An Asian couple murdered their teenage daughter Shafilea Ahmed because they believed her westernised behaviour was bringing shame upon their family, a court heard.
Shafilea, 17, had resisted plans for an arranged marriage and tried to go on dates with young men. Her Pakistani-born parents, Iftikhar Ahmed, 52, and Farzana, 49, had spent a year trying to “crush” their daughter’s will. When on September 11, 2003 the couple realised they would never succeed they murdered her at the family home in Warrington, Cheshire. Andrew Edis, QC, prosecuting, told a jury at Chester Crown Court: “They finally killed her because she had dishonoured the family and brought shame on them. “They had despaired of her ever becoming a daughter they could ever be proud of”.
Shafilea’s badly-decomposed body was found nearly five months later beside a river in the Lake District. Mr Edis said police carried out a lengthy investigation but failed to solve the mystery of her death. However, in August 2010, Shafilea’s younger sister, Rukish, claimed she had been a witness to the killing. It was, said Mr Edis, the final piece in the puzzle. Rukish, who has since changed her name to Alesha, originally made the allegation to friends shortly after her sister’s disappearance.
But she then retracted the claim and would not repeat it for another seven years.
Now the shame will know no bounds, what a terrible approach! As they thought of values of modesty and chastity, why did they not think of how Islam and the Holy Quran looks at murder. They perpetrated a genocide or a holocaust, in a manner of speaking.
It would have been better for the family to fear God instead of fearing the disapproval of their community. Nowhere does it say in the Quran that you should murder someone for indecency. In fact, it gives practical guidelines in Chapter 64, verses 15-19:
“O ye who believe! surely among your wives and your children are some that are really your enemies, so beware of them. And if you overlook and forgive and pardon, then surely, Allah is Most Forgiving, Merciful.
Verily, your wealth and your children are a trial; but with Allah is an immense reward.
So fear Allah as best you can, and listen, and obey, and spend in His cause; it will be good for yourselves. And whoso is rid of the covetousness of his own soul — it is such who shall be successful.
If you lend to Allah a good loan, He will multiply it for you, and will forgive you; and Allah is Most Appreciating, Forbearing,
The Knower of the unseen and the seen, the Mighty, the Wise.”
These people are not Arab but, Pakistani.