MISSISSAUGA - Muslim leaders yesterday denounced as un-Islamic the murder of a Toronto-area teenager who had clashed with her family, but said some parents would view themselves as having failed in their duty if their child chose not to wear the hijab.
The comments came at a tense news conference at the Islamic Society of North America Canada headquarters in Mississauga, held three days after the alleged strangling death of 16-year-old Aqsa Parvez. Her father, Mohammad Parvez, is accused of killing her, and friends say the family had argued over the girl’s refusal to wear the hijab, or traditional Muslim head scarf.
While stressing the sanctity of human life, denouncing the crime and describing it as a case of domestic abuse, religious leaders yesterday insisted on the hijab’s importance to such parents as Aqsa’s, even if a daughter rejects it.
“They were believing that part of their culture was hijab, and it is their duty to convince their kids that this is part of their culture,” said Mohammad Alnadvi, who sits on the Canadian Council of Imams.
“So if the daughter makes the decision, then they have failed,” he said.
Still, Imam Alnadvi said that judging from the information he received, the hijab was only one of the issues.
“This girl, she refused to stay at home,” he said. “There were feelings that she is going in some wrong direction … going with some other boy or some other thing.”
After he made those comments, two women in hijabs interrupted him and started to disagree, before abruptly leaving the gym where the conference was being held.
In an interview afterward, the women -- a mother and daughter -- said they had taken Aqsa into their home on various occasions, but would not say any more.
The convener of the event, Sheikh Alaa Elsayed, said that one of the keys to getting daughters to wear the hijab is teaching them about religion at a young age. The other, he said, is “a proper spouse.”
In his introductory remarks filled with religious references, Arabic flourishes and abundant blessings, Sheik Elsayed stressed that parents should teach the benefits of the religious clothing.
“We have to be successful teachers,” he said, adding later in the dialogue that parents should encourage daughters “to do the right thing.”
Still, he said, words and deeds are more important than clothing.
Citing the Koran, Sheik Elsayed said it is forbidden to hit anyone, adding that taking away a human life is an act against all humanity.
“No religion condones such an act,” he said.
He also spoke out against moving away from religion. “We cannot let culture supersede religion,” he said.
“If we stay away from the teachings of Islam, we will pay for it.”
After the meeting, several Muslims had conflicted feelings about the message given to the media.
“I don’t know how important the hijab is,” said the centre’s director, M.D. Khalid.
“My wife didn’t wear it until we had children, and then they went to Islamic school and she felt she should set a role in the family.”
Aqsa’s brother, Mohammad Shan Parvez, told reporters on Wednesday that what happened to his sister “is not [about] culture.” He said his mother was sick with grief.
“She cannot control, because her daughter died, so she’s [feeling] bad,” said Mr. Parvez, shortly after he saw his 57-year-old father make a brief court appearance in an orange prison jumpsuit. Another brother has been charged with obstructing police in their investigation.
Joseph Ciraco, lawyer for the father, said on Wednesday that family members “are torn.” “I mean, you’ve got a sister that’s gone and
your father and brother are in jail. I don’t think it’s a big surprise that they’re distraught and trying to cope as best they can.”
Police have not speculated on a motive for the killing, but indicated on Wednesday that the girl died of a “neck compression.”
Police were called to Mr. Parvez’s Mississauga, Ont., home minutes before 8 a.m. on Monday by a man who told 911 operators he had killed his daughter. Paramedics found the girl lying motionless on the floor of her bedroom. The paramedics detected a faint pulse and rushed her to hospital, where she died several hours later.
Friends have said Aqsa left her home about a week before the attack because she had been fighting with her father and brothers about her refusal to wear the hijab and other traditional clothing. The teenager often would change into Western clothes when she got to her high school, then put the hijab back on before she went home, friends said.
Investigators later charged her father, a taxicab driver from Pakistan, with murder. Mr. Ciraco said his client likely will face a charge of second-degree murder, although that has not been finalized.