I Don’t Think He Knows What “Victim” Means

I Don’t Think He Knows What “Victim” Means

I must offer apologies to Muzzammil Hassan.  Who knew that the man who allegedly cut off his wife’s head in a Muslim honor killing was a victim?  I never would have savaged him had I known; my guilt serves as punishment for my closed-mindedness.

But at least I’m aware now.  An article in Sunday’s Buffalo News about the incarcerated Hassan gave him a chance to argue why his murdered wife is the one who should actually be behind bars.

Someone who started a network designed to improve Islam’s perception may have caused slightly more damage to the cause than good by brutally slaying his life partner.  At the same time, he did provide a horrifyingly useful example of the word “irony.”

His talent as a wordsmith is undeniable, as seen in how the man facing murder charges twisted the English language in ways previously thought impossible during the story about him.  Having apparently moved past slicing off heads, inmate Hassan is now focused upon digging a hole for himself:

Contrary to the pile of evidence and witness corroboration that he mentally tormented and physically beat his wife over a period of years, he said, the truth is that he was the one “emotionally tortured” by his outwardly kind and sweet-natured wife, Aasiya Zubair Hassan.

I’m certain that the “emotional torture” was not only real but severe enough to justify the physical torture he inflicted upon the woman who joined him in matrimony as he coldly ended her life in the most horrifying manner possible.

It’s easy to see in that regard why he sees himself as being totally like history’s most renowned practitioner of nonviolent resistance.  That’s of course aside for that one time he supposedly separated his wife’s head from her body:

“I could have gone to Toronto, taken a direct flight to Pakistan, and I speak the language fluently,” he said.

Instead, he said he chose to turn himself in and adhere to Gandhi’s principle of “satyagraha” — to seek the truth without selfish interests.

Hopefully, he will move away from selfish acts, such as, oh, extinguishing a human life.

There’s much learn in the Buffalo News piece, which did a nice job of capturing his unbearable stupidity.  For one, it added outside perspective to his chilling nonsense, as with but not limited to a quote from a UB law school professor shredding his defense in the fifth paragraph.

To the staff’s further credit, they didn’t agree to a longer conversation with him because of how he wanted to basically write and edit it himself.  Specifically, he “said he would agree to an extended interview on two main conditions: That he determines when and where the story would run and that he would be the only person interviewed for it.”  Keep dictating terms from the Holding Center, you cunning mastermind.

Instead, reporter Sandra Tan let Hassan hang himself.  A rope around his neck is better than he deserves considering what he did to his wife’s same body part.  But at least he was allowed to make himself look beyond foolish.

At the same time, it’s important to remember the function that a repulsive perversion of faith played in his unconscionable act.  Hassan’s sick interpretation of Islam can’t be discounted, as the crime for which he has been charged featured the hallmarks of an honor killing.

This case is a typical domestic abuse murder in the same way that the Fort Hood massacre was just another shooting, the Underpants Bomber was merely another unremarkable disruptive jerk on a flight, and the Times Square Bomber was either a random psychopath or Obamacare foe.  As with America’s ongoing war against cowards using terror as their chief tactic, there’s almost a perceptible connection among the various heinous acts.

There just maybe seems to be linkage between each attempted or actual murderer and what he believed, or at least what he thought he believed.  Wait: I spot a pattern.  Indeed, recognizing on whose behalf the cited examples all claim to operate is seemingly incontrovertible proof of their common agenda.  Unfortunately, the most ardent dissenters to the threat’s reality either work in or answer directly to the White House.

Area Muslims can’t afford to think like the Obama administration.  Hassan manufactured the second prominent local incident attempting to corrupt their faith in recent memory.  Thankfully, the first also gave the religion’s members a chance to show themselves at their noblest, as upstanding community members turned in the Lackawanna Six before they could make any further diabolical progress.

Now, the prudent move would be for local congregations to condemn Hassan’s ranting, and not just because his line of defense is more despicable than that of former fellow Western New York resident/accused wife murderer O.J. Simpson.

It might not seem fair that they have to respond to the barbarian’s lunacy.  But the fact remains that Hassan is one of a disturbing number who brutally take lives in their religion’s name.  Our innocent Muslim neighbors sadly but urgently must take back their faith by denouncing the acts and perceptions of every dastard who uses either a demented sense of world dominance or family standards as a motive.

By ostracizing the evildoers who assuredly do not represent them, Muslims have a chance to simultaneously confront and disprove a serious threat to their beliefs.  As for Hassan, I am almost impressed: who thought it would be possible to like him less?  It turns out you just have to let him talk about himself.


Anthony Bialy is a freelance writer and “Red Eye” Conservative in Western New York. He also writes columns for Smart Girl Nation. Follow Anthony on Twitter.




Leave a Reply

Comments for this post will be closed on 18 November 2010.