Nabra Hassanen, a 17 year-old girl from Northern Virginia, was killed after a late-night service at the All Dulles Area Muslim Society (ADAMS) Center Mosque during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. She was not far from her mosque when she was abducted, and she was not doing anything out of the ordinary. Maybe this is why it rattled the community like it did. From the outside, this murder sent the Muslim community into a frenzy; it wasn’t very different looking at it from inside.
Hassanen’s death affected the community widely and indiscriminately. According to USA Today, there were an estimated 5,000 attendees at her funeral service at the ADAMS Center. There were additional thousands who were jolted by this incident throughout the Muslim world. As Imam Mohamed Magid of ADAMS spoke to the community, he comforted them. “She was our daughter, she was our sister,” he said. There were additional funeral prayers held for her internationally. At the vigil, the crowd was given a clearer picture of the person we lost. The more we got to know her, the harder it became to accept.
Her classmates at South Lakes High School in the Muslim Students Association (MSA) put together a vigil in her memory. Omer Gorashi was the chief student organizer of this event. “I organized this [vigil], to celebrate her life, not mourn her death,” he said.
The Fairfax County Police Department’s (FCPD) press conference included details about how Nabra was kidnapped and killed. A large group of youngsters gathered at the mosque to decide where to go for a meal. This group was large enough that some of them fit on the sidewalk and few were walking in the street or on bikes. When they were en route, a young man drove up next to the group and exchanged a few words with them. Directly after, he stopped his car on the sidewalk and exited his vehicle with a metal baseball bat. It was at this point that it is believed Nabra fell, while the rest of the group ran. The next day, her body was found in a pond.
Cristina Schonthaler-Rivera is a teacher who attended the vigil. She calls herself a revert to Islam and says that Nabra’s death has reminded her to slow down with her life and prayer. “I am a teacher, I teach my students as well and work with the MSA," she said. “It breaks my heart to put myself in this situation. If this were one of my MSA high school students, I would be just as crushed."
Cristina Schonthaler-Rivera is Muslim and a teacher. She attended the vigil for Nabra Hassanen.
At the vigil, Fairfax County Chief of Police, Colonel Edwin C. Roessler Jr., took a moment to address the crowd. “Let me be clear on the hate crime issue, right now that is a myth on social media,” he said.
It is messages like this that also shake the community to its core. In America, it is a volatile time to be a minority, any kind of minority. Especially if you are visibly a minority. Keep in mind that Hassanen was Black and wearing a hijab. There are many people in this country who have been so conditioned to believe that Muslims and Black people, specifically, are a danger to the world — that it influences how they interact with those types of people. The FCPD should be aware that when a nation inherently believes your life is worth less than theirs, you are more likely to wind up dead when a violent crime is committed against you.
It is clear that FCPD cannot investigate something as a hate crime if they cannot prove it was a hate crime. But, this murder has come to be seen as an attack on her identity, whether it was implicit or explicit. An attendee at the vigil took some time to explain why this is the general mood. Binesh Shah is from the area and says she didn’t think anything of the report that Hassanen was missing until she found out she was killed the next day. “It could have been any one of us, right?…it really hurt me," she said. “My mom wears hijab, and I think about what if she’s walking around in my community and she gets attacked.” Women in hijab have become an easy target, whether we accept that as a community or not.
Binesh Shah was affected by how close to home this brutal crime was and worries about her fellow Muslim women who are visibly Muslim and wear hijab.
We, the Muslim community. We, the community of Northern Virginia. We, the community of ADAMS, lost someone who was a shining star in these dark times. As her friends and loved ones came up to the podium to speak, we learned that she was someone who cared for the people she loved immensely, and wanted to see them smile no matter what was going on in her life. “She was like a big sister to all of us,” one friend said.
It is not just the Muslim community that was moved to action or to tears by Hassanen’s death. Eva Hopkins is a community member of the Reston area. “I’m here in hopes that this will politicize some people who maybe weren’t feeling this way before," she said. “They think it can’t happen here, well it can happen here and it shouldn’t happen here. It shouldn’t happen anywhere.”
Eva Hopkins, a Reston resident, holds a sign while attending the vigil for Nabra Hassanen.
In Islam, there is the belief that if you have taken the life of one person, you have taken the life of all mankind. I truly believe this is the reason why tears flowed heavily for Nabra Hassanen. She was clearly unforgettable to the people she loved, and after attending the vigil, she will be unforgettable to all those who were there.
Zarmeena is a graduate from Virginia Commonwealth University. She studied Broadcast Journalism and Spanish. In her own words, there is nothing more fulfilling than creating compelling and aesthetic content. She enjoys photography, dance, writing, and considers herself an aspiring superhero.