Post 75--Suicide Among Muslims

Suicide is on the rise in the West, including North America. This post will familiarize you with Muslim thinking on this issue.  If we want to reduce its numbers, we need to know all the theories that are making the rounds, including the theories from the main religions. Hence, I introduce the subject with the help of  the Muslim "Sound Vision" at < info@soundvision.com >.

Now our subject does not cover terrorist suicide. This article is about suicide by ordinary people who for one reason or another have sunk into despair.

If you're a Christian, as I am, after reading this blog try to figure out the similarities and differences between the suicide perspectives of the two religions.  You may find that an interesting and fruitful exercise.

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SV

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Monday | Muharram 21, 1440 AH | October 1st, 2018

Assalamu alaikum:

Earlier this month, the Muslim community of Herndon, Virginia was stunned to discover that Noera Ayaz, a 42-year-old lawyer and mother of two, had killed her two children and then turned the gun on herself.

As the horrific news spread to communities outside Virginia, Muslims across the U.S. struggled to understand suicide by one of their own.

One of the experts called in to help the Muslim community deal with its shock and grief revealed to Sound Vision last week that in the last six months, she has offered six of these post-suicide interventions across four different states.

Among young Muslims, the situation seems to be no better. Suicide was the fifth most common reason people called or texted Sound Vision’s Crisis Text Line, a crisis hotline aimed at Muslim youth who can text SALAM to the number 741741 for help.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, suicide rates have been rising in nearly every state. In 2016, nearly 45,000 Americans age 10 or older died by suicide. Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death and is one of just three leading causes that are on the rise.

While varying factors lead individuals to die this way, for Muslims, the shock is compounded by commonly-held, and sometimes erroneous beliefs, about the Islamic perspective on suicide.

Also, the connection to mental health struggles needs to be urgently addressed in every Muslim community. According to one the experts we interviewed about this topic, 90 percent of suicides are linked to diagnosed or undiagnosed mental illness.

This week, we hope to shed light on how we can address suicide and mental illness head on. As one of the Muslims we interviewed who recently attempted suicide emphasized,  “It is our responsibility to make sure our community is healthy.”

Peace,

Sound Vision Team

Sound Vision’s Crisis Text Line

If you or somone you know is considering suicide or having suicidal thoughts, please text SALAM to 741741. This is a confidential, free, hotline that will connect you with a trained counselor you can talk to.

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Suicide in the Muslim community (NEW)

By: Samana Siddiqui

When a Muslim dies by suicide, the shock and grief often give way to confusion about why he or she would take such a drastic step. In this article, experts and one Muslim who recently attempted suicide share how to handle this tragedy and what Muslims can do as a community to help prevent it. >>>Read More

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Helping Muslim youth deal with suicide (NEW)

By: Samana Siddiqui

“My daughter had suicidal ideation in Ramadan. She was fasting. She came up to me at 11 at night to say that she needs to be taken to the hospital because she can't control her urges. I had no idea what was going on,” said Fatima* in an interview with Sound Vision. There are no exact numbers on how many Muslims, and specifically young Muslims, die by suicide. However, Muslim youth are no strangers to it. >>>Read More

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How Sound Vision’s youth engagement leads to better youth mental health

By: Imam Malik Mujahid

While youth engagement has been part of Sound Vision’s motto of “helping tomorrow’s Muslims today” since its inception 30 years ago, it took a Harvard University-connected psychiatrist, Dr. William Slaughter, to point it out to us. He reached out to me earlier this year, inviting me to speak in a mental health conference. He stressed how important Sound Vision’s work was for the mental health of young Muslims. >>>Read More

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Sound Vision Offers:

Prophet's Exhibit: A portable, full color, exhibit about the Prophet

See the exhibit here    • Book the exhibit for the event

Post 54--Victims of Muslim Intolerance

Post 

The stories of Zafar Bhatti, Aasia Bibi, Mashal Khan

Zafar Bhatt

Zafar Bhatti, a Pakistanti Christian accused of sending blasphemous text messages about Muhammad 

from a mobile phone, was given a life sentence on May 3. There 

is a mandatory death sentence in Pakistani law for “defiling the name” of Muhammad, but the judge in this case awarded the life-term in prison instead, because there was no concrete evidence against Zafar. For example, the phone used to send the messages was not registered in his name. Pray for Zafar, who has been in prison since 2012, that he will not lose hope. Pray also for the courageous Zafar Bhatti is a Pakistani Christian accused of sending blasphemous text messages about Muhammad from a mobile phone, was given a life sentence on May 3. There Christian legal team representing him, asking the Lord to protect them and grant them favour as they take his case to a higher court.

So, given a life-sentence, even when there was no concrete evidence as admitted by the judge.  What kind of justice is that?  And why should the lawyers need our prayers?  Are they not doing what they are supposed to?  The issue, of course, is that ordinary Pakistani might attack and kill them because they are defending an alleged Christian “blasphemer!” 

And then there is Aasia Bibi. She has been in a Pakistani prison for eight years. She was a Christian fruit picker, who was falsely accused of blasphemy by her Muslim co-workers after a quarrel djuing whey they rebuked her fron drinking water from the same cup that Muslims used and she said, “I believe I n my religion and in Jesus Christ, who died on the cross for the sins of mankind. What did your Prophet Muhammad ever do to save mankind?”  She was sentenced to death in 2010 and has been appealing against it ever since. Her case has now reached the Supreme Court, the scheduled hearings keep being postponed. In April 2017 her legal request for an “early hearing” by the Supreme Court was rejected. Pray that God will intervene for her and grant her justice and freedom.

This story has been circulating around the world for years. People have prayed and prayed as well as written numerous letters on her behalf, but nothing is moving. If anything is moving, it is in the wrong direction.

Imran Khan, a prominent Pakistani Muslim politician in Pakistan, pledged he would make sure no one misuses the blasphemy law again. In April 2017, a 23-year-old Ahmadiyya student by the name of Mashal Khan was lynched because he allegedly had committed blasphemy. Imran Khan defended him and said that he was “framed and murdered.”  Like Christians in Pakistan, Ahmadiyyas are persecuted and easily accused of blasphemy. Previous politicians who have taken a stance against the blasphemy law have been threatened or assassinated. Pray that all minorities become safe from malicious false accusations.  

In reaction to Mashal’s murder, a Pakistani Mufti called Haneed Qureshi said that Aasia Bib should be hanged immediately, for that would prevent any further mob violence. He said it was because of the repeated delays in implementing Aasia Bib’s death sentence that “people have lost faith in the state, due to the carelessness of the institutions and their criminal silence.”  In other words, if the state delays executing blasphemners, Muslim mobs can hardly be blamed for taking on the job themselves. 

After such shocking stories, does anything more need to be said?  Where are the Canadian and American Pakistanis to defend these victims of intolerance?  Their silence leads to suspicions of approval. Instead, we find Muslims complain about discrimination and prejudice against them and their pure religion.  Muslims, don’t you get it?  Why do people mistrust you?