18/11/2009

Isn’t it ironic as the one guy in my facebook status said the man that killed a woman because she was wearing hijaab now has to walk out of a courtroom fully veiled.. He was sentenced to life behind bars after killing pregnant Marwa Sherbini in front of her 3 year old son and husband  in a German court.

For someone that killed a pregnant woman he is really well protected. His full name is not released Axel M. He has more security then any president would dream of.. anyway..
he will go to jail for what he did, but the punishment of this world will be a “WALK IN THE PARK” compared to what is waiting for him in the hereafter..

7/10/2009

source: france24.com

When I read about this the other day, I was so sickened by this story. I couldn’t believe something like this could happen in this day and age in a first world country. I still am puzzled and outraged how this could happen in a courtroom. How could a man being charged take a weapon into the courtroom? How did he manage to stab her 18 times? One time maybe but 18 times.  Why is he being kept anonymous? Alex A.. Had it been the other way his name would have been blasted all around the news.  How could the security guard just start shooting in the courtroom? Why has this been kept low key?  Even Al Jazeera had little to say about this. Why I say that it seemed low key, when I looked for this information on the day i heard about it i found very little info about it.  I am really disgusted that this could happen in the first place especially in a courtroom.

Image Source: the guardian

Marwa Sherbini now hailed the headscarf/hijaab martyr was killed in a German courtroom on 1 July 2009.

What made me write about this is when I saw the clip on Islam TV and saw the faces behind the story. When I saw her body being carried through the massive crowds and when I saw her son.

What sickens me is when we wanted to visit Germany they made us feel like criminals when we applied for our visas.  When we visited  European airports they treat us like criminals checking every luggage  piece and making us take out our belts and shoes. Even my husband was stopped at one airport by the army and they  searched him after the security check, which almost made him miss his flight.. but in their COURTROOMS they don’t check if the criminals are armed. (Nanima’s visa tragedy)

Source: Marwa Sherbini facebook group

This could have easily been any of us. Any muslimah could have been visiting the park with a three year old. We know how 3 years olds can be if they want something. If they want to go on a swing, they want to go on a swing. What saddened me even more is that she was pregnant and her son 3 year old  Mustapha  witnessed the whole ordeal in the COURTROOM. Sister Marwa stood up for her beliefs and may Allah grant her Jannah inshaAllah.

My word of advise when dealing with this is remember how the prophet (SAW) dealt with the people of Taif. When you react, react Islamically, from a place of peace. Like most of you my blood is also boiling but remember this below.

While many Muslims once again fall into the reactionary trap set for them by exploding in rage and violence, we would do well to reflect upon the Prophet’s supplication in Taif. This is the dua he recited with shoes full of blood, wounds all over his body and after having been insulted, ridiculed and abused by the people of Taif to whom he had taken recourse seeking a place of refuge. Moreover, this occurs after three years of suffering a boycott at the hands of the Quraysh as a result of which Muslims were reduced to eating grass and leaves off of trees.

The Prophet (s) as he walks out of Taif:
“O Allah! I complain to You of my weakness, my scarcity of resources and the humiliation I have been subjected to by the people. O Most Merciful of those who are merciful. O Lord of the weak and my Lord too. To whom have you entrusted me?

To a distant person who receives me with hostility? Or to an enemy to whom you have granted authority over my affair? So long as You are not angry with me, I do not care. Your favor is of a more expansive relief to me. I seek refuge in the light of Your Face by which all darkness is dispelled and every affair of this world and the next is set right, lest Your anger or Your displeasure descends upon me. I desire Your pleasure and satisfaction until You are pleased.

There is no power and no might except by You.”

source: http://www.nuradeen.com/CurrentIssues/PrayerOfTaif.htm

If you don’t know what I am talking about, are you living under a rock? Who can blame you the media has kept this hush hush? Here’s the background.

http://www.petitiononline.com/marwa/

The Background

Source: Muslim matters

Marwa Sherbini, 33 and her husband Elwy Ali Okaz had been living in Dresden, Germany for Elwy’s scholarship at the famed Max-Planck Institute for Physics. While Elwy was wrapping up his 3-year scholarship, with his thesis due in the coming days, Marwa was raising her three year-old son. She was also three months pregnant with her second child.

The horrifying chain of events began with a small but significant event. Last summer, Marwa had taken her son to a park and while there, she found a young German man on the play-swing. She requested him to give the swing up for her 3-year old. The man’s reaction was bitter, resorting to unprovoked verbal abuse– calling her an “Islamist”, a “terrorist” and worse. Marwa, unlike so many others who face this everyday across the world, did not stay silent, and with her husband’s full support, took him to court over the incident.

A trial ensued and a District court found the German man (identified in some reports as Alex A.) guilty and fined him 780 €. The hateful Islamophobe murderer-to-be filed an appeal, and this hearing was being held last Wednesday. Here it is where the deadly assault took place. Just as Marwa had finished her testimony, the attacker moved across the courtroom and stabbed her – not once but eighteen times!  EIGHTEEN TIMES. May Allah have Mercy on her!

It sends chills down the spine – how could it possibly have happened? How did the attacker manage to assault her in that way? How did he manage to enter the courtroom with the weapon? And above all – why wasn’t he intercepted or stopped during his rampage?

Marwa’s husband, Elwi Okaz, made a desperate attempt to save his wife but a policeman’s bullet hit him (accidentally), and he collapsed, unable to rescue Marwa. All the while, the young son was witnessing this butchery. If one were to imagine this scenario that unfolded in the courtroom, it would truly be sickening and despicable.

The Aftermath

While Okaz was rushed to the hospital and is currently in intensive care with serious lung and liver injuries, it is unclear what has become of the attacker. News details are not readily available on the internet and whatever information is available is limited and centered on the incident itself.

On Monday, Okaz described how he was unable to save Marwa from the attacker: “Marwa is dead and I couldn’t save her,” the 32-year-old, told Germany’s mass-circulation newspaper Bild in the hospital where he is recovering from wounds suffered in the frenzied attack. “I’m so angry that the policeman’s bullet hit me and not the killer.”

It’s hard to imagine the pain that he and the couple’s family must be experiencing today.

Marwa’s brother, Tariq Sherbini, labeled Germany as a “cold” country and said, “extremism has no religion. My sister was killed simply because she wore the veil. This incident clearly shows that extremism is not limited to one religion or another and it is not exclusively carried out by Muslims… We are only asking for a fair punishment,” he said. “She was a religious woman who prayed and wore her headscarf, but she was killed because of her belief.”

HIJAAB THE SECURITY BLANKET

I wrote this article last year sometime and think it is relevant today as well. Especially with Sarkozy wanting to ban the burqah.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kCnAfu85x8

feb 2008

The past few weeks there has been controversy in the local chronicle whether a muslim girl should be allowed to wear her hijaab(dress modestly) at school. Mainly opposing the idea. When you read something opposing your belief, never react harshly, trying to prove a point. Explain to the people in a good way what you stand for. Here is Nanima’s response to the whole situation – I am a muslim woman. I write this letter from peace and to inform your readers why Islam is so beautiful and practical. Muslim woman do not wear hijaab(headscarf and modest clothing) for men but for themselves. It is their choice to wear hijaab to follow what God has instructed them to do, not their husbands, fathers or anyone else but God. My favourite story about modest dress was: One day a school girl asked a religious leader – Mufti Menk. Why are muslim women oppressed and wear a head scarf and dress like that and why do men have beards and wear robes? His answer was: “the same reason the mother of Jesus, Mary wears the head scarf in all your portraits and the same reason Jesus has a beard and wears robes in all your portraits, for the love of God.” Why has God instructed women to dress modestly? At the time when Islam started women were treated the worst buried alive, etc. Islam came and liberated women. Many examples to numerous to mention here. A woman wears hijaab the same reason you lock away all your valuables in a safe. If you had the most precious stone in the world wouldn’t you want to hide it from everyone and wrap it up safely. Hijaab is a women’s security blanket. With her modest dress she feels safe to walk the streets without even being noticed and maybe even being respected for it. In these times where women are being sexually abused left, right and centre the hijaab is one of the best safety mechanisms she has, almost a shield of protection. With the hijaab all women are the same equal to each other and in retrospect equal to man. Fat, thin, tall, short. Woman are talking to each other, the person, not getting distracted by their assets or liabilities. The same goes with man communicating with woman. With the hijaab you are talking to HER not her looks. God is the most wise and knows best. I admire the father who is inculcating such beliefs in his children at such a young age. Religious freedom is a democratic right and one of the reasons I love South Africa and wouldn’t choose to live in France wear the headscarf is banned. My only regret is I didn’t ask permission to wear hijaab when I was the first muslim girl to attend my model c school in the eastern Transvaal way back then.

Tags: Axel M, Elwy Ali Okaz, headscarf martyr, hejab, hijaab, Hijaab martyr, Hijab, Hijab martyr, Marwa Sherbini, Mustapha