Beheading In Buffalo — By A “Moderate” Muslim!
Beheading In Buffalo — By A “Moderate” Muslim!
By
Ken Eliasberg
An unhappy husband decided to settle his marital dispute by beheading his wife; apparently more peaceful methods had either not occurred to him or didn’t seem to adequately express the intensity of his dissatisfaction with his wife’s decision to divorce him. While this had all the earmarks of an “honor killing,” one hesitates to point this out for fear of falling afoul of contemporary notions of good manners, i.e. political correctness on steroids
What does political correctness have to do with the somewhat unsettling manner in which this particular marital dissolution was effected? The couple was Muslim, and the gruesome conclusion of their relationship seemed to partake of “honor” killing characteristics. In a marital context, an honor killing is one in which the husband, of the view that his wife engaged in some action that might be construed as bringing dishonor to his good name, feels completely at liberty to visit on her any punishment, no matter how brutal or vicious, that he sees fit to bring to bear. In this case, the wife’s decision to divorce him appeared to be invested with the appropriate degree of “dishonor.” Apparently, the wife had some indication that her husband might not take her decision too well - because of prior incidents of domestic violence — so she included in her petition for divorce a request for a restraining order. As seems obvious, the restraining order didn’t do the trick.
There is a fascinating irony in this particular case, the couple had created an organization called Bridges TV in 2004, the purpose of which was to portray Islam in a warmer, softer manner. The organization’s creation, so the story goes, was inspired by the wife’s dissatisfaction with the manner in which Islam was being portrayed in the media (due in no small part to the violence that discordant factions of Islam were visiting on various sectors of the world community, e.g. London, Madrid, Bali, Mumbai, Chechnya, as well as a torrent of dissatisfaction emanating from the publication of those naughty Danish cartoons - you’ll recall that large numbers of Muslims felt it necessary to murder dozens of people to express their displeasure — apparently just saying that we’re very upset would notsuffice).
In any event, these and other acts of Muslim mayhem appeared, in the wife’s eyes (which at the time she still had) to be damaging Islam’s good name. Her husband thought that the creation of a better Islamic public-relations vehicle was a great idea. And so Bridges TV was formed, the purpose of which, again, was to demonstrate that Islam was indeed a religion of peace, thereby building “bridges” to the other segments of our society. Thus, the organization’s name reflected its mission — to build bridges between Islam and the other groups in our multicultural society. Little did the little woman know that her hubby harbored thoughts that were not entirely compatible with this benign image. Needless to say, his recent actions are not likely to promote an image of peace. Indeed, the cause of Islamic bridge-building suffered a bit of a setback due to this nasty bit of “domestic violence.”
And this was quite upsetting to a local Imam who tried to make the case that such violence had nothing to do with Islam at all; or, at the very least, was not uniquely peculiar to Islam. Although I have to tell you, I’m not persuaded. Why not? Because I can’t recall too many instances when this type of domestic dispute was resolved in this manner by any Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, etc., etc. Although the “honor killing” characterization may not meet everyone’s needs, it seems clear to me that this was exactly what it was. Why? Because of the beheading. That is, ordinarily, just killing her might have calmed his passion, but this would not do; beheading her served the additional purpose of denying her access to paradise. Apparently under Islamic law (or soI am advised) you will not be admitted to paradise if you arrive there without your head (after all, how are they going to recognize you?).
And it is certainly not my intention to make light of this killing; whatever the husband’s motivation; beheading any one, let alone one’s wife, is brutal, barbarous, primitive, and inexcusable, no matter the religious justification the culprit may conjure up. The idea of slaughtering your wife, sister, daughter or whoever because they have offended your honor should have gone out with the Dark Ages. I’m sure glad that Mr. Hassan is a moderate Muslim; I shudder to think of what he might have done to his wife if he were anything like his more extreme brothers in arms.
Some on the left, again in deference to notions of political correctness, have tried to sweep this under the carpet by passing it off as just another case of “domestic violence” carried a bit too far - perhaps. Although N.O.W., to its credit, called it what it was - an honor killing.
On a more alarming note, it seems that honor killings, which are practiced throughout the Muslim world, have reached America. Even before this bit of unpleasantness in Buffalo, there were several honor killings in this country, e.g. the one in Dallas, where an irate (and dishonored) father killed his 2 daughters for no better reason that they were engaging in more modern conduct than he found acceptable (thereby dishonoring him).
We must make it clear to all of our citizenry, whatever their religious persusasion, that we are in America — in the 21st century (and not the 7th) — and this type of conduct is unacceptable!!