Local and National Violence Against Religion

By Adam Kozman, Asst. Copy Editor

Bilkis Begum, a local Buffalo woman, was attacked in an armed robbery on her way to the mosque on Walden Ave. 

This past Tuesday, March 10 around 3:30 a.m., Begum was walking when she was confronted by another person with a handgun. The person hit her multiple times and threw her to the ground. The armed person ran off with her purse leaving Begum. Her child, Alzabir Shekh, said his “mother was headed to a mosque to pray when she was attacked. Following the incident, she continued to the mosque. Shekh said that’s where his mother told friends what happened, and someone contacted police,” according to WIVB News 4. The surveillance video was posted to Facebook and has amassed over 140,000 views. The suspect has not been found, but Buffalo police are investigating the situation. 

This attack comes at the time of Ramadan and other global religious tensions. On Thursday, March 12, there was an attack on a synagogue in West Bloomfield Township, Mich. A man drove and crashed his truck into the Temple Israel synagogue, one of the largest synagogues in the country. The synagogue’s security staff opened fire on the vehicle, and it ignited, smoke flooding up to the sky while dozens of police cars surrounded the scene. A security guard was injured and the suspect was found dead, but the cause of death remains unknown according to Microsoft Network. 

The FBI’s investigation leads them to believe that it was a “targeted act of violence against the Jewish community," according to Jennifer Runyan. Even though Begum's incident happened two days prior, no new information has been released about it. As it was Ramadan, she was out during the night, carrying out acts of worship after her day of fasting. These local acts of violence can be a result of greater global conflicts filtering their way into people’s day to day life.