The deadly shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego on May 18, 2026 has left many Muslims in America grieving and reflecting.

According to authorities and multiple news reports, two teenage gunmen opened fire outside the mosque in what investigators believe may have been a hate crime fueled by anti Muslim extremism and online radicalization.

Three members of the Muslim community were killed:

• Amin Abdullah, a security guard who officials say likely prevented a much larger massacre
• Mansour Kaziha, a caretaker and store manager
• Nader Awad, a member of the community

May Allah have mercy on all of them.

As Americans, we have to be careful not to become desensitized to violence, hatred, fear, and corruption. That may be one of the strangest parts about living in this country. Mass shootings, political division, racial hatred, and public violence have become so common that many people now experience tragedy with emotional exhaustion instead of shock.

For many Muslims, however, these incidents never feel distant. There is a reason the Islamic Center of San Diego had an armed security guard protecting worshippers and children during prayer and school hours. Just in case.

Muslims in America understand that for decades portions of the media, many politicians, and well financed organizations have worked hard to associate Islam with violence and extremism. As a result, when Muslim communities grow and become more visible, many Americans fear and hatred will grow as well. The more Muslims establish schools, seminaries, businesses, free health clinics, and non-profit institutions, the more some Americans see us as a threat.

As a Black American, I’m uniquely sensitive to the long history my country has of justifying violence against groups. Native people were described as savages in need of civilization. Africans stolen from their homelands and forced into slavery were told that scripture itself justified their condition. Public lynchings became spectacles where families posed smiling beside mutilated Black bodies.

Many Americans speak about these realities as though they belong to some distant past. But they are not as far removed as people imagine. My own mother grew up in an America where Black people drank from separate water fountains and could not stay at the same hotels or eat in the same restaurants. The poison of that time has not fully left the bloodstream of this nation.

So what does it mean to be an American? How does the world see me? Do they see me with the same fear and suspicion that many Americans project onto Muslim communities? Do they see me as an arrogant bully who feels entitled to invade any country, at anytime, for any reason? Do they see me as someone who takes joy when my country bombs their children, kidnaps their leaders, and tortures survivors? Do they see me as a person who believe it’s good policy to lure people to our country when we need labor and demonize them when our pockets are full? What does it mean to be an American?

America often speaks to the world with enormous moral confidence, telling other nations which countries can and cannot be trusted with power and weapons. Yet America remains the only country in human history to use nuclear weapons against civilian populations. One would think such history would produce greater humility.

Personally, I wish the world embraced the religious opinion of the former religious leader of Iran who declared nuclear weapons morally unacceptable and forbade his country from making them. I don’t think any nation should possess the ability to destroy entire populations. Especially a nation that has proven it will use a nuclear bomb to kill and entire city of innocent civilians. Twice!

And yet despite all of this organized chaos, despite all of this history, Muslims in America continue our efforts to contribute positively to this society.

Amin Abdullah, Mansour Kaziha, and Nader Awad represent the Muslim Americans that we know. We know ourselves as teachers, doctors, architects, engineers, taxi drivers, police officers, military personnel, business owners, social workers, and neighbors. We know ourselves as people striving to serve God while contributing to the wellbeing of this society.

Have you listened to the testimony of Amin Abdullah’s daughter after the shooting? That is the Muslim American community we know.

Amin Abdullah represents Muslims in America far more accurately than the distorted view so much of the media portrays. Research from the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding (ISPU) has repeatedly shown that acts of violence committed by Muslims receive dramatically more media attention than similar acts committed by non-Muslims. The San Diego shooting is a glaring example of that.

If the shooters had been Muslim, or even had Arabic sounding names, their images would likely dominate national media coverage for weeks. Many politicians would use it to make Islamophobic remarks to drum up even more hatred and fear.

We are told these shooters were radicalized online. But by whom? Which podcasts were they listening to? Which websites were they visiting? What rhetoric convinced them that Muslim children praying at a mosque represented a threat deserving violence? Will whoever radicalized them lose their funding or be fined for causing terrorism in America? Was the word terrorism ever used to describe this shooting? Was the religion of the shooters ever mentioned? 

When a Muslim commits violence or an act of terror, it is often treated as proof that Islam itself is violent. In some warped minds, it somehow proves that 2 billion people want to kill everyone else on earth.

Some Muslims believe we just need to do more. Do more good. Smile more. Put up American flags on your houses and mosques. However, Muslims can publicly promote a million beautiful souls like Amin Abdullah, and it will only take one violent Muslim act somewhere in the world to outweigh those million.

Still, our faith reminds us where dignity truly comes from. So, if you do more good and smile more, make sure you are doing it because Allah loves those who do that. Allah loves those who are kind to others. Allah loves those who benefit their neighbors and their societies. We do these things not so people will like us. In fact, in America, it feels like the more good we do, the more people hate us. So we remain focused on doing our good deeds for Allah to be pleased with us. 

Even in tragedy, Amin Abdullah left behind a testimony of faith. Videos have surfaced of him reminding people to focus on the next life, the true reality beyond this temporary world. That is who he was.

I pray that the memories of Amin Abdullah, Mansour Kaziha, and Nader Awad help teach America what it means to be Muslim American. And I pray that their lives remind all of us that dignity is determined by how sincerely you serve God and humanity. I pray that this country establishes a new morale identity to inform ourselves, and the world, of what it means to be an American.