CAIRO: Hate crimes are hard enough to swallow. But when Egyptian citizen Marwa Sherbini was stabbed to death at a German courtroom on this day in 2009, it was more than shocking. Islamophobia again became a very real and tangible reality facing Egyptians, Arabs and others who profess adherence to Islam in Europe. Her death sparked widespread unrest, anger and resentment here in Cairo, in Alexandria, and across the Arab world. Rightfully so. Too often do we hear of reports of Muslims, Arabs, as the culprits of violence, but rarely do media report on the rising violence against Muslims in the West. Marwa Sherbini, who became known as the “Veiled Martyr,” quickly became a symbol of the battle against Islamophobia. While the battle against hate is still to be won, with Muslims, especially women, facing attack upon attack in Europe, Australia and North America for their faith and what they choose to wear, Sherbini can be a symbol we must remember before we allow the fear and hate of the “other” take hold of us. Today, as Egyptians plan a solidarity demonstration at the German Embassy in Cairo to honor Sherbini's life, let us each and all of us strive to end the very hate that left a husband and a son motherless. Background Sherbini was stabbed to death by the hands of a German man of Russian decent outside a court. She and her husband and her then three-year-old son were suing the man for assaulting Sherbini previously after a verbal argument. He had physically attacked her and attempted to remove her headscarf. She decided to take him to court. The man then attacked Sherbini and her husband, who was stabbed three times but survived. She received 18 wounds. She was three months pregnant at the time of her murder. The murder stimulated a cultural battle between Europe and the Arab world, with a number of Arabs claiming the murder was part of a larger problem facing European society, namely, racism and hatred of Muslims and Arabs. For Sherbini's family, the tragic loss of their daughter led to a campaign against all things German. In Alexandria, local pharmacy's called for a boycott of German products, but the movement drizzled out with little success. In the end, the back and forth war of words died down and the German judicial system took charge of the case, which left the vast majority of Arabs at ease, but the cultural friction created by the murder was strong.
