Muslims speak out about beheading
Posted by judyw on February 22, 2009
Some American Muslims are facing the questions raised by the beheading of Aasiya Hassan by her estranged husband, which we reported on here and here. The Associated Press reports:
The crime was so brutal, shocking and rife with the worst possible stereotypes about their faith that some U.S. Muslims thought the initial reports were a hoax.
The harsh reality of what happened in an affluent suburb of Buffalo, N.Y. — the beheading of 37-year-old Aasiya Hassan and arrest of her estranged husband in the killing — is another crucible for American Muslims.
It especially shocked people — Muslim and non-Muslim — because the couple was so modern and apparently assimilated. And many have commented on the irony that they founded a TV station to improve the image of Muslims. Here are two statements from Muslims:
“Muslims don’t want to talk about this for good reason,” said Saleemah Abdul-Ghafur, a Muslim author and activist. “There is so much negativity about Muslims, and it sort of perpetuates it. The right wing is going to run with it and misuse it. But we’ve got to shine a light on this issue so we can transform it.”
There is evidence of movement in that direction in the 10 days since the Hassan slaying. In an open letter to American Muslim leaders, Imam Mohamed Hagmagid Ali of Sterling, Va., vice president of the Islamic Society of North America, said “violence against women is real and cannot be ignored.”
He urged that imams and community leaders never second-guess a woman in danger, and said women seeking divorces because of physical abuse should not be viewed as bringing shame to their families.
Ah yes, those vicious right-wingers who notice things like abuse of women among Muslims. Nevertheless, this is progress. Read the whole article for some more reactions. I’m glad to see some Muslims are talking about it. But the reaction from Muslims seems minimal, given the number of organizations devoted to advancing Islam and protecting Muslims’ rights. A google search for CAIR and beheading brings only the news that CAIR had given the murderer an award. Will they take it back now? And a search for MSA (Muslim Student Association) and beheading brings up a report on a speech by David Horowitz at Emery University last Wednesday:
He spoke against honor killings among radical Islamists, noting the case of a Muslim television station owner who beheaded his wife in Buffalo, N.Y.
“Why isn’t there condemnation of beheadings? Because it’s in the Qu’ran? Come on!” Horowitz said, raising his hands and his voice.
Horowitz called on the Emory Muslim Students Association to protest the honor killings, adding that if the MSA does so, he will pen a personal letter of praise.
No report on how the MSA responded. But we can guess. They probably consider Horowitz the bad guy for bringing up such an offensive subject, not the Muslim who beheaded his wife.
Update 2/27/09: See my post, Beheader said headless wife can’t reach paradise.
5 Responses to “Muslims speak out about beheading”
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mike O'brien said
Since when did murder in our country become an honor killing? The guy killed his wife! So let the law kill him!Cut off his head so he can’t go to paradise! Maybe in time those people will get it! They truly have to be the most barbaric people and we are sick and tired of our government allowing them to come into the U.S.A.! Who is in charge with the quotas coming in from that part of the world? Whoever it is? “Fire them immediately!”
Tina Trent said
There will be no hate crimes charge in this case because the hate crimes industry has, sadly, made certain that cases of violence against women born as women are not prosecuted with enhanced sentencing under “gender bias” protocols as they are officially enforced. Protocols and training are where women get cut off — not the written law. The “gender” category is (quietly, and off the books) reserved (in the states) for transvestites and trans-gendered victims. Federal law regarding reservations and parklands has an actual exclusion for rape of a woman as gender bias hate crime written into the code — which, interestingly, raises the question of why rape-murders of women on federal parkland have not been prosecuted as hate crime by the Feds.
The lesson? If you want to make the law subjective and submit it to ideological pressures, don’t write that part where people can see it. Keep your political agendas off the books and in the (taxpayer-subsidized) training rooms, as it were. The hate crimes movement as it was institutionalized under Eric Holder (The Clinton Years), probably never imagined it would be dedicating its energies to supporting CAIR’s agenda today. But, there you have it.
That’s what happens when you write racial and ethnic differences into the law.
N.O.W. President Kim Gandy helped ensure quiet enforcement of these protocols more than a decade ago — and has deceived her membership and a complacent, unquestioning media ever since. She is presently working overtime to deny the connection between Islam, this beheading, and gender bias law and to minimize the crime itself. Apparently, some others in the N.Y. State N.O.W. are speaking out, but I have seen no public statement from them demanding enforcement of hate crimes law in this case.
How have we arrived at the point where a feminist organization dedicates its energy and influence to minimizing the beheading of a woman in order to please other political allies?
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allyson taylor said
Notice that ISNA condemned violence against women, but did not specifically call this out as issue of Shariah. This is a weak and carefully worded doucment to get them off the hook. CAIR is a terrorist front, and would never condemn this action, as they support the Shariah.
Muslims will not protest, nor will you hear from the MSU, as they are Saudi puppets, who follow strict Wahabbism and need to be funded by a regime that also follows the Shariah. Welcome to the land of multiculturalism!
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