Did Islam Play a Role in the Murder of Steve McNair?

Speculation abounds about who killed former NFL star Steve McNair, but nary a word has been said about whether Islam had any role in McNair's murder. As has been reported, the bloodied bodies of Steve McNair and Sahel Kazemi were discovered yesterday in a Nashville apartment. Who was Sahel Kazemi? All we know right now is that she was of Iranian descent and was carrying on an affair with McNair. That means it's possible that Kazemi and McNair could both have been the victim of an "honor killing," whereby typically a relative of the "disgraced" young woman avenges the family's "honor" by murdering her (and perhaps her lover). But there simply is no evidence of that at this time (indeed, we don't even know if the family is Muslim). And it seems far more likely that Kazemi herself was McNair's killer, and that she then turned the gun on herself.

But an intriguing tidbit -- mentioned in passing in The Tennessean article -- is that, 11 years ago, Kazemi's mother "was killed in their native Iran." Notice the use of the word "killed." People who die of natural causes, or even in car accidents, are generally not described as having been "killed" in Iran. The use of the word "killed" connotes murder. So who killed Kazemi's mother? The Tennessean doesn't say. But it's entirely possible that Kazemi's mother was herself the victim of a barbaric Islamic murder, either an "honor killing" carried out by family members or a murder carried out by the Iranian regime. In either case, if it turns out that Kazemi is McNair's killer, it is not unreasonable to speculate that her own mother's murder may have played some role in yesterday's sordid affair.

(By the way, if you haven't yet seen the film The Stoning of Soraya M., please do so).


Update: This article says that the Kazemis are members of the Bahaii faith, which makes the "honor killing" theory even less likely. Unfortunately, the article does not shine any light on the circumstances surrounding the killing of Kazemi's mother in Iran, but it does say that the family fled Iran in 2002 because it was "in danger." If Kazemi's mother was in fact murdered by Islamic fascists, that event would have had a profound effect on Kazemi. Some can overcome that type of trauma; others cannot.