{"id":680,"date":"2015-04-06T21:45:19","date_gmt":"2015-04-07T01:45:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/?p=680"},"modified":"2015-04-06T21:45:19","modified_gmt":"2015-04-07T01:45:19","slug":"boston-marathon-bombing-trial-tsarnaev-should-not-be-sentenced-to-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/boston-marathon-bombing-trial-tsarnaev-should-not-be-sentenced-to-death\/","title":{"rendered":"Boston Marathon Bombing Trial: Tsarnaev Should Not Be Sentenced To Death"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the Name of God: The Extremely, Eternally, and Perpetually Loving and Merciful<\/em><\/p>\n

The trial of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is set to enter jury deliberations this week<\/a>. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that the jury is going to convict Tsarnaev. This should come as no surprise to anyone. He is clearly guilty. Even his defense attorneys know that. Their main job is to persuade the jury to spare his life.<\/p>\n

Thus, it is my sincere hope and prayer that he be not<\/em> put to death. This is not out of any sort of sympathy for the savage. He deserves to be put to death for the terrible pain and suffering he and his brother caused on that terrible April day two years ago. Yet, that is exactly what Tsarnaev wants: he wants to die as a “martyr.” He said so himself<\/a>:<\/p>\n

As [Tsarnaev] hid, he used a pencil to scrawl what prosecutors called a “manifesto,” in which he said he was jealous of his brother for dying as a martyr and reaching paradise. He also lashed out at the United States for policies he said killed Muslims, writing, “I can’t stand to see such evil go unpunished. We Muslims are one body, you hurt one you hurt us all.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

First of all, he does not speak for me or the billions of other Muslims around the world. We reject his act of savagery in the name of our faith. He is a low-life criminal, thinking that he was doing “God’s will” by killing innocent men, women, and children. In fact, he acted against God’s will. He is no “martyr.” He is a murderer.<\/p>\n

And as such, he should rot in jail for the rest of his life. He should be locked up and never released. He should never know freedom again. This is the best punishment you could give him. Executing him would be easy, and it may give him some amount of joy, in a sick sort of way. Yet, even that small amount of joy should be denied him. He should sit in a jail cell, humiliated, until God’s takes his life at some point in the future. And it will not be long before no one will care about Dzokhar Tsarnaev.<\/p>\n

And after all that time, he will face justice again. This time, however, it will be Ultimate Justice for the crimes he committed. He will stand before the King and Master of the Day of Judgment and account for his murders. He will be asked why he killed children, when God’s word said he could not. He will be asked why he shed the blood of innocent fellow Americans, when God’s word told him that this was forbidden. He will be asked why he felt killing people watching a marathon is “justice” for the injustice dealt to Muslims thousands of miles away.<\/p>\n

And I suspect he will have no good answer.<\/p>\n

It is natural to want to see this savage killed for what he did.\u00a0 Yet, that is what Tsarnaev wants. Thus, we should do the exact opposite: let this “holy warrior” live out the rest of his days in a jail cell. It is a fitting recompense for all the suffering he caused.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the Name of God: The Extremely, Eternally, and Perpetually Loving and Merciful The trial of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is set to enter jury deliberations this week. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that the jury is going to convict Tsarnaev. 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Hassaballa","description":"Hesham A. Hassaballa is a Chicago doctor and writer. He has written extensively on a freelance basis, being published in newspapers across the country and around the world. He has been a Beliefnet columnist since 2001, and has written for the Religion News Service. He is also a columnist for Patheos. His articles have been distributed worldwide by Agence Global, and he was also a guest blogger for The Chicago Tribune and has blogged on ChicagoNow\" . In addition, Dr. Hassaballa has appeared as a guest on WTTW (Channel 11) in Chicago, CNN, Fox News, BBC, and National Public Radio. Dr. Hassaballa is co-author of The Beliefnet Guide to Islam (Doubleday), and his essay, \u201cWhy I Love the Ten Commandments,\u201d was published in the award-winning book Taking Back Islam (Rodale). His latest book, Noble Brother, is the story of the Prophet Muhammad told entirely in poetry, and it is now published in its second edition. In 2007, his blog \"God, Faith, and a Pen\" was nominated for a Brass Crescent Award for a blog that is \u201cthe most stimulating, insightful, and philosophical, providing the best rebuttals to extremist ideology and making an impact whenever they post.\u201d \"God, Faith, and a Pen\" has also received an award for being one of the \"Top Muslim Blogs for 2010\" by Awarding The Web. In addition to writing, Dr. Hassaballa helped found the Chicago Chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations and currently serves on their board of directors. He also co-founded the Bayan H. 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