(Thumbnail Image: Flickr)



BY KYRSTEN SKULBORSTAD



Assalum Alaikum — the Arabic greeting meaning, “peace be with you,” was the phrase 21-year-old Michael Enright said just moments before repeatedly stabbing Muslim, New York City cabbie Ahmed Sharif.

SHARIF: “He start yelling, at like, (inaudible) this is checkpoint, this is checkpoint motherf*****, I have to put you down.” (WABC)

Enright’s violent actions come amidst impassioned discussions over the controversial mosque near Ground Zero. Now, many are speculating whether this is an isolated attack, or another sign of growing anti-Islamic sentiment in America. 



WABC’s Anthony Johnson walks through exactly what happened before Enright’s arrest.

“Ahmed Sharif said Michael Enright started the ride with an Arabic greeting, but minutes later, he plunged a knife through the open security shield. Sharif was stabbed on his arms, and his neck slashed, halfway up his cheek. Any deeper, says EMTs, and Sharif would’ve died at the scene.”

SHARIF: "There’s so much anger."

JOHNSON: “Sharif stopped his cab at 43rd and 3rd, locking Enright inside. Enright climbed out the window, but police had him. Enright, said to be extremely intoxicated, was held without bail. The charges: attempted murder, and assault as a hate crime.” 



While many are calling Enright a “boozed-up bigot”, several news outlets point out — the story is more nuanced than that.

According to reports, Enright recently spent six weeks in Afghanistan filming a documentary project on the military journeys of several U.S. soldiers. The project was sponsored by Intersections International — a group that promotes interfaith understanding. 



MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann has an inside interview with WNBC’s Katy Tur, who was in talks with Enright on the possibility of covering his documentary. Tur says Enright’s violent, anti-Muslim actions are surprising, even as heated debate surrounds the Ground Zero mosque proposal. 



OLBERMANN: “Did you get any sense that he was opposed to Muslims or Afghans or the project or anything about it?”


TUR: “I never got an impression that he was anti-Muslim in any way. I heard from a friend of his that he had a very intense experience in Afghanistan, but not that he had a negative impression of Muslims. You can see pictures that he posted up on Flickr of him with little Afghani children. So the idea that he was anti-Muslim came as a real shock to those who knew him. Certainly as a surprise to me.”

Olbermann went on in that interview to suggest it’s possible Enright was even suffering from PTSD after his Afghanistan trip.



But Newsweek reports this is just another illustration of the “gruesome manifestation of xenophobia and Islamophobia.” 



“One would hope that such incidents are merely the isolated behavior of a few unstable individuals, but there is ample evidence that hostile views toward Muslims and immigrants are on the rise throughout the country.”



So, do you think this just part of a stream of increasing anti-Muslim sentiment? Or is this a nuanced, isolated incident? 




Get more multi-source U.S. news analysis from Newsy.com.