Aasiya Zubair, also known as Aasiya Hassan (June 17, 1972 – February 12, 2009) was married to Muzzammil Hassan, the Pakistani-American founder and ownerAasiya Zubair LinkedIn Profile
/ref> of

Bridges TV Bridges TV was a Muslim television network in the United States. It was originally headquartered in Buffalo, New York. Premiering nationally in November 15, 2004, it was the first American Muslim television network to broadcast in the English lan ...

, the first American

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

English-language

television network A television broadcaster or television network is a telecommunications network for the distribution of television show, television content, where a central operation provides programming to many television stations, pay television providers or ...

.Press Release: Bridges TV Debuts American Muslim Television Network in English Nationwide on November 30, 2004
/ref> In February 2009, she was found dead, beheaded, at the Bridges TV station in

Orchard Park, New York Orchard Park is an incorporated Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in Erie County, New York, United States. It is an outer ring suburb southeast of Buffalo, New York, Buffalo. As of the 2010 United States census, 2010 census, the po ...

after her estranged husband turned himself in to a police station and was charged with

second-degree murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse committed with the necessary intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisdiction. ("The killing of another person without justification or excus ...

Career

Zubair was an

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

by training. Worried by the negative perceptions of Muslims, she "felt there should be an American Muslim media where her kids could grow up feeling really strong about their identity as an American Muslim" and came up with the idea for Bridges TV. She also studied for a

Master of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular ...

State University of New York at Buffalo The State University of New York at Buffalo (commonly referred to as UB, University at Buffalo, and sometimes SUNY Buffalo) is a public research university in Buffalo and Amherst, New York, United States. The university was founded in 1846 a ...

from 2007 to 2009. Zubair was the focus of a cover story in the Vol. 3, Issue 2 (2003) issue of '' Azizah'' Magazine; her face appeared on the cover.

Murder

Muzzamill Hassan lured Zubair to the television studio where they worked together, on February 12, 2009. He attacked her with two

hunting knives A hunting knife is a knife used during hunting for preparing the game to be used as food: skinning the animal and cutting up the meat. It is different from the hunting dagger which was traditionally used to kill wild game. Some hunting knives ...

, stabbing her forty times and finally severing her head. Zubair had filed for

divorce Divorce (also known as dissolution of marriage) is the process of terminating a marriage or marital union. Divorce usually entails the canceling or reorganising of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving the M ...

a week prior to her murder.

Legacy

In addition to her pioneering work as a broadcaster, Zubair is being remembered as a catalyst for heightened awareness of the issue of domestic violence, especially in the North American Muslim community. Wajahat Ali, acclaimed playwright and founder of GoatMilk,GoatMilk.Wordpress.com
/ref> wrote in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' that " e absolute brutality of Aasiya's murder has served as a clarion call to many American Muslims who have passionately responded to the tragedy with a resounding desire to confront this festering calamity."

Imam Imam (; , '; : , ') is an Islamic leadership position. For Sunni Islam, Sunni Muslims, Imam is most commonly used as the title of a prayer leader of a mosque. In this context, imams may lead Salah, Islamic prayers, serve as community leaders, ...

Mohamed Hagmagid Ali, vice-president of The

Islamic Society of North America The Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) is a non-profit Muslim religious organization based in the United States and serving North America. It provides a number of programs and services to North America's Muslim communities and broader societ ...

, stated: "This is a wake up call to all of us, that violence against women is real and can not be ignored. It must be addressed collectively by every member of our community." A nationwide, unified effort entitled "Imams Speak Out: Domestic Violence Will Not Be Tolerated in Our Communities" commenced in February 2009 asking all imams and religious leaders to discuss the Zubair murder, as well as domestic violence, in their weekly sermon on their Friday prayer services. On February 7, 2011, Muzzammil Hassan was found guilty of second degree murder for beheading his wife of eight years, Aasiya Zubair. He was sentenced to 25 years to life imprisonment. He is currently serving time at the

Clinton Correctional Facility Clinton Correctional Facility is a New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision maximum security state prison for men located in the Village of Dannemora, New York. The prison is sometimes colloquially referred to as Danne ...

, Dannemora. In 2012, the first International Purple Hijab Day was celebrated to call attention to

domestic violence Domestic violence is violence that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes r ...

against women.

Alaa Murabit Alaa Murabit M.D. (; born October 1989) is a Libyan-Canadian physician, policy maker, and strategist focused on health, inclusive security, and sustainable development. She created the Voice of Libyan Women at age 21 and played a key role in ad ...

, founder of The Voice of Libyan Women, said that "Purple Hijab Day directly contests a Muslim's falsely perceived right to abuse a wife, daughter, mother, or sister." International Purple Hijab Day is celebrated the second Saturday in February in order to honor the memory of Zubair.

References

External links

Bridges TVInternational Purple Hijab Day
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zubair, Aasiya 1972 births 2009 deaths 20th-century American architects Allegations of honor killing Muslims from New York (state) American murder victims American television executives American women television executives Architects from New York (state) Deaths by decapitation Honor killing in the United States Honor killing victims People murdered in New York (state) Violence against women in New York (state) Uxoricides University at Buffalo alumni 2009 murders in the United States

Career

Murder

Legacy

See also

References

External links