to have planned the attack for a year, officials said.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

\n
“He appears to have planned this act since last summer,” Robert Heimberger, president of the Bavarian state criminal police office, said at a press conference Sunday.<\/div>\n
“He completely occupied himself with this act of rampage.”<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Police have not named the attacker, but said he was an 18-year-old with dual German and Iranian nationality who was born and raised in Munich. Neighbors told CNN Saturday that the teen who lived in an apartment searched by police was Ali Sonboly, a name reported by German media outlets.<\/div>\n
Police had said Saturday that the attacker was a mentally troubled individual<\/a> who had extensively researched rampage killings, and had no apparent links to terror groups and no political motive.<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
\n
\n
On Sunday, investigators revealed he had left behind a long written statement on his computer, which was still being analyzed. They also said they had found photographs on his camera showing he had also visited the German town of Winnenden, the site of a deadly 2009 school shooting.<\/a><\/div>\n
Earlier, officials said they had found in the gunman’s belongings numerous documents on mass killings, including a book entitled “Rampage in My Mind — Why Students Kill.”<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Officials also believe there likely was significance in the timing of the attack, which came five years to the day since Anders Behring Breivik killed 77 people in Norway in 2011, many of them attendees at a youth camp.<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n
Again, it does not make the crime any less heinous. But it does prove the – seemingly obvious – point that someone can be a criminal of Muslim background and NOT be a terrorist. Yes, there have been a slew of terrorist attacks by “lone wolf” Muslim attackers (the vast majority of whose victims<\/a> are…other Muslims<\/a>). At the same time, just because someone is of Muslim background and commits a crime, it does not make him an automatic terrorist. We must continue to resist this generalization<\/a>, for the better of all of us in this world.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the Name of God: The Extremely and Eternally Loving and Caring It does not diminish its terror; it does not diminish its horror; it does not diminish its savagery. Still, it is important to know why someone commits a crime. With respect to the horrific shooting in Munich, Germany, it appears that it had…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":175,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[754,11,753,142,401,103],"class_list":["post-975","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-common-word","tag-generalization","tag-islam","tag-munich","tag-muslim","tag-shooting","tag-terror"],"yoast_head":"\nMunich Shooter: A Criminal, but NOT terrorist, of Muslim background<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Munich gunman was a mentally disturbed young man of Muslim background...and NOT a terrorist. 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Hassaballa","description":"Hesham A. Hassaballa is a Chicago doctor and writer. He has written extensively on a freelance basis, being published in newspapers across the country and around the world. He has been a Beliefnet columnist since 2001, and has written for the Religion News Service. He is also a columnist for Patheos. His articles have been distributed worldwide by Agence Global, and he was also a guest blogger for The Chicago Tribune and has blogged on ChicagoNow\" . In addition, Dr. Hassaballa has appeared as a guest on WTTW (Channel 11) in Chicago, CNN, Fox News, BBC, and National Public Radio. Dr. Hassaballa is co-author of The Beliefnet Guide to Islam (Doubleday), and his essay, \u201cWhy I Love the Ten Commandments,\u201d was published in the award-winning book Taking Back Islam (Rodale). His latest book, Noble Brother, is the story of the Prophet Muhammad told entirely in poetry, and it is now published in its second edition. In 2007, his blog \"God, Faith, and a Pen\" was nominated for a Brass Crescent Award for a blog that is \u201cthe most stimulating, insightful, and philosophical, providing the best rebuttals to extremist ideology and making an impact whenever they post.\u201d \"God, Faith, and a Pen\" has also received an award for being one of the \"Top Muslim Blogs for 2010\" by Awarding The Web. In addition to writing, Dr. Hassaballa helped found the Chicago Chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations and currently serves on their board of directors. He also co-founded the Bayan H. 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