Osama bin Laden

by Michael

Since President Obama made the announcement that Osama Bin Laden was killed I have been in a funk that I didn't understand. Watching Americans celebrate was almost intolerable. Then I came across these two articles...one from a Muslim point of view...the other Christian......and although I am neither Muslim nor Christian, they helped me understand what I have been feeling. If any of you are having trouble with this matter, I hope you find some relief in this reading.....

Mustafaa Carroll offers a Muslim perspective on the death of terrorist leader Osama bin Laden.

Osama bin Laden’s death brings relief to the Muslim community and further inspires people of all faiths to fight hate, but people shouldn’t be so quick to do all-out celebrations or condemn the leader to hell, according to Mustafaa Caroll, the director of the Houston chapter of the Council on American-Islamic relations. 

I chatted with Carroll this morning, the day after President Barack Obama announced U.S. forces had killed the al-Qaida head.

What was your initial reaction to the news Osama bin Laden had died?

I was praying that it would bring closure to the families who had family members killed on 9/11. He has served as a pinnacle of terrorism, and I’m relieved that the threat of his leadership is gone.

Would you say bin Laden was to blame for the current status of Muslims in America?

He has a part in it. I can’t say Osama bin Laden created discrimination and hatred against Muslims, but what he did didn’t help.

We all have the responsibility to fight hate. I put the ownership on all of us to join together against this because it’s been going on in different religious groups in this country…. Terrorism doesn’t discriminate. The bombs didn’t just kill one group of people. They killed all of us.

From a Muslim perspective, what’s the fate of bin Laden, in terms of punishment or salvation? Gov. Mike Huckabee, for example, said, “Welcome to hell, bin Laden.”

Bin Laden, just like any other person, is under God’s grace. He might be punished, but there is not some eternal hell. We don’t know what his penance will be. Our Quran says if you kill one innocent soul, you kill all of mankind and if you save one soul, you save all of mankind. There is no sense of a “forever hell” for anybody. We need to remember that God is merciful.

Reports say that he’s been buried at sea. In terms of Islamic burial code, does that raise concerns? Or because he was who he was, does it even matter?

Even though he did disobey God, his body didn’t. We are commanded to be a certain way, and it appears to be a violation (of Islamic law). He should be buried like any other Muslim. We should not treat him differently because his judgment is not up to us now. I’m not an Islamic scholar, so I don’t know if there are exceptions, but that’s my gut reaction. We should always follow our own edicts.

There has been some hesitancy from people of faith to celebrate bin Laden’s death because he was killed and killed in a pretty violent way. As a Muslim, what do you think?

I don’t celebrate anybody’s death. I don’t believe that’s a Muslim edict. We are thankful that whatever pain has been relieved, that it brings resolution and closure.

I think it’s premature to even celebrate… we have to look at the situation that helped created and deify (bin Laden). Osama bin Laden represents a tragedy to this world. I am sick of people fighting and dying and claiming to be right. We need to listen to our better angels and go to our holy books – the Torah, the Quran, the Bible—what do they say is right?

The Christian Perspective   

Other than Hamas, I haven’t seen anyone claiming that the successful U.S. plot to kill Osama bin Laden was a bad thing, but it remains a complex issue.

The reaction to bin Laden’s death has been the cathartic release that the country needed after the deadly 9/11 attacks, some scholars say.

“The U.S. has lived under this cloud for over a decade, so it’s an opportunity for people to feel like the U.S. got its revenge to some extent,” said Leonard Steinhorn, an expert on politics and pop culture at American University.

The end of bin Laden is more like the end of World War II or the fall of the Berlin Wall, so “to be taken solely as a murder without the context of war” would be misleading, Steinhorn said. Still, the idea of celebrating a person’s death so publicly and cavalierly has moral implications that cut across religious lines.

“Regardless of what our foe deserved, our revelry in such base things harms ourselves – harms our own humanity and empathy, and that will have wider effects on ourselves and our community than intended,” wrote Houston Humanist minister D.T. Strain in his blog. “This is why we no longer drag murderers through the streets or hang them in public exhibitions – because of the kind of people that makes us.”

For Christians, though, it’s not just about avoiding this kind of celebration… the ask is something much greater: Love your enemies.

“Christians, regardless of what they feel, are called to love Mr. bin Laden and that means we pray for him, we pray for his family and we pray for the people he has deeply hurt,” said Robert Kruschwitz, director of Baylor University's Center for Christian Ethics. 

That’s right, love the murder-espousing, America-hating, disgusting, horrible terrorist that was responsible for the deaths of thousands.

Love him. Want the best for him. I doubt many humanists/agnostics/atheists would go that far. (And why would they? Outside of Christianity, it doesn’t make sense.) **(see footnote)

“True Christian life, to live it out, it’s not easy. In the Beatitudes, Jesus said, ‘You have heard it said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, but I say turn the other cheek….’ He upped the ante,” said the Rev. Mike Buentello, at the University of St. Thomas in Houston.

It can be a difficult position for people of faith, but part of the reality of living in a world where hateful people gain power and influence, not only people like Osama bin Laden, but also Adoph Hitler (who was announced dead on the same day, May 1, in 1945), Joseph Stalin, Timothy McVeigh, Anwar al-Awlaki and others.

“This is not a unique situation. There have been other masterminds. As persons of faith, we have to deal with the presence of evil in this world,” said Buentello. “It’s an ongoing battle for our souls. That’s why the Vatican statement said we all have a serious responsibility for what we do in this life.”

**yes it does......I think human compassion and knowing the difference between right and wrong transcends religion......I am just saying that this is the first thing I have read to help me with my own perspective......and naturally there will be insults on the radical Christian side of most things. Mike Huckabee can't even get his own religion right....and this article wants to insult humanists/agnostics/atheists....... baloney! Michael