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Abdul Razak Ali Artan’s Photo, Facebook Post, OSU ‘Lantern’ Interview: Muslim Feared Praying In Public

By Paula Mooney
Published on: 09:39 PST, Nov 28, 2016

Now that the name Abdul Razak Ali Artan has been released by authorities as the Ohio State University student responsible for Monday’s attack on OSU’s campus, information about a Facebook post he reportedly created is in the news. According to the Daily Beast, Pete Williams of NBC News reported that Abdul Razak’s Facebook post addressed the way Muslims have been treated around the world prior to unleashing an attack on the Ohio State University campus.

As seen in the following photos from the Ohio State University publication the Lantern, Abdul is pictured in a “Humans of Ohio State” article.

The following photo gallery shows authorities responding to Abdul’s attack on the Ohio State University campus on Monday, with SWAT team members going into a parking garage. Witnesses are also shown, such as Angshuman Kapil, who saw Abdul hitting a group of people with his car.

Also making news — in conjunction with Artan’s Facebook post — are the ways that he spoke of himself as a Muslim in the U.S. in the Ohio State University’s publication the Lantern in August. In that interview, which was conducted in the wake of Abdul Razak’s transferring to OSU from Columbus State Community College, he spoke of being a Muslim who was afraid to pray in public. Abdul spoke of the way that Muslims are portrayed in the news and how that image made Abdul Razak hyper-aware of what folks might think of him praying in public as a Muslim.

“I wanted to pray in the open, but I was scared with everything going on in the media. I’m a Muslim, it’s not what the media portrays me to be. If people look at me, a Muslim praying, I don’t know what they’re going to think, what’s going to happen. But, I don’t blame them. It’s the media that put that picture in their heads so they’re going to just have it and it, it’s going to make them feel uncomfortable. I was kind of scared right now. But I just did it. I relied on God. I went over to the corner and just prayed.”

As reported by RT, cops think they have indeed uncovered Artan’s Facebook account, which featured Abdul bemoaning the manner in which he believed Muslims had been attacked. Artan’s age is not known at this time, with various media outlets pegging him as an 18-year-old OSU student and other news outlets calling Abdul a 20-year-old Ohio State University student.

ABC News reports that Abdul Razak is a legal U.S. resident of Somali descent.

Artan’s Facebook post is being called a “declaration” on Facebook about Muslim attacks, even if the exact quotes that he might have published on the social media platform have not been released to the press at this time.

According to ABC News reporter Mike Levine, the following wording from Facebook posts could be attributed to Artan.

Meanwhile, the words of Abdul, as quoted by the Lantern, are being examined anew, with Artan explaining how his belief as a Muslim in finding places to pray five times per day added to his worries as a new student at OSU.

“I just transferred from Columbus State. We had prayer rooms, like actual rooms where we could go to pray because we Muslims have to pray five times a day. There’s Fajr, which is early in the morning, at dawn. Then Zuhr during the daytime, then Asr in the evening, like right about now. And then Maghrib, which is like right at sunset and then Isha at night. I wanted to pray Asr. I mean, I’m new here. This is my first day. This place is huge, and I don’t even know where to pray.”

According to the OSU Police Twitter account, Officer Alan Horujko shot and killed Abdul Razak.

[Featured Image by John Minchillo/AP Images]

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