Wednesday, 18 February 2009
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Assalamu Alaikum,
It’s been quite a few months since I last posted on here. But some sad recent events about Muzzammil Hassan, and his wife Aasiya Hassan of Orchard Park, NY, near Buffalo have forced me to put up something here considering this is the first link on the search engines.
Recently, a gruesome act was perpetrated in a nearby community. The perpetrator was a Muslim so the media had a field day in their indictment of Islam. They just can’t seem to get over the fact that Muslims are normal human beings and if a Muslim does something wrong; it does not necessarily mean that the person’s actions were motivated by his faith. It’s interesting how Muslims are expected to do no wrong and as soon as a Muslim does anything wrong, the blame is pinned on Islam. We know that we Muslims are a minority in the west and it gives the majority a good feeling when Muslims are portrayed negatively in the media. It’s the quickest way to sell their paper and the best way to get a huge number of clicks on their websites. But, it’s so deplorable when people can make general comments about other faiths when the same acts are being done by people of other faiths and their religion is never mentioned.
A quick rudimentary search on Yahoo came up with the following links which show that a person beheads someone and their religion is never questioned. But as soon as a Muslim does the same action, it has to be because of Islam! Some links:
American soldier beheads wife’s lover and no mention of religion: http://www.snopes.com/horrors/
gruesome/headless.asp American husband beheads wife and no religion is mentioned:
http://www.accessmylibrary.
com/coms2/summary_0286- 29023667_ITM Man decapitates a passenger on Greyhound and no mention of his religion:
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/07/31/greyhound-transcanada.htmlKills wife and nearly beheads her and no religion is mentioned:
Man who was motivated by words of the Bible and kills more than 20 women…no blame on religion:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Pickton
Another story and no mention of religion:
http://www.enquirer.com/
editions/1999/02/15/loc_man_ who_beheaded.html Beheading and no mention of religion: http://www.hindu.com/2008/07/
05/stories/2008070558990300. htm Man holds woman captive for three days and reads Bible to her (!)and religion is not blamed: http://www.buffalonews.com/260/story/581853.html
Man beheads wife and no religion is mentioned: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/223245,jealous-husband-beheads-wife-injures-five-on-santorini.html
Wife kills husband by running him over and no mention of religion as usual: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,334130,00.html
The internet is replete with examples like the above.
Every single day, you pick up any newspaper and you will come across countless number of people committing crimes, but as soon as a Muslim commits a gruesome crime and it can be exploited to push their paper, Islam will be blamed for it. In the US, every single day, three women are killed in cases of domestic violence but religion is never mentioned. But as soon as a Muslim does the same thing, the media tries their best to connect it with Islam one way or another.
I write the above because today, my comments were printed in the local newspaper right here:
http://www.buffalonews.com/cityregion/story/582625.html
Kathryn Jean Lopez is disingenuously trying to prove from the above article that my comments are a denial of honor killings! I was speaking on behalf of Muslims around the world and mentioning that stop blaming Islam because of the actions of a few Muslims! How did the point of denial come up? Here’s what Keith Olbermann had to say about her: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umo8WaZvtuA ‘nuff said. : )
That’s it for now. It’s been a while since I last posted on here and I’m usually swamped with things since I took up the Imamat position at www.isnf.org and I started doing the Mufti course at a local seminary. Please do pray for me and the deceased. I don't like to pit one religion with another religion but circumstances have forced me to write this post.
A good article on this incident and domestic violence: http://www.buffalonews.com/149/story/583773.html
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Comments (3)
may Allah (swt) make things easy on her family and on the Ummah insh'Allah. May Allah (swt) give us all the tawfiq and hidayat to learn from these misconceptions of Islam which lead to the unfortunate stereotypes insh'Allah so that we may teach and learn the true Islam that our Prophet (pbuh) taught to the Sahaba. Ameen
Jazaak'Allah khair for sharing your thoughts Emam.
Wsalaam Alaykum Warehmatullah Wabarkatuhu
@pakman607 - Thumma ameen
walaikum asalam warahmatullah,
My sister showed me this article and it said that this man wasn't really "religious" or rarely prayed. I assumed this would hold some significance in showing that it's really not an Islamic practice but rather culture. Because if he WAS religious, then he would have been a better husband, in my opinion. But, people find their ways to deface Islam nonetheless. May Allah Ta'ala Guide us all!
Inna lillahi wa inna ilaihi raji'oon
May Allah SWT fill her grave with noor, Aameen.
May Allah SWT make your mufti course go well and protect you and your family from all evil, Aameen!