Muslim student gives life to save others in V Tech killings

Sky News ^ | Friday 20th April 2007 | Sky News

[the scotsman]

A survivor of the Virginia Tech massacre has been describing how a colleague died to protect others. Although badly injured, graduate student Waleed Shalaan distracted gunman Cho Seung-Hui to save another person from his bullets.

Waleed saved another student's life.The surviving student, who wishes to remain anonymous, told of Waleed's heroics through an email to his supervisor.

He describes how he was left uninjured after Cho's initial round of shots.

Meanwhile, Waleed had been wounded but was still alive.

However, when Cho later returned to the classroom to inspect for signs of life among his victims, the surviving student struggled to remain calm.

He believes he would have been shot dead were it not for Waleed's "protective movement" that distracted the gunman.

Cho turned and shot Waleed for a second time, killing him, before leaving the classroom.

Randy Dymond, a civil engineering professor, has said the student asked to him to tell the tale "so that the family of Waleed understands the sacrifice."

Shaalan's mother broke down when she heard Mr Dymond's account.

"He was trying to save someone else," she said repeatedly.

Dymond said Shaalan's body was taken to a Blacksburg mosque so classmates, teachers and friends could say goodbye before he was sent to Egypt for burial.'

[Doogle]

...personally when I think back of all I witnessed when it comes to propaganda...
beheadings
moving dead children for photo opts
burying their own alive
throwing people off of roofs ..note: two story, if they die,oh well...if they suffer immensely from compound fractures...Allah be praised!! (handcuff and shackled)
showing elderly in different locations
using Mosques for ammo dumps
now using chemicals......

yeah I guess I could be a wee bit skeptical

[Clara Lou]

What an attitude. How would you feel if it were your child that he’d saved? (Considerably different, I’d say.)

[olderwiser]

"It seems there are some here who may be ideologically loathe to laud a "heroic Muslim"..." Right. This story comes along, thinly attributed and next to impossible to verify in regard to its claim...but for you, it doesn't smack of propaganda, to the inability of some to accept the genuine act of a heroic Jew. For you, it unmasks all the muslim haters. Hey, you see muslim haters on these threads? Join CAIR.

[F.J. Mitchell]

Yeah, right.

[Clara Lou]

Yep....I just remember....
So, all Muslims are guilty of the acts of one or a few? You have to think so much less if you hold every Muslim as guilty as the most extreme, don't you? Oversimplification is dangerous. You're becoming one of them, not in their faith, but in their heartless outlook.

[olderwiser]

IMO, this story will continue to lack any solid verification as an act of heroism. So what then? What then?

Well, I’ll tell you what then, while I’m at it: this muslim, like most of the others, was a victim. Not a hero.

[Clara Lou]

You’re right, it’s thinly attributed. That was my first thought—but we may not ever know the truth. But do you deny that it’s possible for a Muslim to commit an unselfish act for another person?

[olderwiser]

Of course not. I’m talking abou the specifics of this case, which are thin, and smell of propaganda to satisfy the political nations of libs.

[olderwiser]

nations — meant “notions”.

[F.J. Mitchell]

Tsk! Tsk!

[Jedi Master Pikachu]

Did you read the entire comment, or were you just looking for a point to argue about?

Here's the earlier quote:

" It seems there are some here who may be ideologically loathe to laud a 'heroic Muslim.'

It is debatable whether the movement was deliberately to save the guy's life, but it does seem that many are having a hard time believing that there could be such a thing as a hero who happens to have self-identified as Muslim."

You read the part in bold? That strongly suggests that it could have been propaganda--they sure didn't seem to go into the details. But it does seem that some people here, not necessarily you, are not willing to even allow for such a thing as a "heroic Muslim."

[scan58]

Great point and well said.

[Clara Lou]

Right-o!

[olderwiser]

Yeah, I read the entire comment. You turned legitimate suspicion about the motives behind this story to a commentary about the “many...having a hard time believing a hero who happens to have self-indentified as a muslim”.

You made a wrong turn, imo.

[cgbg]

This German anti-semetism dated back to the 1700's and grew to the point where all Jews were viewed as filthy vermin, which helps explain how a monster like Hitler could come to power and do what he did with the full support of his country. What happened in Germany could happen again to another group of people, even here in the US, as long as there are people like you who allow hate to override their conscience.

First of all, it is happening, again, in Europe, to the Jews. Try to be a Jewish shop-keeper in the Paris suburbs and watch what happens next.

Our government and media has already chosen a group to hate. They are called white males.

I have had several friends from the Middle East, including one from Saudi Arabia. However, they were secular or Christian. The Muslim religion and the Koran do not inspire confidence--that is not prejudice but rather fact imho.

[CAWats]

The fact that this Egyptian student had the balls and the selflessness to save a fellow student at the cost of his own life is something to be lauded and not soon forgotten.

Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.

John 15:13

[Jedi Master Pikachu]

You made a huge misunderstanding--seemingly a DELIBERATE one.

The post was extremely similar to Clara Lou's.

There was NO "turning legitimate suspicion about the motives behind this story to a commentary..... [about freepers who have difficulty reconciling Muslim with hero.]"

On the contrary, the post (and the earlier ones, if you want to look at them, too) CLEARLY state that the gestures could not have been to save the other's life, and that it could be a "conspiracy," or what you dub propaganda.

As for freepers not accepting that there can be such a thing as a "Muslim hero," the evidence is lain out right in front of you in several of the comments on this thread, and several other freepers have also pointed it out (either to you--Clara Lou--or to others). Again, none of the comments states that you held that viewpoint.

If you still don't understand the comment(s) after this explanation, then just ignore them--have repeatedly tried to explain this to you, but you don't seem to be "getting it."

So, for lack of making more headway with you, bye.

[Jedi Master Pikachu]

..... could not have not been.....

[eleni121]

“who wishes to remain anonymous?”

Why on earth why?