A newly renovated Muslim-student center at Brandeis University was vandalized last week, The Boston Globe reported. The president of the Muslim Student Association entered the Usdan Student Center to find lamps overturned, appliances unplugged, and a copy of the Koran missing. Dennis Nealon, Brandeis’s spokesman, told the Globe, “We do not believe it is a hate crime, but that assessment will be made during the investigation.”
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14 Responses to Brandeis U. Muslim Center Is Vandalized
mart7624 - March 11, 2010 at 11:56 am
Let’s have a pity party for the muslims at Brandeis. A recent study revealed that two fifths of young muslims would prefer to be governed by sharia law.
amanda_antara - March 11, 2010 at 3:46 pm
Well, it should not be a surprising statistic that Muslims would like to be governed by the law that was divinely created for them. People who educate themselves about Shariah Law before making presumptions about it would know that Shariah Law is not the penal code the media makes it out to be. Rather, it is an entire set of laws meant to guide, protect, and yes provide penalties for wrong doing in every single aspect of life both personal affairs, community relations, and government. However, as Shariah Law dictates also, Muslims must abide by the laws of the land they live in, and if they want to live by Shariah Law they are to migrate to a land in which it is the rule of law. Just as there is no excuse for crimes against African-American, Jewish, gay students, etc. there is no excuse for crimes against Muslims on the sole basis of religion.
11893310 - March 11, 2010 at 4:21 pm
Unacceptable behavior in the supposedly civilized setting of Brandeis University. But, come on! A Muslim center in a Jewish University!? What’s next? Cheeseburgers in the shul? A Nazi memorial in the Yad Vashem?
drhypersonic - March 11, 2010 at 4:43 pm
Now Amanda, this isn’t something to lose your head over, so to speak…
bennettmuraskin - March 11, 2010 at 4:45 pm
How anyone can find the slightest justification for this act of vandalism is frightening. So what if 2/5 of young Muslims prefer to be governed by sharia law, which, as Amanda explains, does not mean they disrespect the law of the land. You might find a similar percentage of young Jews that subscribe to halakha or Jewish law. And how does a Muslim Center in a Jewish University compare to a Nazi memorial in Yad Vashem? That statement is unadulaterated bigotry.
pate1942 - March 11, 2010 at 4:51 pm
What are the chances of the existance of a Jewish Student Association at a Muslim university? How long would Jewish religious practices be tolerated in Iran?
amcneece - March 11, 2010 at 4:53 pm
I agree with Amanda: if they want to be governed by shariah law, they’ve got no business in Massachusetts. Riyadh would be a much more suitable environment….
raza_khan - March 11, 2010 at 5:45 pm
Wow!It is amazing how people, especially educated ones, miss the bigger picture. No matter what a group does, committing a crime is a crime. For one nano-second, forget what Muslims want or what they have done, a mistake to even generalize a whole group by few idiots who go haywire in the name of religion, should the entire group deserved punishment. If that is the case, hypothetically speaking, do I then have a right to kill my child’s murderer in your eyes. That murderer deserves my criminal intent as it is direct relationship with the crime this person has committed.Get the point?It is not about what happens in Riyadh, Jerusalem or in the Vatican. It is about following the laws of the land and be able to trust that the law will take its course to the correct direction of punishment.
cu_alum - March 11, 2010 at 10:23 pm
Brandeis is non-sectarian. A very large proportion of its student body and faculty are Jewish, but that does not make the university itself Jewish. From its beginings Brandeis has had Jewish, Christian and Muslim houses of worship on campus arranges so that none of them is more or less prominent than the others. The university values religious inclusiveness and harmony. The values which some of the prior comments try to project upon Brandeis are ones the actual university emphatically rejects.
ray31 - March 12, 2010 at 1:23 am
Not the first and definitely not the last time an organization or place gets vandalized in Massachusetts. This is not unique to places of worship.”If that is the case, hypothetically speaking, do I then have a right to kill my child’s murderer in your eyes. That murderer deserves my criminal intent as it is direct relationship with the crime this person has committed.” There was no murder in this incendent. “However, as Shariah Law dictates also, Muslims must abide by the laws of the land they live in, and if they want to live by Shariah Law they are to migrate to a land in which it is the rule of law. ” If you want to live according to sharia law, you are welcomed to move to a country that abides by it.
dialecticon - March 12, 2010 at 5:33 am
Pate942, there are Jewish communities in Iran. I am Jewish.
mcneece - March 12, 2010 at 11:18 am
Pate942, And the US pretends, at least, to abide by democratic ideals, such as that of tolerance — the analogy is hardly appropriate. Your very selective ignorance is bliss, it seems.
jhadams - March 12, 2010 at 5:33 pm
It’s interesting that everyone posting here appears to assume that the vandalism was aimed specifically at Muslims as Muslims by a non-Muslim — in other words, it was a hate crime. It’s also possible that a disgruntled Muslim did the deed for reasons that had nothing to do with bigotry.
jaysanderson - March 13, 2010 at 12:45 am
How is a lamp turned over and a copy of the koran missing newsworthy at the national level? Sure, it was illegal activity, but it was misdemeanor-level crime, after all. What’s next–a “muslim student receives parking ticket-racial hatred on campus!” Not much here, guys.