16-Year Old Woman Murdered by Father for Refusing Hijab

Ahhh, if I had a nickel for every time someone told me that Muslim women are never forced to wear hijab, they all voluntarily cover themselves that way.  Usually, it's the converts who are so adamant that there is no coercion.

Their assertion was tragically disproved a few days ago in the cosmopolitan, multicultural city of Toronto, Canada.  A young woman in Toronto - not some small village in Iran or Pakistan or Saudi Arabia - was murdered by her father for not wearing hijab.  And her brother apparently helped the father.

"A Canadian teenager who was said to have clashed with her father about whether she should wear a traditional Muslim head scarf died of injuries late on Monday, and her father told police he had killed her."

"Aqsa Parvez, 16, was found without a pulse in her home in the Toronto suburb of Mississauga earlier on Monday. She was resuscitated by paramedics, treated at two hospitals, and later succumbed to her injuries, police said on Tuesday."

"Her father, 57-year-old Muhammad Parvez, has been charged with murder and was remanded back into custody after his first court appearance early on Tuesday."

"...The victim's brother, Waqas Parvez, 26, was arrested and charged with obstructing police."

Aqsa used to wear hijab, but she recently decided not to continue:

"A classmate at Applewood Heights secondary school said Tuesday Aqsa had worn her hijab, the traditional Muslim head scarf, in a variety of ways. Then in September, she started to go bare-headed -- a decision which apparently grated on some members of her family."

A friend recalled Aqsa's fear about being seen without a headscarf:

"Krista Garbutt remembers walking down the street with Ms. Parvez earlier this year, when the two of them spotted Ms. Parvez's brother walking toward them. Panicking, the teenager quickly fumbled for her head scarf, trying to put it on. 'There were times when we'd be walking down the street and she'd see her brother and she wouldn't be wearing her hijab and she'd have to put it on,' Ms. Garbutt said. 'She said, ‘He'll kill me, he'll kill me.' I said, ‘He's not going to kill you,' but she said, ‘Yeah, he will.' And nobody believed it.' "

Very horrible ending for anyone, but especially a young person. Who can imagine a father strangling his own daughter?  Say a prayer for Aqsa's soul. May she rest in peace. 

Comments

[Eman]

im muslim women & im not wearing hijab & no one from my family members asked me to wear it or choose to me what to wear , i think these people are fanatic so dont judge Islam becuse its peasful , fanatic or Mulsilms who really misunderstand the meaning of Islam only do awful things like that.

[miss kelly]

Well, there are an awful lot of Muslims who misunderstand their religion, all around the world.

Muslims like you need to convince Muslims like Muhammad and Warqaz Parvez that Islam really is about being peaceful, not about strangling a young women who wouldn't wear a piece of fabric on her head.

[Dave Lucas]

Islam did NOT kill this girl, no more than Christianity killed Megan Meier!

Keep in mind this is a single instance of a crime. Compare it with the video that pops up now and again of a stalker abducting a young woman who is later found dead. Aqsa Parvez’s death is NOT a normal “islamic event.” I remember a kid in 1st grade whose Christian mother forced him to kneel in rock salt when he was bad until his knees bled. When he was 12 she beat him so badly he lost hearing in one ear. Parents are sometimes overprotective, sometimes STUPID, like the woman who created the phony MySpace page that led to the suicide of Megan Meier. But that’s another story…

http://dave-lucas.blogspot.com/2007/12/double-life-of-aqsa-parvez.html

[elizmr]

Of course Islam did not kill this girl, but a Muslim dad did and adherance to an orthoox Muslim practice was certainly an issue in the relationship between dad and brother and the girl if you read the articles. This fits the pattern of an honor killing. Unfortunately, honor killing is widespread in the muslim world. I'm not saying it is "Islamic" but it is happening to Muslim women and Mulsim and not Muslim feminists and their supporters should speak out against it. http://www.wluml.org/english/index.shtml

[miss kelly]

Dave, nice try by no dice. Islam, a fundamentalist version, unfortunately had everything to do with AQsa's murder. These types of honor killings are prevalent in Muslim communities around the world, in the Middle East and now increasingly in Germany, Holland, France, and Canada. Even the Muslim Canadian Congress has acknowledged that there are elements of radical Islam that lead to these murders.
http://www.muslimcanadiancongress.org/20071212.html

"Canadians are justified in raising concerns as to whether this is a sign of the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in their own backyard....Radical Muslim men consider themselves ultimately responsible for the conduct of the womenfolk. This outlook is rooted in a medieval ethos that treats women as nonpersons, unable to decide for themselves what they should wear, where they must go and what they must accomplish in life. If their conduct is seen as contravening this austere religious outlook, they are invariably subjected to abuse."

"....Muslims need to stand up to this sort of emotional and religious blackmail by imams who spread the competing agendas of Saudi Arabia and Iran into Canada. Young Aqsa Pervez’s death cannot be reversed. But in her memory, we can at least challenge those whose message leads to rage and madness."

If the Canadian Muslim Congress can clearly see the problem and the link to fundamentalist Islam, why can't you?

[Ron]

Of course islam did kill that girl, Only people doing honor killings are muslims. No other religion on earth does thatAnywhere muslims go in the world their is jihadist and terrorist. .