The leadership of the Germantown Masjid has refused to conduct funeral services for Howard Cain, the bank robber who killed Sgt. Stephen Liczbinski with a Chinese-made semi-automatic rifle.
"No, we will not bury him at Germantown Masjid," said Tariq El Shabazz, managing director of the mosque. "We don't want one slight scintilla hinting that we condone his behavior."
On Sunday evening, a friend of Cain's family asked if Cain's burial could take place at the mosque on Germantown Avenue near Logan Street, El Shabazz said.
El Shabazz declined to conduct the service after researching Islamic law and meeting with Saadiq Abdul Jabbar, chief executive of the mosque; Imam Talib Abdullah, and others.
To be honest, my gut instinct is to disagree with the Masjid's decision, at least as far as conducting the service. A Muslim is a Muslim is a Muslim. And a Muslim has a right ot be prayed over. If the masjid wants to make a statement about Cain's behavior I think they should find other ways to do it.
For more information or other perspectives check out:
Philly.com: Mosques: We will not bury this Muslim
Tariq Nelson: Philly Masjids: “We will not bury this Muslim”
Sunni Sister: A Crying Shame
2 comments:
I agree with your sentiment. Salatul Janazah is a fardh kaffayah. The community is bringing sin upon itself for not burying the brother. The judge for his actions is Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) not humans.
in all fairness, on tariq nelson's blog there is an update to the story which clarifies a bit...
I'll just quote it:
"There are two points that NO ONE has bothered to mention:
(1) The brother at the center of the controversy (may Allah have mercy on him) was NOT a member of Germantown Masjid, nor did he frequent the masjid. As a matter of fact, none of the three allegedly involved were members of Germantown Masjid.
(2) The brother was washed, prayed over, and buried as of Friday May 9, 2008. All of the talk about him being Muslim upon death, sins don’t take you out of Islam, he has rights, etc. needs to cease."
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