4:23pm Friday 9th July 2010
By Bano Murtuja
The last few decades have witnessed one label after the next, however untrue, being attached to the Muslim community.
That has included Exotic, ethnic (in the cool high street sense of the word) and close-knit. But the flavour of the month, or even the last few years seems to be ‘backwards’.
Backwards about women, about marriage, about pretty much everything, and now, even backwards about death.
This last couple of months we in Lancashire have seen some horrific tragedies.
We have lost those who had the potential to be shining lights in our communities.
Whether it was the devastation of an entire family in Nelson, or the brutal murder of a young twenty something in Blackburn; we have seen loss up close and personal.
We have also seen these losses labelled as ‘honour’ killings from almost the first moment the story breaks.
And the worst fact of the matter is we seem to relish the idea, because it simply fuels our own sordid need for gossip and scandal.
Like the story line of a bad soap, 99 times out of 100 I can predict the headlines of the papers when our community suffers such a loss.
Rather than looking to the deranged individuals that commit such horrific acts, rather than looking at the crimes, or the brutality of the world we live in, the motivation is almost always placed on the flawed culture; an apparently inherent weakness in social mores that are dressed up to legitimise such heinous acts.
There is something to be said for identifying cultural norms that have a negative impact.
It is another thing entirely when cultural norms are presupposed, inflated and downright made up to satisfy a preformed notion of “see, see, we told you they were backwards”.
I had known Saheel Ahmad for 19 years.
His loss is a heavy burden our community will feel for a long time, not only because he was a young man only just starting his life, but because as a hafidh, we also lost a heart that carries the blessed words of the Qur'an.
My father Hafidh Abdussamad, the teacher with whom he memorised the Qur'an said of him; “He had the best of character “He would always approach others in the softest manner.
“He was always ready to help anyone, even his classmates.
He was one of the best students I have had and when he prayed the Qur'an it would sooth the soul”.
Every time we attach labels rather than dealing with his loss we do a disservice to his memory and fail to remember him as the talented young man he was.
As long as we continue to pander to rumours and fail to challenge ignorant presumptions of such crimes, we will always be blaming the victim and dehumanising the perpetrator.
As sad as it is crimes of this kind happen in every culture, and to every kind of people. Honour has nothing to do with it.
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