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Utah Shooting Shows the Failure of Multiculturalism

(Rick Egan/The Salt Lake Tribune via AP)

The facts of this case are as simple as they are revolting: in South Jordan, Utah, a seventeen-year-old girl decided to go to a party without her eighteen-year-old boyfriend, who was furious that she would even contemplate doing such a thing. There was, according to the charging documents, ”a history of abuse between her and the defendant,” and that abuse came to a head on this fateful night, as the young Lothario shot his errant beloved in the leg. But more was shattered than just this unfortunate girl’s femur: this incident reveals in the most piquant fashion the inherent contradictions and catastrophic failure of the left’s entire program of multiculturalism.

Fox News reported Wednesday that “Fahd Mahdi, 18, was charged with discharge of a firearm causing serious injury — a first-degree felony,” for the shooting, so enraged was he that “she ignored his feelings and made plans without him.” Salt Lake City’s KSL.com reported that “the victim reported a history of abuse between her and the defendant. The victim described their relationship as violent and abusive. She stated that (he) is very possessive of her and treats her like she is his property. The victim further stated that (Mahdi) is physically, mentally, and emotionally abusive toward her.”

It is, unfortunately, not at all surprising that Fahd Mahdi would have had such attitudes toward his girlfriend. Treating women like property isn’t limited to Muslims only, of course, but in Islam, it has abundant sanction that one doesn’t find for it in other traditions. If he grew up in anything close to a traditional or observant Muslim household, he would have heard at some point about the Qur’an’s directive to “beat” women “from whom you fear disobedience” (4:34).

He might have learned to consider women his property from the fact that the Qur’an likens them to a field, to be used by a man as he wills (2:223). The Qur’an reinforces the idea of women as property by allowing men to marry up to four wives (4:3) and have sex with slave girls (“those whom your right hands possess”) also (4:24, 23:1-6, 33:50, 70:30). The Islamic holy book devalues a woman’s testimony (2:282) and inheritance rights (4:11).

How did a young man who thinks of his girlfriend as his property end up in South Jordan, Utah? Scour the Internet far and wide, and you’ll find nothing whatsoever about whether or not young Fahd Mahdi is an American citizen or where he came from if he is a migrant. But it’s reasonable to surmise that his family has not been in Utah for generations. He and/or his parents likely came over in one immigrant wave or another.

In Feb. 2022, the Salt Lake Tribune ran a lavish puff piece about the resettlement of Afghan refugees in Utah. Utah Gov. Spencer Cox praised the “incredible talents, abilities and life experiences that these Afghans bring to our labor force.” Neither he nor anyone else said a word about the cultural differences that might create tensions between the new arrivals and other groups, including deeply ingrained attitudes toward women.

Related: Relax: UK Muslim Prof Says Taliban Are Misunderstanding Islam

As far as the proponents of mass migration into the U.S. are concerned, cultural differences, including views of women as mere possessions of men, are simply beneath notice. To pay them any attention is to reveal oneself to be a xenophobic, racist bigot who likely voted for the Insurrectionist-In-Chief.

The case of Fahd Mahdi and his girlfriend, however, is what’s really revealing here: it shows that the very same multiculturalists and feminists who would be stout defenders of women’s rights have also worked to bring large numbers of people into the country who don’t believe that women have any rights at all or any that they are bound to respect. Now young women like Fahd’s girlfriend, who was likely never given the slightest information, much less warning, that a young Muslim male might have views of women that differ a great deal from those of the average American male, are paying the price.

Another strange aspect of this story is the fact that the girl, according to the charge sheet, was confronted by Mahdi after going to the party without him, and the suave young man “displayed a pistol.” Soon afterward, “her ears started to ring, and she realized that she had been shot in the leg by Mahdi.” She “underwent surgery for a broken femur,” and KSL adds that the young gunslinger “was arrested at his home in South Jordan.”

The New York Post, however, contradicts this, stating without explanation that the victim “immediately identified Mahdi as her assailant when Salt Lake police were called to the suspicious scene at around 2:30 a.m.” Nevertheless, although Mahdi “was taken into custody on suspicion of felony discharge of a firearm, but wasn’t arrested for another week.”

Another week? Why? If she was shot in the leg and immediately identified Mahdi as the shooter, why did it take a week to arrest him? Were Utah authorities afraid of appearing to be “Islamophobic” and rejecting the iron dogma that Islam is a religion of peace? That possibility cannot be ruled out these days. Fantasy and reality are vying for the souls of the American people in all sorts of ways. Which one will win is at this point unclear.

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