What Muzzammil Hassan has done to his wife is reprehensible, sick and horrendous. But I would not be so quick to label this murder an honor killing. What is an honor killing anyway?  I would not be so quick to conclude that Islam or even Pakistani culture has anything to do with what this man has done. Perhaps he got in a fight with his wife and decided to kill his her then and there.  In America, this is murder, plain and simple.  So let us not blame the murderer’s or the victim’s culture or religion without knowing the facts behind this terrible killing. We should blame the murderer himself, who like other murderers  before him, have put aside all religious and ethical values in committing his crime.

All I can say is Inna lillah wa inna ilayhi rajiun “We come from God and to God we shall return.”

According to National Women Abuse Prevention Project,  34% percent of the women homicide victims over age 15 are killed by their husbands, ex-husbands or boyfriends.

Below are some more interesting statistics that put this case into perspective

The National Crime Victimization Survey found that in 2005:

• Intimate partner violence occurs across all populations, irrespective of social, economic, religious or cultural group. Young women and those below the poverty line are disproportionately affected.

• Nearly 5.3 million intimate partner victimizations occur each year among U.S. women ages 18 and older. This violence results in nearly 2 million injuries and 1,300 deaths.

• 44% of women murdered by their intimate partner had visited an emergency department within two years of the homicide. Of these women, 93% had at least one injury visit.

• Seventy-four percent of all murder-suicides involved an intimate partner. Of these, 96% were females killed by their intimate partners and 75% of those incidents occurred in the home.