Posted on 10/08/2005 4:03:10 AM PDT by LibertyRocks
Muslim communities fear association with bomber
The Norman Transcript
Invites public to mosque for Ramadan
By Carol Cole
Transcript Staff Writer
Distorted media stories have city and student Muslim communities on edge, after it was revealed that bomber Joel "Joe" Henry Hinrichs roomed with a Muslim student at the Parkview apartments near the University of Oklahoma campus.
However, the FBI has found no connection between the 21-year-old engineering major, who died from an explosion at about 7:30 p.m. Saturday about 100 yards outside OU's Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium packed with more than 84,000 fans, and the Muslim community, other than other than Hinrichs' rooming with OU finance major Fazal M. Cheema from Pakistan.
And Hinrichs apparently never visited the Masjid An-Nur Islamic mosque that has served the Muslim community at 1304 George Avenue since 1978.
"He had never been to our mosque and he's not associated with our mosque in any way, shape or form," said 44-year-old Mohamed Farid Elyazgi, who has lived in Norman with his family since 1985. "We had never seen him until we saw his picture in the media."
Elyazgi emphasized that Islam forbids suicide and Muslims condemn all acts of violence.
He said many area Muslims have become concerned about television stations filming stories about the bombing in front of the mosque and its sign, fearing it could fan fear and perhaps violence against Muslims or associate the incident with the Islamic Society of Norman.
The community is mindful of what happened after the 1995 Murrah Building bombing, when it was thought there could be Middle Eastern involvement, spurred on by some Oklahoma City stations.
"(There were) a lot of Muslims who got harassed and some hate crimes against them," Elyazgi said, remembering that Stillwater's mosque was shot at.
The Oklahoma City bomb- ers turned out to be homegrown in the form of Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols.
OU President David Boren warned against jumping to conclusions in an e-mail that went out to students, faculty and staff Thursday.
"To rush to judge others or make assumptions about them on that basis is nothing short of prejudice," wrote Boren, emphasizing the campus' low crime rate. "It has no place in America and it certainly has no place at the University of Oklahoma."
Elyazgi is especially concerned because two of his six children attend the University of Oklahoma.
"I think the concern right now is because some of the Muslim women, they wear their scarfs and they become a target for everyone to identify them," he said.
When he first heard the news about the bomb, it sent chills and a silent prayer through him.
"To be honest, when I heard about the bombing and that it was a suicide bomb, I just prayed to God that no one was hurt and I hoped that no Muslims were connected to that because we don't need that here," Elyazgi said.
After 9/11, emotions were high and Elyazgi kept his children at home for several days.
"Because you never know how people are going to react," he said. "We're just asking people to be understanding as usual. There was a big difference in how Oklahomans reacted to 9/11 than the way they reacted to the 1995 bombing.
"We are part of society here and we know that one of the things great about America is the diversity in America and the acceptance of different people from different places. They come together and they live in peace. We'd like to see our country prosper."
Elyazgi said they want to invite people to the mosque to see Muslim culture for themselves, with today being the third day of their holy month Ramadan.
"Anybody is welcome to come and eat with us and we welcome them to the mosque," he said.
There are special night prayers and dinners as Muslims break their all-day fast from dawn to sunset.
"So anybody who would like to see what we are all about and how we live and how we try to uplift our souls in this holy month of ours and try to share the hunger and the thirst of others," Elyazgi said. "It's just a beautiful atmosphere. I wish you would come and join us and how we are very peaceful and caring about each other."
Carol Cole 366-3538 ccole@normantranscript.com
Whoops, sorry, mtbopfuyn, that should have been addressed to SerpentDove.
Here's the OU Parkview Apartments website.
http://www.housing.ou.edu/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=29&Itemid=190
The Flying Monkey Express is busy. Do not feed the trolls.
Not according to the following - "Norman, Oklahoma, feed store owner Dustin Ellison's Sept. 28 encounter with University of Oklahoma suicide bomber Joel Henry Hinrichs was witnessed by a plain-clothes police officer who happened to be in the store at the time"
Which leads back to my previous observation of why there just happened to be an undercover cop in the feed store at that opportune time. And also, why did there just happen to be extra security at that particular football game.
http://tapscottscopydesk.blogspot.com/2005/10/hinrichs-was-known-to-law-enforcement.html
Yep, no one ever saw him anywhere around the mosque despite him having to walk past it as well as the Muslim student center every day going from his university owned apartment to class.
I've also posted the detonation could have come from a second source. "They" were watching him try unsuccessfully to enter the stadium. There was another bomb planted near the stadium that LE later found. The bus driver said he was bent over doing something with his backpack. What if the "they" thought since he couldn't get into the stadium he was giving up and was taking apart the bomb so hit their button.
I just got through speaking via email with Mark Tapscott. He has requested I post a link to his most recent blog entry here at FreeRepublic. It is an Open Letter to OU President Boren...
DEAR PRESIDENT BOREN: What Did You Know About Joel Henry Hinrichs and When Did You Know It?
http://tapscottscopydesk.blogspot.com/2005/10/dear-president-boren-what-did-you-know.html
A hearty Freeper THANK YOU! to Mark for keeping the pressure on for the facts to be reported!
Nice car considering he lived in one of the cheaper university owned apartments. Rent around $500/mo (bills inclusive) divided by 2 roomates = $250. There has also been mention of about 3 middle-eastern looking roomies bringing the rent down even more. The link to these diversified (university site description) apartments are in a recent post on this thread.
Point and counterpoint!
Nick Berg was too far out there, took too many risks, ran his mouth, wasn't cautious, etc. His own father stated on national tv the terrorists killed their best friend. Can't bring it all down to a nutshell so check out the many threads on Berg for more specific reasons.
I could only speculate. I know that Berg roamed freely around Iraq, and went to spend time with his "uncle" there.
And that he just happened to "bump into" Zacharias Moussoui on the way to Norman, and loaned him his laptop.
One possibility that Berg was beheaded is that he was a useful idiot, and when the need arose for a propaganda video, the useful idiot came in handy.
But the Norman/Moussoui/Iraq evidence can't be dismissed as coincidence, IMHO.
Pretty funny. Although if you are trying to dismiss the similarity between the men who in fact both spent time among Islamists in Norman, Oklahoma, and both died in an Islamic fashion, you failed miserably.
Also, if you want to address me, it always helps to put my name in the address box.
It seems it's very important to some Freepers to obfuscate any links there might be between the OU bombing and Islamists. Are they simply skeptics, playing devil's advocate, or...?
Yup. Wonder what they were doing all this past week that they didn't show up till now. Maybe they were being questioned by the FBI and were just released. ;)
I know a former Iranian, who hates the Islamic religion. He left Iran when he was ten and ran away from his parents two years later while in the United States.
Twenty years have passed since. He is a normal, well adjusted American now (in fact, you could easily mistake him for a Mexican or Italian-American cowboy). He tells me to never trust Muslims or anything they say. He still doesn't even talk to his own family.
become very quiet, gone off the streets, no lids playing in the common area's.
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