Just a little murder. This quote comes from Nidal Malik Hasan’s cousin in an article that, like many news reports, comes perilously close to offering any alienation or mistreatment Hasan may have perceived as an excuse for his rampage. Broken moral compasses and outrageous claims of moral equivalence abound.
The headline here seemed promising for a moment, but it’s not what CNN meant. “Fort Hood suspect’s religion was an issue, family says,” from CNN, November 6:
FORT HOOD, Texas (CNN) — The bumper sticker reading “Allah is Love” was torn off and the car was keyed.
Dawah, alluding to 1 John 4:8. But while one of the 99 names of Allah is “al-wadud,” “the loving,” one cannot attempt to equate the relative importance of love in the two religions’ narratives without being disingenuous.
A police report was filed in the August 16 incident involving Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan’s Honda, and a neighbor was charged with criminal mischief. But what kind of impact that incident, and possibly others, had on Hasan remains a mystery.
While few official details have been released about Hasan, his family and others have given some insight into the man accused of killing 13 people and wounded 38 others in Thursday’s massacre at Fort Hood Army Post in Texas. […]
Hasan’s cousin, Mohammad Munif Abdallah Hasan, said the Army major had wanted to leave the military because he felt disrespected over his religion.
“There was racism towards him because he’s a Muslim, because he’s an Arab, because he prays,” the cousin said in a CNN interview in the Palestinian city of Ramallah. “They used to see him dress in traditional Muslim clothing, so he was a bit irritated because of this. Also, the fact that they wanted to send him to Iraq. He decided to leave the Army for good and hire a lawyer because of this matter.” […]
There are about 3,500 Muslims in the U.S. Army, less than 1 percent of the total number of soldiers. The investigation into the shootings is ongoing, and Army officials have not indicated any evidence of Hasan being harassed among the ranks.
Hasan’s cousin said that despite the concerns over discrimination, a motive behind the shootings still was incomprehensible.
“If he had killed one or two, I could say that he was defending himself. I could say that there could have been a problem between two sides which led to the use of weapons. But for one to kill 13 people and injure more than 30, I personally don’t think that it was because someone was bothering him. There is a bigger reason that this happened and no ones knows it besides Nidal.”
Well, it starts with a “j”…