This refers to your cover stories captioned “Wasn’t Ford Hood Shooting Another Case of Mass Shooting That is on Rise in America?” by Dr. Javed Jamil and “Fort Hood Shootout – The price US is Paying for Global War” by Mr. Soroor Ahmed wherein they mentioned Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan who had opened fire and gunned down 13 US Army personnel and injured scores of others. There could be one or many reasons for the Major to open fire at his colleagues at the military base in Texas. I would like to advise our fellow countrymen to go through Islamic teachings including many sayings of the Prophet on the subject. For example, in the Qur’ān it is clearly mentioned (in chapter 5, verse 32): “That was why We prescribed this for the children of Israel: He who killed any person, unless it be a person guilty of man-slaughter, or of spreading chaos in the land, should be looked upon as though he had slain all mankind, and he who saved one life should be regarded as though he had saved the lives of all mankind.”
This very clearly highlights the sanctity of human life; it is essential for the preservation of human life that everyone should regard the life of the other as sacred and help to protect it. The one who takes the life of another without any right, does not commit injustice to that one alone, but also proves that he has no feeling for the sanctity of human life and mercy for others. Hence he is most surely the enemy of the whole human race, for if every individual suffered from the same kind of hard-heartedness, the whole human race would come to an end. So, if Major Nidal has committed something erroneous, it is of course condemnable. But it is his personal and individual insanity and should not be lashed upon the community as a whole or the religion he belongs to.
Rashid Mahmoud
Jeddah, K.S.A