From A Witch-Hunt to Islamophobia
Just half an hour’s drive from the city of Boston, USA is the town of Salem, a popular tourist destination. In the 17th century however, it was the site of what historians now look down as one of the biggest farce in American history.
Back then, Salem was home to the Puritans, a community known for its firmly held religious beliefs. The Puritans lived a very simple life and they feared the Devil and witches, who they believed to be possessed by the former. So when two young girls, Betty Paris and Abigail Williams, began to display symptoms such as convulsions and screaming in terror the Puritans thought their worst fears were confirmed.
Today, there are many logical explanations for the girl’s symptoms. A popular one is that they were infected by ergots from the rye that grew, which can cause similar symptoms.
It didn’t take much for the Puritanical community to spiral into paranoia; just an accusing finger by the ‘victims’ that provoked an underlying fear of the Devil.
Although this was a first for Salem, an ocean away, in Europe witch hunts were already conducted by superstitious villagers. As animosity and tensions rose amongst them, the villagers used the witch-hunts as a convenient tool to get rid of their real or imagined enemies. According to Professor Ronal Hutton at the University of Bristol, what witch hunts meant then was that “Unusually the authorities encouraged the local people to be afraid of each other and to denounce each other as witches. It was both a purging of the local community by itself and a hysteria whipped up by people who ought to have known better”
The first person accused in Salem was Bridget Bishop, owner of an apple orchard. Another was someone seen as too religious and reclusive. Greed was also a cause of accusation. One man, accused of aiding the witches was a wealthy landowner and his accusers hoped to get their hand on his wealth. Almost 200 women were put to their deaths in this way. As historians looked back, the evidence painted a very obvious picture of rampant injustice committed against innocent people simply because they were seen as deviants of the norms of Puritan society. In 1711 the legislature returned the rights and good names of the witches to the official record. It also gave a small amount of money to the families of the women accused of being witches.
The cry of ‘She’s a witch!’ seems to have awakened again and taken on a more ferocious form despite the veil of time and history, in the form of Islamophobia. Building on the anti-Muslim sentiment, Donald Trump, the Republican candidate made several openly anti-Muslim remarks that despite their blatant racism, saw him taking the lead on the polls.
What interests me is the way Muslims are being targeted. After the San Benernardino attacks, there were countless posts on social media of girls in Hijab and bearded guys who were targeted in various ways. They were sworn at and told to ‘go back where they came from’.
One post that stood out particularly was that of a woman Nathalie Andrea Aramburo who, for a class project, dressed up as her hero, Malala and in doing so, she covered her head. “As I was driving, I have more than a few people roll their windows down to stick their middle fingers at me, near the Dunkin Donuts drive-thru a young white male threw his coffee at my car, and two F-250 trucks chanced me down on Jog Rd and tried to crash into my tiny Toyota Camry.
“In just a 20 minute drive to class, I felt that my life was threatened.”
But here is the most shocking aspect of all: Nathalie was targeted because people thought she was a Muslim.
If this isn’t mass hysteria prompted by an underlying irrational fear, I don’t know what it is.
If extremism be a disease, then just looking like a Muslim (wearing a headscarf or having a beard) is seen as a risk factor. And it seems that those who hang on to their prejudice assume that if you have the risk factor, you automatically have the disease too.
Writing the words above is hard and as a Muslim who also wears the Hijab, I am trying to make sense of what is happening. As I dwell into history and look at different communities who were targeted for their beliefs, I am drawn again to the Salem Witch trials. I went through a myriad of emotions, including anger, while reading about them.
But then I read about Ann Putnam
Ann Putnam was one of the girls who had falsely accused women of witchcraft. In 1706, Ann offered a public apology for her participation in the witch trials at Salem. “ I justly fear that I have been instrumental, with others, though ignorantly and unwitting, to bring upon myself and this land the guilt of innocent blood."
If Salem is now haunted by the spirits of the wronged women who were killed, then I can only imagine the guilt that must have haunted Ann; a guilt so strong that it caused her to overlook her own public humiliation. She clearly desired nothing but relative peace of mind.
I cant help that my anger turned to empathy.
And I say this as a Muslim to all those who may look at me and others like me with suspicion. I understand your fear. Believe me, I live it every-day. But if you see my scarf or the beard of my Muslim brothers as a risk factor, then I ask you to look at the Prophet I follow, Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him). He had a beard. He spoke Arabic. And today he is revered as Mercy for all Mankind. The United States Supreme Court honors Muhammad, the Prophet of Islam, as a source of law and justice alongside Moses, Solomon, and Confucius. He is depicted in the Courtroom Frieze among the great law-givers of mankind.
Moreover, I invite you to study my beautiful religion, Islam. The same religion that has made it forbidden for me to even make bad assumptions about other human beings let alone harming them in any way, the same religion that honours the differences amongst mankind and commands us to unite through them rather than using them as forces of division.
“And one of His signs is the creation of the heavens and the earth and the diversity of your tongues and colors; most surely there are signs in this for the learned”. (The Holy Quran Chapter 30: Verse 22)
Back then, Salem was home to the Puritans, a community known for its firmly held religious beliefs. The Puritans lived a very simple life and they feared the Devil and witches, who they believed to be possessed by the former. So when two young girls, Betty Paris and Abigail Williams, began to display symptoms such as convulsions and screaming in terror the Puritans thought their worst fears were confirmed.
Today, there are many logical explanations for the girl’s symptoms. A popular one is that they were infected by ergots from the rye that grew, which can cause similar symptoms.
It didn’t take much for the Puritanical community to spiral into paranoia; just an accusing finger by the ‘victims’ that provoked an underlying fear of the Devil.
Although this was a first for Salem, an ocean away, in Europe witch hunts were already conducted by superstitious villagers. As animosity and tensions rose amongst them, the villagers used the witch-hunts as a convenient tool to get rid of their real or imagined enemies. According to Professor Ronal Hutton at the University of Bristol, what witch hunts meant then was that “Unusually the authorities encouraged the local people to be afraid of each other and to denounce each other as witches. It was both a purging of the local community by itself and a hysteria whipped up by people who ought to have known better”
The first person accused in Salem was Bridget Bishop, owner of an apple orchard. Another was someone seen as too religious and reclusive. Greed was also a cause of accusation. One man, accused of aiding the witches was a wealthy landowner and his accusers hoped to get their hand on his wealth. Almost 200 women were put to their deaths in this way. As historians looked back, the evidence painted a very obvious picture of rampant injustice committed against innocent people simply because they were seen as deviants of the norms of Puritan society. In 1711 the legislature returned the rights and good names of the witches to the official record. It also gave a small amount of money to the families of the women accused of being witches.
The cry of ‘She’s a witch!’ seems to have awakened again and taken on a more ferocious form despite the veil of time and history, in the form of Islamophobia. Building on the anti-Muslim sentiment, Donald Trump, the Republican candidate made several openly anti-Muslim remarks that despite their blatant racism, saw him taking the lead on the polls.
What interests me is the way Muslims are being targeted. After the San Benernardino attacks, there were countless posts on social media of girls in Hijab and bearded guys who were targeted in various ways. They were sworn at and told to ‘go back where they came from’.
One post that stood out particularly was that of a woman Nathalie Andrea Aramburo who, for a class project, dressed up as her hero, Malala and in doing so, she covered her head. “As I was driving, I have more than a few people roll their windows down to stick their middle fingers at me, near the Dunkin Donuts drive-thru a young white male threw his coffee at my car, and two F-250 trucks chanced me down on Jog Rd and tried to crash into my tiny Toyota Camry.
“In just a 20 minute drive to class, I felt that my life was threatened.”
But here is the most shocking aspect of all: Nathalie was targeted because people thought she was a Muslim.
If this isn’t mass hysteria prompted by an underlying irrational fear, I don’t know what it is.
If extremism be a disease, then just looking like a Muslim (wearing a headscarf or having a beard) is seen as a risk factor. And it seems that those who hang on to their prejudice assume that if you have the risk factor, you automatically have the disease too.
Writing the words above is hard and as a Muslim who also wears the Hijab, I am trying to make sense of what is happening. As I dwell into history and look at different communities who were targeted for their beliefs, I am drawn again to the Salem Witch trials. I went through a myriad of emotions, including anger, while reading about them.
But then I read about Ann Putnam
Ann Putnam was one of the girls who had falsely accused women of witchcraft. In 1706, Ann offered a public apology for her participation in the witch trials at Salem. “ I justly fear that I have been instrumental, with others, though ignorantly and unwitting, to bring upon myself and this land the guilt of innocent blood."
If Salem is now haunted by the spirits of the wronged women who were killed, then I can only imagine the guilt that must have haunted Ann; a guilt so strong that it caused her to overlook her own public humiliation. She clearly desired nothing but relative peace of mind.
I cant help that my anger turned to empathy.
And I say this as a Muslim to all those who may look at me and others like me with suspicion. I understand your fear. Believe me, I live it every-day. But if you see my scarf or the beard of my Muslim brothers as a risk factor, then I ask you to look at the Prophet I follow, Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him). He had a beard. He spoke Arabic. And today he is revered as Mercy for all Mankind. The United States Supreme Court honors Muhammad, the Prophet of Islam, as a source of law and justice alongside Moses, Solomon, and Confucius. He is depicted in the Courtroom Frieze among the great law-givers of mankind.
Moreover, I invite you to study my beautiful religion, Islam. The same religion that has made it forbidden for me to even make bad assumptions about other human beings let alone harming them in any way, the same religion that honours the differences amongst mankind and commands us to unite through them rather than using them as forces of division.
“And one of His signs is the creation of the heavens and the earth and the diversity of your tongues and colors; most surely there are signs in this for the learned”. (The Holy Quran Chapter 30: Verse 22)
Very well written blog with logical explanations
ReplyDeleteVery well written blog with logical explanations
ReplyDelete