- Published: November 15, 2021
- Updated: November 15, 2021
- University / College: The University of Melbourne
- Language: English
- Downloads: 17
It’s rather usual relatively chilly autumn day in London and to the world a major event has caught the attention of viewers across the world. Pictures of two dark skinned men wielding a machete, a revolver and a cleaver and a Caucasian male lying prostate. A red sedan is also parked next to the three men. There is nothing unusual in having three men near a busy road in London, however, what could have transpired to bring about the circulation of the pictures of the three men?
Dressed in a black hoodie, Jake (not his real name) was jogging back to the military barracks just outside London he is wiping goblets of sweat on his brow as he sighs to the accomplishment of completing his usual 5 mile morning run. He seems lost in his own world maybe thinking of his young newly-wed wife who must mean much in his life especially at this stage of marriage. Suddenly a screech of car tires and a loud bang brings an end to this serene atmosphere.
Jake has now been flung onto the sidewalk by a red sedan and is now writhing in pain after being hit on his back and flung probably three metres from where he was initially standing. The resilience of a soldier in him urges him to rise up and overcome his injuries. He is now crawling on his belly trying to sit up and lean on a wall bordering the sidewalk. The car doors bang and two dark skinned men emerge.
They seem relatively young probably in their 20s, heavily built and standing at about 5’10 tall. They walk towards Jake, who is now beckoning them on to help him. What Jake doesn’t realise is that these men have items concealed in their jackets. This could be due to the fact that although conscious, Jake seems dazed. One man is holding a revolver on one hand and a cleaver. The other man who appears hesitant is now struggling to remove an item from his jacket and has now fallen a few places behind the first man. He eventually manages to retrieve a machete from his jacket.
A young woman, dressed in a black hijab, exits the antique shop where we had earlier been chatting with her. Standing at about 5’4 and with a small frame she appears dwarfed by the two men’s massive build. One man talks to her and appears to be telling her to leave based on his body language. Then the unexpected happens, the man who is wielding the cleaver hits the injured man several times and the young lady is now begging the men who now appear dangerous to stop and does not cower from the fact that they have a gun and can shoot her anytime.
The machete wielding man is now teasing Jake with the machete. The lady then tries to snatch the machete from the man but is subdued. It is then that the man swung the machete towards Jake’s neck and chops it. The gory images of this action seem like a scene from the horror movies. Blood is spewed everywhere as this men chant some religious quotes and continue stating that they did these actions to justify the killing of Muslims by British forces in Iraq . By now police have come and sealed off the area. But this begs the question, how can someone be so heartless and selfless?
The use of religion to justify is the worst form of selfishness that humans can perform. This is not only painful to those that the crime is meted upon but also to other persons who relate to this religion because they are classified with criminals who have used this religion to propagate various criminal acts.
This act brought about memories of 9/11 in my mind where once again acts of cowardice brought the nation to a standstill when America was attacked by terrorists in the name of justifying crime. What puzzles me is that, with all this negative perception created by some few individuals who perform crime and justify it on Islam, there are still some good selfless Muslims like this lady. She is an example of the few selfless individuals in this world.
As we chat, her character was that of a jovial lady with a good sense of humour but she didn’t strike me as so brave. The moment she left the antique shop and ran towards the two armed and dangerous men to prevent acts of crime on an innocent victim she didn’t even know is an act that forever remains in my mind. Though she didn’t receive lots of media coverage she will forever remain a hero to me. Any individual who wishes to use Islam or any other religion to propagate crime should follow the perfect example set by this lady.
She made me realise how fear has always propelled me and other people. This is due to the fact that, as this horrifying incident was happening, I could only watch in horror and the best I could do was wait for the police to take control of the situation. If I was more selfless, maybe events could not have turned out the way they did. However, am glad the incident helped me overcome the negative perception I earlier had about Islam. This incident has remained with me as a reminder of how criminals use religion to justify crime and the fact that the most selfless individuals are people you would least expect.