Recent Activites

Recent Activities:

April 18, 2013

Council members: ICNE President Naim Assil and Abdul cader to Presidents Obama’s Service at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross ‘HEALING OUR CITY – AN INTERFAITH SERVICE ‘

April 23 2013

Attendance by Council at VIGIL AT ISBCC in memory of those injured and killed on Marathon day

The Interfaith gathering on Islamophobia in Hudson
The Annual Assembly at ISBCC outlining its organizational framework
The Meeting with Bridges to illustrate the developing relationship between Law Enforcement and concerned citizens

The Boston Marathon Bombing – The Enigmatic Chechen Connection

Regardless of our ethnic, racial or religious backgrounds, political affiliations, or socio-economic status, we as Americans are all shocked, saddened and outraged by the Boston Marathon bombing.
We are indivisibly shocked that any person with a modicum of respect for human life would resort to such a calculated premeditated act of carnage. We are uniformly and deeply saddened that innocent fellow citizens have been victimized in such a horrible fashion in what is no less than an act of treason by two Chechen brothers referred to as ‘losers’ by their uncle. We are outraged, as Americans and Muslims, both by the supposed claim of the surviving terror suspect that he was inspired in this barbarous act by his religion. In fact ‘his’ religion is totally antithetical to all acts of violence against civilians. And as practicing Muslims and loyal Americans we are outraged by the ongoing mantra of many in the media who continue to reinforce the notion that the Chechen nationalistic struggle against, first the Soviets, and then the Russians, is driven by religious forces. Suddenly the Chechens have been spotlighted as the masterminds of ‘terrorism’ – the epitome of evil. Their mass deportation to Siberia by Stalin and the ruthless campaigns against them by Yeltsin and intensified by Putin, are never mentioned. Not that even such devastation they endured could under any circumstances, specifically with respect to Islam, justify the slaughter of innocent people, especially in a country that had the magnanimity to grant them asylum. Theirs is an act of unmitigated treachery. The unanswered question is WHY? So while the media is wild with speculation about the role Islam played in their diabolical acts, the Islamophobes revel in their cache of ‘gotcha’, and the average Americans remain in a state of disquiet because of the mixed signals they receive, we all also need to contemplate the underlying psychopathy in these mass murderers as is always done in the case of other recent non-Muslim terrorists (Wade Page, Jared Loughner, Adam Lanza, James Holmes, and Anders Breivik). Their heinous acts are referred to euphemistically as those of ‘deeply disturbed persons’, or those of a ‘lone wolf’ with no attempt to link their unholy behavior to their religious affiliations. It is an affront to the memory of those who lost loved ones at the hands of these monsters that their pain is any less because it was not brought on by ‘Islamist terrorists’.

As Muslims our shock is no less than that of any other fellow Americans, as we find nothing irreconcilable between being a practicing Muslim and a loyal American. As Americans and Muslims we unconditionally condemn this barbaric act.  We pledge our support to cooperate with Law Enforcement Agencies in their unenviable task of keeping all citizenry safe from predators of all stripes. In the same vain we express our deepest condolences to the families of the victims who have lost their most cherished loved ones. We pray that God Almighty gives them the fortitude to live through their tragedy and He restores to health those who have sustained such dreadful trauma. As outraged as Muslims feel by the irresponsibility of some who link all acts of ‘terror’ to Islam, we find comfort and strength from many segments of our friends in the Interfaith community and the overwhelming level of understanding within the society at large.

It is sad that it takes a tragedy to remind us of our common humanity and the fragility of our existence. From it we should all learn to work together to promote peace harmony and goodwill in our great country, and throughout our fractured world. As a miniscule but significant start in the direction of recognizing our universal commitment to these ideals we can start by immortalizing the youngest, and the one Islam views as completely free of sin because of his age of innocence, Martin Richard, already guaranteed a place at God’s side, by signing his guest book clicking here. May his memory forever be etched in our collective psyche as a reminder of this day of infamy.

Abdul Cader Asmal  MD PhD    Islamic Council of New England


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