Headscarf Day in Honor of Murder of Alia Ansari & An Obituary by our beloved Imam Zaid Shakir
Earlier this week, I wrote about the tragic killing of Alia Ansari, an Afghan mother of 6 from the Fremont Area. Thus far, it seems like that this was no more than a horrific hate crime.
Imam Zaid Shakir (May Allah 
reward & increase him) has recently written a touching obituary on Mrs. Ansari: Defender of the Flag: In Memory of Alia Ansari.
As a pious Muslim woman, she never left home without her hijab, the traditional head scarf worn by Muslim women. She was proud of her hijab. In the aftermath of the attacks of September 11, 2001, some of her friends and relatives, afraid of reprisal attacks, took off their hijabs. Alia encouraged them not to compromise their religion, especially when they had nothing to do with those crimes. As for herself, she told them that she would never take off her hijab, even if someone put a gun to her head demanding that she do so. Alia said that her hijab was her flag. She could not have known as she began the fateful walk to her children’s school last Thursday that her path would cross that of a lone gunman who in a single act of mindless violence would bring a close to a life of dedication and service. … She could not have known that she would soon die defending her flag.
And in response to this heinous act, “Many Fremont women are planning to wear the Muslim headscarf, or hijab to work next month“. Women community leaders have designated November 13th, “Wear Hijab to Work Day“.
Subhanallah, its very comforting to know that our non-Muslim neighbors have stepped up in response to this tragedy to show their solidarity with our late sister.
In light of such a crazy world filled with so much hate, this news is very inspiring. It serves as a reminder that there are good people out there. And for my international readers, I would like to point out that this is truly what America is all about. Citizens courageously supporting one another, especially in light of tragedies. Despite all that our government has been doing internationally (and even domestically) as of late, the overwhelming majority of Americans really are good people. The rising surge of hate crimes and anti-Muslim rhetoric in the news really does not reflect America any more than violent Islamist rhetoric, or even actions, reflect Islam.
“…one of the things that we can do as a community is to make sure that different women and diverse cultures are comfortable in any clothing that they chose to wear and that is what this day is for,” said Fremont City Councilwoman Anu Natarajan.
Source: Headscarf Day in Honor of Murdered Fremont Woman
FREMONT, Calif. (KCBS) — Many Fremont women are planning to wear the Muslim headscarf, or hijab to work next month to show their sense of solidarity with a local Muslim woman gunned down last week.
Alia Ansari, 37, was shot and killed in broad daylight last Thursday afternoon. She was walking with her 3-year-old daughter to pick up her other children from school. Her family has asked police to investigate the murder as a hate crime. They believe her traditional headscarf, or hijab, made the Afghanistan native a target.
Women leaders in the community decided to organize an event to show their support. November 13th has been declared “Wear a Hijab to Work Day.”
“I’m not going to say that this is a hate crime until the police come back and tell us what it is, but one of the things that we can do as a community is to make sure that different women and diverse cultures are comfortable in any clothing that they chose to wear and that is what this day is for,” said Fremont City Councilwoman Anu Natarajan.
KCBS’ Matt Bigler reports that police are still determining if the shooting was a hate crime. The “person of interest” arrested in the case has not yet been charged. He is being held on a parole violation.
Meanwhile, investigators are trying to determine if graffiti near the crime scene is related to the murder. At least five places have been tagged, and four include the acronyms for Afghan gangs.
Greg Roth, the pastor at Centerville Presbyterian Church on Central Avenue, discovered Ansari’s name and the letters “R.I.P.” spray painted on the church when he arrived for Sunday services.
“Usually we would paint graffiti out immediately to try to discourage people from doing that, but we were going to leave it for at least a week and show our compassion for the community and our outrage at this event,” Roth told KCBS reporter Dave Padilla.
wow! among all this dark black bloody hate in the world one almost forgets there are caring loving empathetic people in it
this is very uplifting and relieving
the world will definitely learn a lot
Wery wery nice, masha’Allah
!
grant her the highest rank of jannah!
That shows what kind of impact Sr. Alia and the local Muslim community have on even non-Muslims. May Allah
[...] Non-Muslim women in Fremont, California have designated Nov. 13 as “Wear Hijad to Work Day” in solidarity with Alia Ansari. This reminds how compassionate people can be despite the haters out there. Thanks Haseeb bhai [...]
Oh, and I think guys should wear kufi… :dizzy:
I think this is extremely premature. Nobody has been arrested in relation to this crime and there is no evidence that this was a hate crime.
Nobody sponsored a “Wear a Yarmulke Day” after a psychopath stormed into the Jewish Building in Seattle a few months ago screaming “I’m a Muslim-American and I’m mad at Israel.”
Now that was a cut-and-dry hate crime by his own admission.
Here we have no evidence whatsoever, but we’re already sponsoring an event assuming that this is an open-and-shut case.
wow, it goes to show you how dumb some people are. Someone spraypainted the afghan flag on a church…like its THEIR FAULT! Go after the person who did the act. And also go after the spray painter. The two animals can meet each other in the pen.
Wipe the foam of your mouth David, an arrest has been made and it has been made and all leads point to a hate crime. You jewish degenerates make me sick trying to minimize this tragedy.
Insha’Allah
, the Alhambra Productions staff and myself will be attending the Janaza for Sister Alia Ansari tomorrow. Imam Zaid’s wife personally called us to double check that we knew of this important gathering, may Allah 
s.w.t. reward Umm Hassan with abundant blessings. We will also be at the Evening of Remembrance gathering at Zaytuna on Saturday, God willing. Please remember us in your prayers!
Well, I personally think it’s nice that people are showing a commitment to be tolerant.
Unfortunately, from the tone of The Mac’s comment, it seems as though despite this good gesture, we are guilty of being intolerant ourselves. Jewish degenerate? Wow, that’s sweet.
Even if David doesn’t agree with this, he has the complete right to assert his opinion. Though I am unaware of the event he is talking about, I am gathering that no one was killed there. Which makes the two scenarios different anyhow. But to resort to name calling is petty and not useful. Sad. It’s intolerant comments like this that people will constantly point to when they say Muslims are intolerant. The Prophet*** was not a racist, nor should we be.
May Allah
forgive me for what I said that was wrong.
Imam Zaid’s article is very touching. The way her family is handling the situation is very inspiring. May Allah
(swt) make easier their affairs, Ameen.
Oh please Munzareen, the one who was being disrespectful was David with his “whats the big deal” attitude. Thats not only intolerant but also minimizing the tragedy, and I firmly believe his jewish extremism is the reason for his hatred. You and him can lecture me when I go around telling jews “who cares” everytime they lose a loved one.
That woman was a mujahida, may Allah
reward her and her family.
I would like to know if we can organize a rally/vigil in honor of Sister Alia. I am forwarding the announcement of the Hijab day, but feel this is more for non-Muslims. I’d like to see solidarity amongst the Muslim communities, insha Allah
.
salaam,
haven’t commented here for quite some time now. i pray that all are well.
i’m going to stand with David and Munzareen here. Haseeb, i would even go so far as to suggest removing The Mac’s belligerent comments. i don’t think we should allow hatefulness on our blogs. but that’s your judgement call, of course.
whether or not we agree with David, clearly there is room to tolerate where he’s coming from. though we instinctively sense a hate crime, some may not be so certain that it was one. it certainly is not clear for the police as of yet. and it’s good that the police aren’t going on hunches but doing the investigative legwork. it’s part of what you should be proud of as americans.
even if David is way out of line, can we lose the immature racist remarks?
i pray that this crazy world settles down and comes to its senses.
So Buckminister abbey you support censorship when a comment is not to your liking eh? David is a Muslim hating jewish extremist and I fully stand behind my comments against him and all those dismissing the death of Mrs Ansari as a hate crime. Where did you determine that her death wasn’t a hate crime? Now unless you have some information on this case don’t second guess what her family has said. Take the condescending tish tosh act elsewhere.
on the question of censorship: i have no problem if a blogger chooses to censor his/her comments sections. after all, s/he didn’t have to allow comments in the first place.
this would especially be the case if the censorship was done to promote meaningful dialogue rather than to curb it. and ultimately that would be the blogger’s call to make. on that note, many bloggers have written rules of engagement or codes of conduct, which in a sense provides an “objective” framework for censorship.
and don’t be confused: i don’t think anyone is saying it wasn’t a hate crime. David said the action is premature, not erroneous, meaning it is coming before a judgment of whether or not the crime was a hate crime. some, like Fremont City Councilwoman Anu Natarajan, are choosing to wait to hear what the police have to say.
by the way, i don’t think that Wear a Hijab to Work Day is premature. as Natarajan puts it, the day is “to make sure that different women and diverse cultures are comfortable in any clothing that they chose to wear.” Wear a Hijab to Work Day is an act of solidarity with Muslims who are fearing for their safety. in other words, Muslim women should know, whether or not this murder was a hate crime, that Americans support their right to wear the Hijab and be safe in doing so.
Salams
please lets not get caught up with the muslim hating Jew, david, this is how it all starts with the yahood, whether it be in america, or falasteen, lets be united as one ummah!
jazaks
salaam,
i hope everyone is doing well. i think what happened to mrs. ansari is very sad. may Allah
bless her family and grant her paradise. as for the rude comments that iv’e been reading. muslims dont hate jew but just the fact that jews hate and kill muslims. if they’d stop doing that then there would be no hate. and not all muslims are the same. so dont get all muslims wrong thats just being plain ignorant. if we all learn to love one another this world would be a better place. but the whole getting along has to start from someone and that someone is you. if you ask me i think mrs. ansari was a hate crime and if someone was to kill a jew out of hatred towards their religion that would be a hate crime aswell. lets all be better people and not hate each other cuz we follow diffrent religions. we are all the same. adam and eves children.
your sister
is nyone els from the uk finding that coverage on the news about such happenings is virtually non existent??
yup, i wouldnt have known about this if it i hadnt of checked here or Zaytuna,and i havent read/heard anything about this in the media over here
This is entirely Random.
Assalamu Alaykum Haseeb and everyone who reads this.
I’m sorry to say that this has nothing to do with this blog. It’s just a question that has been brewing in my mind for a while and since I am busy with school and life and other things I have a hard time researching it.
BEFORE 9-11, what were Muslims so chronically angry and enraged about? I mean specifics. Besides the US’s blind support of Israel. What else? What has made Muslims so generally angry at the U.S.? Please feel free to blast this question or answer it, but please don’t ignore it. Haseeb if you could email me your thoughts at my gmail account that would be well appreciated. Anyone else if Haseeb doesn’t mind, comments here would suffice, or you can leave comments on my blog: http://www.mujahada.blogspot.com/
I hope all is well.
I think David doesn’t get enough love in his life.
Subhan’Allah
…could you imagine after your passing from this world, people having such a response?–a response of love, care, solidarity…not a response just from Muslims but from non-Muslims…the fact that the people loved her so much to come together and do this is a direct manifestation of Allah 
’s, subhana wa ta’ala, love for her.
May Allah
raise her in ranks closer to him in Firdaus.
I have to agree w/david, there is no evidence of a hate crime in the slaying of the young mother. until there is people should not pass it off as one. It only fans the flames. I wish her family peace and that the lowlife killer be brought to justice.
The incident david referred to happened on 7/28/06. The difference being that the seattle gunman left no doubt that it was ahate crime.
One woman was killed in the attack, police said.
Harborview Medical Center spokeswoman Pamela Steele said five victims were taken to the hospital, all women ranging in age from the 20s to the 40s. Each suffered gunshot wounds to the abdomen, knee, groin or arm. Three were in critical condition. Two were in satisfactory condition.
One of the women in satisfactory condition is about 20 weeks pregnant and was shot in the arm. Doctors believe she will be OK.
The gunman, armed with what police said was a large caliber, semi-automatic handgun, forced his way through the security door at the federation after an employee had punched in her security code, Marla Meislin-Dietrich, a database coordinator for the center, told The Associated Press. “He said ‘I am a Muslim American, angry at Israel,’ before opening fire on everyone,” Meislin-Dietrich said. “He was randomly shooting at everyone.”
Slinging more mud on the dead like your buddy David eh Will? Who are you to second guess the Ansari family? She didn’t have any money or purse on her so where do get off disparaging her cause of death? You hateful schmucks have no respect for anyone except for yourselves.
Check this news out, 5 jewish thugs beat up a Pakistani-American. Let me guess it had nothing to do with his religion as they pummeled him shouting “go back to your country, terrorist” right.
http://1010wins.com/pages/120497.php?contentType=4&contentId=235884
All i did was point out the fact that someone was killed in the Seattle thing mentioned by david. And that there was no evidence to indicate the fremont killing was based on Mrs. Ansari’s ethnicity. I deal in facts Mac.
How do you that wil? Do you have any information on the Ansari we don’t all know? You’re in no position to second guess her family are you…You deal in polemicism and hate.
I know you are but what am I?
;( All this hate in the goings back and forth. Only when we rid the hatred from our hearts will the killing finally end. I pray for that day.
I am going to wear the hijab tomorrow to my work. I teach kindergarten in a town about an hour away from where Alia Ansari lives. I am so glad to have an opportunity to share my grief for her family. I never met her, but many of my students’ mothers wear the hijab. When I heard the news it touched my heart.
But here is a question… I am not a muslim. I don’t know if there is a proper way to wear a hijab. I don’t want to offend anyone. I am trying to do this do honor this woman, her children and family and all victims of senseless violence. Please advise on the properly way to wear the scarf…
Thanks,
Heather
hey heather,
there are various ways to wear a hijab, each sister usually has her own unique way of wearing it
. The simplest way i can advise you is to just make sure that your hair/head, neck, and chest is covered. You can get a square scarf, fold it into a triangle and safety pin it in the center. If you want a more in depth explanation feel free to email me back, (heather, check your inbox for my email address).
take care,
Maheen
Thank you Maheen! I don’t want to wear it wrong and offend. I can’t figure out how to get your email, so thank you for the advice.
[...] outs to HAhmed and Shaykh Yasir [...]