Muslims condemn brutal act

The local Islamic community said that it is shocked and upset by the gruesome killing allegedly perpetrated by one of its followers named Abdul Rahim a.k.a. Shorn Samuel and has disassociated itself from him.

In an interview with Searchlight Muslim representative, Bilal Abdul Karim revealed that Islam was a way of life that has been given by Allah through the Prophet Muhammad. He said contrary to rumors that have been circulating throughout the country, the local Muslim community did not have any terrorists that were trying to create a disturbance.{{more}}

Distraught about the conduct reported of Abdul Rahim, Karim admitted to Searchlight “We don’t know what got into him (Rahim) or the reason why this took place. I know for a fact that the Muslim community had no knowledge that such an act was going to take place and if we did, we would have stopped him! We do not support anything like that and we want the people of St Vincent and the Grenadines and the entire world to know that he acted on his own and that was totally un-Islamic.”

Karim, who has been a Muslim for 18 years said that he knew Rahim for about four years and as a practising Muslim, he (Rahim) seemed to have had a love and understanding of life and never made a decision without consulting the faith.

Karim noted that if Rahim said that he was “making a sacrifice in the name of Allah” then that was un-Islamic, since Allah would never tell a person to take a life. He said that there was nothing from the Holy Quran or the Sunnah or the Prophet Muhammad to support those actions.

He explained that the Muslim faith however sacrifices a lamb or goat on their Muslim holidays and eat the meat of the slain animal, but does not kill human beings. He revealed that a holiday was approaching on December 30, when they observe when the Prophet Abraham was tested by God by sacrificing his son, but stressed that it was only a test and that God provided a lamb and never allowed Abraham to sacrifice his son.

Karim pointed out that his faith is about living in peace, love, unity, kindness, understanding and equality. He explained, “We fight against oppression and join in what is right and not wrong. While we believe in an eye for an eye, Allah loves the man who can control his anger because once you get angry, you are easier to be tempted to commit a crime. Any evil that a person does comes from his own hands and his own self because of his lack of knowledge of Allah.”

Karim extended condolences to the family and friends of Stacy Wilson on behalf of the Muslim community.