thoughts on the Falafel shop
On a small Falafel shop in Oslo the Muslim owner has chosen out of 6236 verses in Qur’an the following verse to hang on the wall :
“And indeed, the infidels would almost make you slip with their eyes when they hear the Qur’an, and they say, “Indeed, he is crazy.” Al-Qalaam 51.
I was staring on the wall trying to imagine why would he choose this verse? it’s not only that this verse isn’t from the famous verses that Muslim usually hang on the walls to have its blessings. it was also obvious that this frame has been made specially for him. it wasn’t the usual frames that you can buy ready to hang from antique shops.
I let myself imagine that this guy has experienced racism day after day. and he couldn’t understand why people would be racist. he searched a lot for an answer for the biggest question. and he couldn’t find an answer.
He discussed it with every friend that he have. and of course most of them were Muslim like himself. as he wasn’t able to make a lot of friends outside his community. and finally he had a satisfying answer that not only easy to understand and digest but also it made him feel good about himself.
The answer was easy. they are infidels and they treats me with spite as I’m Muslim and they know I’m better and I’m right. it’s the nature of infidels.
So he decided to hang this verse and every time a shopper treats him bad when he hears his heavy Norwegian accent, everytime he feel that he is experiencing racism, or even when a drunk Norwegian guy become rude while waiting for his kebab pita. he looks at the wall and tell himself “don’t worry you are better than them that’s why you are facing that”
A huge part of radicalism is a direct result of racism, in my opinion. radical groups always feed this feeling of supremacy on its members. I remember when I was a member of the Muslim brotherhood they always started every meeting with reminding us that we have been chosen from Allah himself to carry the burden of his message and that’s why society will make fun of us sometimes and the government will treat us bad.
