A 43-year-old man has been killed outside a Philadelphia mosque in an execution-style shooting that’s been condemned by Pennsylvania’s governor.

Officers found the man, later identified as Raheem Jefferson, unresponsive on the ground with multiple gunshot wounds on Tuesday afternoon, July 30, including at least one to his head and multiple to his torso, according to the Philadelphia Police Department. He was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital shortly afterward.

The killer fired at least 17 shots using a large-caliber semi-automatic weapon, police Chief Inspector Scott Small said a news conference on Wednesday, July 31. Security footage reviewed by police shows Jefferson and another man walking to the Al-Aqsa Islamic Society for prayer service when a suspect approaches from behind before opening fire, Small said.

“It’s all caught on camera,” Scott told reporters. “The shooter stands over the victim from just a few feet away and continues firing shots at this 43-year-old victim while he lays on the parking lot. So clearly, an execution-type homicide.”

No arrests have been made in the case and police haven’t determined a motive but Small said it appears Jefferson was the intended target of the crime.

The shooter was seen getting into a vehicle and fleeing the parking lot while wearing dark-colored clothing, Small said.

A $20,000 reward has been offered for anyone with information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the suspect.

The shooting happened at the Al-Aqsa Islamic Society mosque, established in 1989 in the lower northeast neighborhood of Kensington. Its goal is to “maintain the Islamic Identity and to protect and sustain the Islamic Community in Philadelphia,” according to its website.

Democratic Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro condemned the incident on X and shared his condolences.

“Violence outside of a house of worship is deeply painful and traumatizing for those simply showing up to worship and practice their faith,” Shapiro wrote. “As an investigation into this killing proceeds, I’m praying for Philadelphia’s Al-Aqsa Islamic Society community, a place I’ve been several times, and hoping they find peace in each other and in their faith.”

Source: USA Today

A Study in Ethics and Law

By Mairaj U. Syed

Publisher: Oxford University Press (November 17, 2016)

Series: Oxford Islamic Legal Studies

In Coercion and Responsibility in Islam, Mairaj Syed explores how classical Muslim theologians and jurists from four intellectual traditions argue about the thorny issues that coercion raises about responsibility for one’s action. This is done by assessing four ethical problems: whether the absence of coercion or compulsion is a condition for moral agency; how the law ought to define what is coercive; coercion’s effect on the legal validity of speech acts; and its effects on moral and legal responsibility in the cases of rape and murder.

Through a comparative and historical examination of these ethical problems, the book demonstrates the usefulness of a new model for analyzing ethical thought produced by intellectuals working within traditions in a competitive pluralistic environment. The book compares classical Muslim thought on coercion with that of modern Western thinkers on these issues and finds significant parallels between them. The finding suggests that a fruitful starting point for comparative ethical inquiry, especially inquiry aimed at the discovery of common ground for ethical action, may be found in an examination of how ethicists from different traditions considered concrete problems.

Key Features:

• Aids understanding of the legal and ethical problems involving coercion through the use of hypothetical scenarios
• Compares schools of thoughts, disciplines, and intellectuals from different cultures and times
• Conducts synchronic and diachronic analysis of legal and theological thought
• Offers a new model for how scholars should evaluate ethical thought produced by intellectual traditions in a pluralistic environment

About the Author:

Mairaj U. Syed is an Assistant Professor in the department of religious studies at the University of California, Davis. His research explores the history of Islamic legal and ethical thought, particularly areas dealing with public law, family law, and politics. He is also interested in the development of hadith literature and the social network that transmitted and preserved it in the first 250 years of Islamic history. Syed holds Ph.D. in religion from Princeton University, and a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Texas, Austin.

Table of Contents:

Introduction

1. Compulsion and Moral Agency in Muʿtazilism

2. Coercion and Moral Agency in Ashʿarism

3. Defining Coercion in Ḥanafism

4. Defining Coercion in Shāfiʿism

5. Coerced Speech Act Jurisprudence in Ḥanafism and Shāfiʿism

6. Coerced Harm Jurisprudence in Ḥanafism and Shāfiʿism

Conclusion

Reviews

– “Mairaj Syed’s important work traces accounts of coercion and responsibility in several of the most important Muslim theological and juridical schools. That contribution is impressive enough. Syed ranges more widely, however, proposing that we explain certain features of these differing accounts by way of the factors he calls “constraint” and “contingency”. In addition, Syed opens the door for comparison between Muslim and Anglo-American approaches to his subject. He thus makes contributions to the comparative study of law and ethics, as well as to the history of Muslim tradition. This is a very fine piece of work.” (John Kelsay, Florida State University, USA)

– “Lucid, erudite and highly original, Syed’s book analyses an important, yet hitherto understudied, concept central to the ethical reasoning of classical Islamic thought. It makes a valuable contribution to bridging the divide between the study of jurisprudence and the study of theology, and should be read by those interested in either field.” (Ayman Shihadeh, SOAS, University of London)

Source: Oxford University Press