UPDATE 7: VT’s MSA has a bio on Waleed Shaalan
UPDATE 6: Statement from Muslim organizations offering condolences
UPDATE 5: A post on Waleed Shaalan
UPDATE 4: Lists of the deceased here and here (each are partial lists)
UPDATE 3: Look at this
UPDATE 2:Ahmed’s friend Waleed Shaalan is confirmed dead. He leaves behind a wife and son. Please make du’aa (pray) for him and the family he leaves behind
————————————–
Lots of families - including Muslim ones - here in Northern Virginia have children going to school at Virginia Tech and were worried sick as the news came out . I know someone currently working on his master’s there.
The Virginia Tech Muslim Student Association released this statement (hat tip to Ali)
The Virginia Tech Muslim Student Association expresses great sorrow for the tragic events that occurred today on the Virginia Tech campus. We would like to convey our deepest condolences to the families of the victims and offer our help in anyway to the university campus community. We would like everyone to please keep us in their duaz and prayers. Jazakumu Allahu Khairanfor the concern we received today and we definitely feel the brotherhood and sisterhood that binds all us together.
- The Executive Board of the Muslim Students Association at Virginia Tech
It is really sad that some people already taking the opportunity to throw around veiled (and sometimes direct) accusations against the Muslims in light of this tragedy - to whip up more suspicion and hate. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families of the the victims of all the families in this senseless tragedy.
This news brought this nation to shock - as it should have. But can we imagine having a tragedy like this on a daily basis?
UPDATE: I just spoke to my friend, Ahmed Sidky who is a grad student at Virginia Tech. He is very emotional right now and says that the entire community is in a state of shock, but that the entire community - including the Muslims - has come together in this time of tragedy. Everyone was checking up on one another and trying to comfort and help one another heal. He said that the shock was intensified because they had an on campus festival on Sunday (the day before) and had a lot of picutures of the victims smiling and having a good time that added to the emotion of this. An undescribable emotional shift.
He told me that a close friend of his is “missing” but they are expecting the worse. He told me his name, but did not want me to release it until his family is notified back in Egypt.
The campus set up a meeting point for family and friends where they were until almost 2:30AM trying to comfort one another. There was a large gathering of Muslims there and he told me that the VaTech administration was very accomadating to them - making a special place for the prayers. He said that it was one of the most emotional prayers for him and that everyone was crying during the salaah.
He also told me that everyone met Reema Samaha’s parents and described for me the highly emotional scene in which everyone was trying to comfort her devastated parents. She was just a freshman and a highly energetic young woman that was very active and popular on campus.
At this point, Ahmad is waiting for official confirmation of his friend’s status as well as other “missing students”
In a time of tragedy, one can really see that we are all human beings and people come together to comfort one another. It did not matter the religion of the victims. Everyone was a hurting human being.
What I write here is not 1/10th as emotional as what Ahmed told me and I wish that I could do it justice, but this is what I have for now.
Let us keep all of them in our du’aa
Filed under: Practical Solutions
I don’t know how our brothers and sisters continue to live in Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine, Sudan and the other places where there is oppression and murder.
Yeah! Our prayers go out to their families that Allaah Guide them to Islam so they wont die as kaafirs and die upon this Blessed Dawah of Tawheed and enter Jannah. Ameen.
Correction, the sister that was killed, Reema, was a Lebanese Christian, but a brother, [name removed until family is informed], passed away.
The gunman who killed at least 30 people at Virginia Tech university in the US was South Korean Cho Seung-Hui, aged 23, police say.
For more details: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news
Thanks for sharing that Tariq. We are all shocked at this needless bloodshed. I am happy to see everyone coming together
Senseless. Though you don’t have to go all the way to Afghanistan to witness senseless violence. Philadelphia’s a good example. Lots of people live with violence everyday - sad no matter where you go.
[...] get in touch with him. Fortunately, Br. Tariq did and he has some emotional words from Br. Sidky. See here. If you cannot call this incident terrorism, then you can’t call any other terrorism. What [...]
Nice statement from the Muslims. Sad that Muslims live in an environment where they feel forced to do such things
The Virginia Tech tragedy
Tariq Nelson gives an update on the Virginia Tech situation
Assalam Alaikum & Greetings of Peace to ALL ~
Sending love, prayers and strength to VA Tech and victims All OVER THE WORLD.
And Allah says in the Quran .. that we will not know HOW, WHEN, or WHERE we will each die.
Let us try NOT to take our time here for granted.
It’s high time that all mainstream Muslims (groups/organizations/whatever) stand up and condemn such brazen attacks as acts of terror. While it may seem “senseless” — this evil was far from it. It was intentionally designed to inflict as much mayhem and carnage, upon an innocent group, as possible.
The Columbine massacre, of a few years ago, was an act of terror — despite what the media may broadcast. In Columbine…victims were chosen for a variety of different factors — including (but not limited to): race and socioeconomic status, etc. Both Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris may also have been politically radical/radicalized as well.
Regardless if there is no obvious political or religious motivation behind this particular tragedy — the damage has been done … terror inflicted.
Flicker facebook dedicated to the VT victims
http://vccs.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2305046635
Thanks Tariq
I haven’t been following the story till now so I missed hearing about any initial suspicions directed towards Muslims. But this morning a Korean-American friend of mine called me this morning and talked about how he felt about the fact that the suspect turned out to be Korean. I had to say to him “Welcome to the club”. So long model-minority myth.
You know Abdul-Halim, I do fear an “angry Asian man” myth where the little “docile” Asian guy suddenly snaps. Similar to the “angry white man” myth when they were going “postal”
Why can we not just look at this as a tragedy on its face instead of looking for a scapegoat?
Salaam,
Prayers for your friend and for all the families and friends of the victims, and for the family of the gunman. What a horrendous event.
Not sure why it’s not showing up with your link, but here is the VT MSA homepage, with a new message and a posting confirming a brother as deceased. Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji’oon.
http://msavt.org/main/default.asp
As-Salaamu ‘alaikum,
I would not call this attack terrorism, because it wasn’t, any more than Dunblane or Hungerford were terrorism. It was a senseless massacre by an individual for personal, and not political, reasons (apparently, the first victim was his ex). And terrorists who carry out massacres, either by gun or by bomb, sometimes blow themselves up with everyone else but do not shoot themselves.
I agree Yusuf. If we define this as terrorism, then the next time some random disturbed Muslim does some act, then we would have to also define that as terror as well, when neither is the case.
[...] The Virginia Tech tragedy « Tariq Nelson [...]
[...] the earth stop spinning?? Jump to Comments Here are two quotes I can agree with regarding the Virginia Tech shootings: - “Liberal professors? Video games? Anti-depressants? Resist the urge to put your political [...]
May Allah SWT have mercy on them all, make thier grave a place of comfort, warm, and bright, forgive them of their sins and admit them into paradise.
Amin
[...] though several blogs that gave life to the people who were killed, such as Tariq Nelson’s The Virginia Tech Tragedy and Heart’s Cho Sueng-Hui and the Virginia Tech Massacre: These are the Sons America Has [...]
“…then the next time some random disturbed Muslim does some act, then we would have to also define that as terror…”
Uhhh…the media has already done that. Consider the case of John Allen (Muhammed) — the “Beltway Sniper” who “terrorized” the Washington D.C. Metropolitan area a few years ago. The media basically went off and all but linked this guy to OBL. Even though it is not clear whether John Allen was ever even a Muslim!
Well known author Michelle Malkin — a conspiracy theorist in her own right — has gone out of her way to link the Beltway Sniper killings to “radical Islam” or terrorist groups…or whatever. Note how she refers to both Snipers, including Lee Boyd Malvo (who isn’t Muslim) as the “Jihadi Sniper”…
http://www.michellemalkin.com/archives/005257.htm
Right now is an emotional time, so let’s be aware of clouded judgment when it comes to labelling something an act of terrorism. Question: Can a mass murder by a probably pathologically sick individual be equated as a mass murder done by a politicised radical?
There are similarities and differences in each case, but ultimately it all comes down to how you define terrorism.
I think it is too soon to be looking at this through a political prism. There is a lot of pain right now. I see that some are calling for hand guns on campus and others are calling for hand gun bans. All are using this tragedy to push an agenda. What does this say about the state of the world. I could really care less at this point whether one calls it terrorism or not. People are suffering right now
Jason,
I don’t think there is anything wrong with looking at how these kinds of tragedies can be prevented in the future
Anyone who thinks it is too early to discuss this, should click on the link below:
http://www.news2wkrn.com/vv/2007/04/more_guns_less_crime.html
let’s mourn and grieve for those lost their lives. let’s mourn for their families. let’s remember what the VT students are going through right now as they need our prayers and love right now.
I haven’t cried in a long time until now
It is an emotional time and many times when something devastating happens such as death, we seem to want to point the finger or find someone or something to blame for the tragedy instead of accepting the Qadr of Allah. A big fuss was made about the time frame between the scene of the first shooting and the second shooting, and although the lives of the people in the Engineering building could have been saved, there could have been even more carnage had this mentally-troubled person been locked down in the dorm hall with HUNDREDS of potential victims. As time goes by and we learn more we find that the police thought they had a suspect, the boyfriend of the first shooting victim, but they were wrong.
I do agree that this incident should be used to improve communication and overall security and maybe even mandatory mental health screening (especially since many people including professors and other students saw this person to be a very troubled individual) or other preventive measures but I certainly don’t think that anyone should be fired over it.
I pray that Allah eases the pain for the families of the victims and please keep them and Brother Waleed and Sister Reema in your du’a.
This tragedy has affected many of us here in N Virginia as many here have friends and family there. The Muslim community has been wonderful in sharing the love during this tragedy and I want to express my grattitude to them
Pictures and bio have been posted, courtesy MR, at MuslimMatters.
Tribute to Br. Waleed Shaalan
[...] The Virginia Tech tragedy [...]
[...] arm, in the only way they knew how: by trying to cobble together some sort of link between the tragic murders and the War on Terror. “Was the killer an Islamist?” Well, Ismail is indeed a Muslim [...]
Al Salamu Aleikom Brothers & Sisters,
May All Mighty Allah accept the martyres in his Heavens.
What hapened in Virginia Tech is an act of Terrorism not under the political definicion of the the West though.
This act is due to the imcompetent Juridicial system of the US that the criminal has to commit as many crime as he possibly can”under the protection of the juridicial System” until they are realy conviced that he should have been put away long time ago. They don’t predict from his action that he might be a potential criminal & that he can endanger people’s lives.
I hope one day they’ll start changing their laws to put these criminals behind bars instead of letting them lead a crimianl life at loose, keeping in mind that the US is under the Microscope & the entire waorl in watching what goes on on that Supper Power that unfortunatly everyone is admiring & would like to emitate.
May Allah Bless you all.
Salamu Aleikom
Maniacs like Seung-Hui Cho sometimes take shahaadah or just happen to be Muslim. When they go nuts it is called terror but it is no different than here.
“My 2 cents” mentioned mental health screening for college admission, if they did that then a lot of people would not be able to attend. I think from now on people will be keeping a closer eye on strange behavior
What’s scary is that Cho’s early writing — especially play entitled “Richard McBeef” that addresses murder, sex pedophilia, provided some clues into just how deranged Cho was.
Terrifying stuff.
can same one answer this queation for me plzz…Is he muslim..i mean the killer…and if he is he just wanted sameone to give the blame for and he knew the only way americans are gana do that is if he says he is muslim…i just hope that it won’t be Islam agian cow ISlam had anoight about America …
salaam
Can you pls consider adding a tid-bit to your blog about this… we want to get as many ppl to pay their tribute as possible so this can be a memorial that the family can treasure inshallah…waslam
Waleed Shaalan’s Tribute on MM to be Delivered to Family
Inshallah, we plan to print out all the tributes/comments posted for Br. Waleed and package them nicely to send to his family, as a small memorial.
Please continue post your comments/duas/thoughts on the tribute entry: Linked here or see below. The cut-off date will be April 30 (Monday) by 5PM, at which point we will print all comments out that have been posted (you can continue to comment past that, but it may not go into the print-out what is to be delivered to the family).