A New Turf War in NYC?

In the nations of Europe, communities with large Muslim population have over the years set up Sharia patrols.  Their goal they say is to protect the Muslim community from attacks, and some have stated that the recent Mosque attack in New Zealand is proof of the necessity of these patrols.  Some do indeed agree what with the recent string of attacks on synagogues, churches, and mosques over the years that it may be necessary to provide armed security to protect the worshipers from harm.

However, critics have also stated that some of the Sharia patrols are overstepping their bounds.  That they are going beyond protecting their houses of worship and are now working to enforce Sharia Law in the streets.  Throughout Europe it has been revealed that Sharia Patrols have beaten and harassed non-Muslim men for drinking alcohol and have harassed non-Muslim women for not wearing hijabs.  Reports have also revealed that Sharia Courts have been established to settle "crimes" and "disputes" within the Muslim communities instead of the issues being handled by the national authorities.

Complaints about this have also arisen in America.  In the year 2010, a group of Christian apologists went the Arab Festival in the predominantly Muslim town of Dearborn, MI.  The apologists were repeatedly harassed simply for engaging dialogue.  However, Muslim security patrols not only failed to protect the Christians, but they actually had them arrested by the local police.  Fortunately, the entire incident was caught on video and after a trial that lasted several days (Acts 17 vs. City of Dearborn), the defendants were acquitted & the City of Dearborn was required to issue a formal apology and pay $300,000 in attorney fees & damages.  These actions by Sharia patrols have been subject to heavy criticism by both non-Muslims and Muslims, with Muslim reformers like Maajid Nawaz warning that they're setting a very dangerous precedent.  Now it seems Maajid's warnings mat come to fruition as a new incident has broken out in the Brooklyn, one that could result in devastating street violence unless the authorities start to take action before things get out of hand.  

In late December of 2019, members of the Muslim Security Patrol outside the Masjid Taqwa Mosque in Brooklyn got into a physical altercation with a young African-American teenager.  A member of the security patrol beat this youngster after accusing him of "disrespecting a Muslim woman" who was leaving the mosque.  Majid Taqwa has already been subject to scrutiny.  The leader of the mosque, Siraj Wahhaj is on record for advocating for Sharia above the Constitution and currently has three children in prison for terrorism charges.  Unfortunately, this member of the Muslim Patrol chose to beat up the wrong kid.  It turn out that this young teenager was the son of a high ranking member of a local gang of Bloods (Link to Video).  

Not long after this incident, a gang of Bloods, at least one of whom was armed, arrived and the mosque and threatened to attack it.  The Muslim Patrol soon arrived with sirens blaring (strange that actual police were not called) and eventually the real NYPD had to come and break up the situation.  In order to prevent an all out street war between the Muslim Patrol and the Bloods, the leaders of the mosque fired this particular security patrol member and ordered him to go to the Bloods to receive a beating.  On the night of Dec. 29th, a group of Muslims from the mosque delivered this former security officer to five Bloods, who then proceeded to beat him for 31 minutes.  The leaders of the mosque told the Bloods that they believed in "an eye for an eye" and that this was a one-on-one incident that did not involve anyone else on either side and therefore it would be best if only this one patrol officer was punished instead of a whole turf war breaking out (Link to Article).  The Bloods accepted this deal, but after they finished the beating, they warned the former security patrol member that if he ever pulled a stunt like this again, that they would kill him.  

For the time being, the situation has apparently been defused, but it remains to be seen how long this truce will last.  This particular mosque has been linked to radicals in the past and the Bloods are not well-known for letting past grudges go.  However, one thing is certain: the job of a security guard is only to protect lives, and that is it.  If they feel that somebody that they're assigned to protect is being verbally being disrespected, that does not give them the authority to lay their hands on the offending individual.  Doing so can cause serious ramifications, as this incident proves.  While security at houses of worship may be an unfortunate necessity, it's becoming evident that too many of these security forces are going beyond "protecting their congregants" and are beginning to try and forcibly exert their dogma on the local community (Link to Article).  This cannot be allowed to stand and for the sake of public safety, must be addressed before it spirals out of control.