With 3 dead and 176 injured the bombing of the Boston City Marathon this Monday is the worst terrorist attack on US soil since 9/11. And the wait for the investigation to turn up results is proving corrosive in its own right. 

No particular organization or cause has taken credit for it yet.

Curious, given that a long line of groups would normally lay claim to the slaughter. As expected Hamas and Hezbollah rejoiced in the streets and giving strangers candy immediately afterwards, but neither group claimed credit. So, there is a lot we don’t know.

What we do know is people are scared, American Muslims in particular. 

The public backlash against Muslims after 9/11 is still fresh in the minds of many, and they are terrified of facing a similar situation with this event. And so we have seen a torrent of Islamic condolences, condemnations, and concern over the tragedy.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, the Islamic Brotherhood, and even the Republic of Iran were all very quick to issue statements condemning the bombers, sympathizing with the victims, and trying to make sure that if the bombers were Muslim, that they were marked clearly as extremists.

In addition to official statements many Muslims around the world from Egypt to Kabul (pictured above, see full album here), were sending their prayers and best wishes. This has truly developed into an event global in proportion.

Khaled A. Beydoun, UCLA law professor, wrote  an article titled, “Boston explosions: ‘Please don’t be Arabs or Muslims” that describes this phenomenon as “psychosis.” And who can blame them?

Already former terrorist experts, Fox pundits, and Senator Susan Collins are assuming that the attack HAD to have been conducted by Islamic extremists, despite any concrete proof.

Fortunately the FBI seems to be handling the situation well, dispelling all rumors that the Syrian national they took in for questioning was a suspect. Still the wave of rumors is coming on strong.

And the country is uneasy.

Even Rush Limbaugh’s fretted that if the perpetrator turned out to be a right wing extremist, conservatives would get torn to shreds by the media. So Muslims aren’t alone in this.

It seems we are all quick to point fingers, cast blame  and act out.

But revenge can be counter-productive (Remember Afghanistan?). But for now all we can do is wait patiently for whoever did this to get caught… and hope that they’re from Mars.

 Terror doesn’t discriminate, and neither should we.