The Muslims of America, Inc.(TMOA) strongly condemns the murderous rampage in an Orlando, Florida nightclub during the early morning hours of June 12, 2016. By the time it was over, the alleged gunman was killed, 49 victims were dead and over 50 injured. The carnage is being dubbed the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.
The shooter has been identified as 29-year-old Omar Mateen, born in America of Afghan descent, who leaves behind a widow and 3-year-old child. Rumors abound pertaining to Mateen’s motive and loyalties. According to his father, Mateen had recently become angered after witnessing two men publicly engaging in lewd behavior. Mateen’s targeted venue was the Pulse Nightclub that caters to the LGBT community. Mateen is reported as being named a Muslim, which is significant in this incident because Islam, as well as Christianity and Judaism deem homosexuality as abhorrent perversions and abominations. However, it is not up to individuals to deal with this violation of sacred and moral codes, instead, the matter should be left in the hands of the Almighty Creator. Islam is against violence and terrorism and expressly forbids the indiscriminate killing of men, women or children. The Orlando killings referred to as “acts of terrorism” and “hate” by President Obama cannot be justified.
According to news reports Mateen pledged allegiance to ISIS in a call made to 911 during the shooting and ISIS purportedly identified Mateen as one of its own following the attack, although U.S. officials have no evidence to support this connection. Like ISIS, this reprehensible mass shooting is responsible for bringing a bad name to Islam while encouraging fear and mistrust to divide America’s faith-based communities.
Of interest is the fact that Mateen was allegedly angry about LGBT relationships in America where people are free to practice their lifestyle of choice. However in Afghanistan, his parents’ native land and a Muslim country, male pedophilia is rampant, which is destroying lives by the hundreds, yet nothing in Mateen’s history has noted his vehement opposition to these vile anti-Islamic practices occurring there.
Many Americans can recollect the story of Lance Corporal Gregory Buckley Jr. who was stationed in Afghanistan and killed in 2012, but prior to his death informed his father of the sexual abuse of young boys by Afghan military and the horror of being unable to stop it. Former Special Forces Captain Dan Quinn also reported these occurrences. He later resigned after being relieved of his duty by the Army for confronting an Afghan police commander for sexually abusing a young boy and beating his mother to silence her. With such atrocities occurring in Afghanistan daily, why would Mateen choose the U.S. to exact a twisted form of judge, jury and executioner?
Muslims are well aware that our Almighty Lord needs no assistance in addressing any lifestyle not in accordance to His laws. This fact has already been proven true. Both the Bible and the Holy Qur’an recount the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. The Almighty Creator sent the Angel Gabriel who lifted the cities up on the tip of his finger and then threw them back upside down. The site of this disaster has been excavated and in October 2015, Steven Collins, a professor of Biblical studies and apologetics at Trinity Southwest University, Albuquerque, NM, claimed that evidence at an archeological dig near the Dead Sea corroborates biblical accounts of the “sudden end’ of Sodom, according to the report in the Huffington Post. While it is the duty of the ‘People of the Book’ – Muslims, Christians and Jews – to join together in speaking out against lewd practices, it is essential as well to condemn terrorism and acts of murder.
Source:Islamic Post Editorial
