| Statement by Imam Salahuddin Hasan |
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My name is Salahuddin Hasan. For some 14 years I served as Resident Imam of the Muslim Masjid in Statesville, N.C. My wife Linda and I are the parents of six children. We raised our children as Muslim. Our oldest son Tarik volunteered his service to the U.S. Navy upon graduating from high school. Tarik, from an early age around seven or eight years old, began making his five time daily prayers. As a young boy he began fasting the thirty days during the month of Ramadan. He fasted every year and gave in charity from his small allowance.
When Tarik was deployed to the Pershing Gulf during the first months of this Iraq war, his job was loading bombs onto planes. He called me once quite upset over the fact that bombs which he was to help load onto the fighter planes were painted with insults to his Islamic faith and Prophet Muhammad. This made his job of loading these bombs very difficult and very dissatisfying to say the least. He called me and expressed that he wanted to refuse to handle those bombs that blasphemed his faith. I advised him that those were just words and no bomb could harm God or make little the influence of our Prophet Muhammad. I told him he was not harming Muslims but helping to dispel evil. I also reminded him he had given his word and his government was depending on him. He worked on.
We received a letter from his commanding officer sometimes later praising his work and dependability. The letter said he would like to have more men like Tarik in the U.S. Navy.
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