Chances are you did not hear about the stabbing of an imam in San Diego because, despite his claim to followers the incident occurred at the hands of an “Islamophobic” attacker on March 23, 2022, neither the police nor the district attorney have any record of it.
Sheikh Uthman ibn Farooq is a Muslim scholar and iman known to preach on the streets of San Diego, inviting people to convert to Islam. A video ibn Farooq recorded, apparently after a public appearance, shows a man approaching his car, calling him a “f***ing terrorist,” before the imam was allegedly stabbed by the assailant.
Quick on the draw to criticize America for Islamophobia whenever a Muslim is victimized was the San Diego chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). While its mission is to protect civil rights for Muslims, enhance understanding of Islam, promote justice and empower American Muslims, it condemned the “apparently bias-motivated attack,” expressing concerns over a steady rise in hate crimes.
In a video the imam released to the public, he claims the attacker followed him in his car to a gas station. As the man approached, with a mask on, ibn Farooq for some reason began filming. While the actual stabbing is not shown on the video and the imam reveals a bandage on his stomach area, he claims he went to the hospital and that a police report was filed. He also reported the attacker had been arrested, pleaded guilty and had been incarcerated. Mysteriously, police have absolutely no record of any such report being made either about the attack or about the arrest of and confession by any suspect.
Some critics believe the attack never occurred. One is the publication Focus on Western Islamism (FWI), which, on Nov. 27, offered $5,000 to ibn Farooq to provide any evidence to support his claims that the attack took place and the attacker was apprehended. But the imam has been evasive in accepting the offer, failing to do so before the Nov. 30, 2022, deadline. We already know he cannot produce a police report on the incident and he has yet to reveal where he received medical attention afterward.
FWI’s managing editor, Dexter Van Zile, condemned CAIR for its quick condemnation as both it and ibn Farooq seem only to be using the claim “to falsely portray the United States as a dangerous place for Muslims to practice their faith.” He criticizes the mainstream media for failing to follow up on the story as well.
In December 2021, actor Jussie Smollett was convicted of falsely reporting a hate crime he had staged to suggest he had been attacked by whites because he was a gay black man. Perhaps ibn Farooq learned from Smollett’s false reporting conviction that, to escape criminal charges for reporting a religious hatred hoax, he simply needed to avoid reporting it while professing its occurrence to a sympathetic public.
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