(RNS) — “When the female infant buried alive is asked, ‘for what crime were you killed?’”
This verse, in Surah At-Takwir in the Quran, is one of the earliest revealed to the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) in response to what had been, prior to the advent of Islam, a normal practice of female infanticide, a practice so evil that had nonetheless been drained of its revulsion by its sheer frequency.
As I looked at the tiny coffin as I spoke at the funeral of Wadea Al-Fayoume, a 6-year-old Palestinian American child killed in his own home in a Chicago suburb by a man authorities say was his landlord, I couldn’t stop thinking of this verse.
For what crime was Wadea killed? He was full of love and joy, with an infectious laughter that brought smiles to random strangers in supermarkets and restaurants. Even if he was none of those things, his murder would still be unjustifiable.
But his crime was that he was a Palestinian. On Saturday (Oct. 14), authorities say the landlord, Joseph Czuba, 71, stormed into the child’s home with rage in his eyes and an intention to shed as much Palestinian blood as possible. According to prosecutors, he first choked Hanaan Shahin, Wadea’s mother; when she was able to escape briefly, Czuba took a 12-inch military-grade knife and proceeded toward Wadea.
Wadea ran up to the familiar man to give him a hug — prior to last week, the man had behaved kindly. Instead, with no mercy, the man stabbed Wadea 26 times, shouting, “You Muslims must die!” Wadea died shortly afterward. The man turned to the child’s mother and stabbed her 12 times, but she somehow survived and is in critical condition.
It’s hard to grapple with so much hate. How could a man who in his basic humanity used to greet a 6-year-old child with toys and a hug suddenly become an animal? In his own account, Czuba was incited by the now debunked report of 40 decapitated Israeli babies, a typical scrap of disinformation that flies around a war but that was repeated by the president of the United States, sending it viral. The idea behind this lie was that every Palestinian child would grow up to be an eventual savage who kills babies. So Czuba decided he should kill a Palestinian baby first.
The details of the autopsy and condition of Wadea’s body made the horror worse. But as we buried Wadea, everyone had the same sentiment: For what have all of the now 1,500-plus children in Gaza been killed? Every last one of them is as beautiful and worthy of the outpouring of sympathy as Wadea. And Wadea, and every last one of them, is as worthy of a soul as any child around the world.
In this past week, more Palestinian children have been murdered than children killed in an entire year of war in Ukraine. Yet their stories seem to show their lifeless bodies sparingly before pivoting quickly again to say, “But Hamas!”
That no longer is acceptable. The humanity of Palestinian children is now being called into question not just in Gaza, but all over. One of the most heartbreaking moments I witnessed at Wadea’s funeral — or at any funeral — came when some members of the extended family cried out moments after they buried Wadea, “Joe Biden, you did this!” It is a terrible feeling to feel like your own president doesn’t care who you are.
A Palestinian American myself, I often pose this reminder to my colleagues here in the United States — those who seem to treat me like “one of the few good ones”: If my parents had never been forced out of their homes in the occupied territories to forge a path as refugees in this country, I would be one of those people suffering or even dying in Palestine on a television screen today. And I would still be just as human as I am now, with an American passport.
Wadea didn’t deserve to die. No child deserves to be killed. Every child should have the right to grow up with the love and compassion that Wadea expected, not the cruelty that sharply pierced his dreams.
“For what crime were you killed?” is what I mumbled to his casket, knowing that he will one day be asked by his creator that very question. The victim will not be silenced on that day.
But I then move on to another question about the Palestinian child: For what crime were you occupied? For what crime were you driven from your home? For what crime were you starved? For what crime were you bombed to pieces? For what crime were you ignored?
