Excerpt:
MISSISSAUGA - Muslim leaders yesterday denounced as un-Islamic the murder of a Toronto-area teenager who had clashed with her family, but said some parents would view themselves as having failed in their duty if their child chose not to wear the hijab.
The comments came at a tense news conference at the Islamic Society of North America Canada headquarters in Mississauga, held three days after the alleged strangling death of 16-year-old Aqsa Parvez. Her father, Mohammad Parvez, is accused of killing her, and friends say the family had argued over the girl's refusal to wear the hijab, or traditional Muslim head scarf.
While stressing the sanctity of human life, denouncing the crime and describing it as a case of domestic abuse, religious leaders yesterday insisted on the hijab's importance to such parents as Aqsa's, even if a daughter rejects it.
"They were believing that part of their culture was hijab, and it is their duty to convince their kids that this is part of their culture," said Mohammad Alnadvi, who sits on the Canadian Council of Imams.
"So if the daughter makes the decision, then they have failed," he said.