Letter to the editor: A coup de grace for hatred

Am I naive to think that the harrowing violence in Washington on Jan. 6 by a mob, one that President-elect Biden correctly characterized as “domestic terrorists,” was the grand finale of agitations to overturn the elections? Or, trusting a more skeptical sense, should I fear that at least some of the mayhem was a shot across the bows by white nationalists for the start of a new wave of civil strife? Emerging social media and facial recognition evidence reveal that the identities of many of the front-line intruders sadly favor those suspicions.

For this reason, the scenes were for me a wake-up call to promote unity and to dispel longstanding delusions of privilege and entitlement. Almost a decade ago, in the congressional buildings on Capitol Hill that were stormed, the head of my Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, his holiness Mirza Masroor Ahmad, shared with 30 congressional leaders the advice of the founder of Islam the holy Prophet Muhammad, who openly declared 14 centuries ago that “a white person is not superior to a Black person, nor is a Black person superior to a white person,” and further explained that the statement “made clear that all people should be granted equal rights without any discrimination or prejudice.”

Whereas some may wish to ignite a coup d’état, as united citizens, we should strive to turn this month’s horror into a coup de grace to hatred.

Dr. Sohail Husain

Mountain View, Calif.