Moeed Abdul Salam is Dead
But Was It Really Sucide?
Was he blown up by his own choice? Or was it a grenade? A Bomb? What really happened?
Who Really Killed him? Was it the Pakistan Military? The American CIA? Maybe Taliban Themselves?
Read... (and think)
Here's the story in the news of a Texas raised Muslim youth, turning against his own country, his own family - maybe even against this own faith (Islam)
More or less:
Moeed Abdul Salam wasn't into radical Islam for lack of other options. Actually, he grew up in Texas to an average middle class family, he went to a nice boarding school and he graduated from one of Texas' most honored universities.
Getting into a radical religious group would be the last thing anyone would suspect from Moeed, especially those in Afghanistian or Pakistan. His family repesents two generations working hard to promote interfaith harmony and combating Muslim stereotypes in their hometown and even on national television.
But somewhere along the way, Salam rejected his relatives' moderate faith and comfortable life, choosing instead a path that led him to work for al Qaeda. His odyssey ended Nov. 19 in a middle-of-the-night explosion in Pakistan. The 37-year-old father of four was dead after paramilitary troops stormed his apartment.
Officers said Salam committed suicide with a grenade. An Islamic media group said the troops killed him.
Salam's death went largely unnoticed in the U.S. and drew limited attention in Pakistan. But the circumstances threatened to overshadow the work of an American family devoted to religious understanding. And his mysterious evolution presented a reminder of the attraction that Pakistan still holds for Islamic militants, especially well-educated Westerners whose Internet and language skills make them useful converts for jihad.
"There are things that we don't want to happen but we have to accept, things that we don't want to know but we have to learn, and a loved one we can't live without but have to let go," Salam's mother, Hasna Shaheen Salam, wrote last month on her Facebook page.
The violence didn't stop after Salam died. Weeks later, fellow militants killed three soldiers with a roadside bomb to avenge the raid.
It is unclear how much Salam's family knew of his radicalism, but on his Facebook page the month before he died, he posted an image of Anwar al-Awlaki, the American al Qaeda leader killed in a U.S. drone strike in Yemen, beside a burning American flag. After his death, the Global Islamic Media Forum, a propaganda group for al Qaeda and its allies, hailed Salam as a martyr.
A senior U.S. counterterrorism official said Salam's role grew over the years, from propagandist to operative.
The family, originally from Pakistan, immigrated to the U.S. decades ago. Salam's father was a pilot for a Saudi airline, and the family eventually settled in Plano. Its cream-colored brick home, assessed at nearly $400,000, stands on a corner lot in a quiet upper-class neighborhood.
The family obtained American citizenship in 1986. Salam went to Suffield Academy in Connecticut, an expensive private high school. He graduated in 1992.
A classmate, Wadiya Wynn, of Laurel, Md., recalled that Salam played golf and sang in an a cappella group and that he hung out with "hippie-ish" friends.
Salam went on to study history at the University of Texas at Austin and graduated in 1996.
His Facebook profile indicated that he had moved to Saudi Arabia by 2003 and begun working as a translator, writer and editor for websites about Islam.
Salam, who had apparently been active in militant circles for as long as nine years, arrived three years ago in Karachi, Pakistan's largest city, and became an important link for al Qaeda, the Taliban and other extremists, according to an al Qaeda operative.
Salam traveled to the tribal areas close to the Afghan border for meetings with senior al Qaeda and Taliban leaders, the operative said. He handled money and logistics and delivered instructions from others in the network.
Back in the United States, Salam's mother is a prominent resident of Plano, where she is co-chairwoman of a city advisory group called the Plano Multicultural Outreach Roundtable, as well as a former president of the Texas Muslim Women's Foundation.
The founder of the latter group, Hind Jarrah, said Shaheen and her husband are too upset to speak with anyone.
"She's a committed American citizen. She's a hard worker," Jarrah said, calling her "one of the nicest, most committed, most open-minded" women she's ever met.
In addition, Salam's brother, Monem, has traveled the country speaking about Islam, seeking to correct misconceptions after 9-11.
Reflection time:
This is not an isolated case, although we wish it was. The fact is, more and more the American (and other countries?) youth are all being influenced by what they read, hear and see going on around the world today. Many of them are motivated to get involved and take action for whatever they might considered to be the "Just cause" of the day.
This mentality is not exclusive to Muslim youth. In fact, many of today's teens are stimulated to "go to war" against whatever evil villain they suspect may be lurking around the corner (or around the world).
Gameboy, wargames, Internet games portraying scenarios of military conflict and active combat are also contributors to this serious problem facing a lot of our youngsters today. Far too many are prepared to pick up their "weapons" and attack the evil monsters of the world.
Arab Spring, revolutions, battles going on around the planet add to the notion our youth have about a need to moblize and attack. This militant attitude seems to be growing in many directions.
Bottom line, the media, social networks, war game manufacturers, political agendas and greedy entrepreneurs - along with preoccupied parents who do not spend enough time with their children - and neglect the responsibility to monitor what goes into the minds of theses kids....
could all be a serious part of the problem.
Who really killed Moeed Salam? Who really brought about his death? What was going through his mind? How could this happen? More important - What can we do to prevent others from this same fate?
What can we say?
For sure, it must be a wake up call to all of us, Muslims, Christians, Jews and atheists alike. Our children need us and we need to be a part of their lives.
May Allah forgive us all and guide us to guide our children in better ways, before it is too late! (ameen)
COMMENTS PLEASE
(We publish after reviewing)