At funeral, Muslims call for justice
BY NIRAJ WARIKOO

Upset yet content with God's will, Muslims called for justice Saturday at the funeral of an Islamic leader who was killed by FBI agents in a shootout last week.

More than 1,000 packed the Muslim Center of Detroit in a spillover crowd that was at times teary-eyed over the fatal shooting of Luqman Ameen Abdullah, a Muslim leader -- or imam -- who led another Detroit mosque.

Muslims from metro Detroit, Virginia, New York, Philadelphia and Atlanta attended the hour-long ceremony followed by a burial at Knollwood Memorial Park in Canton.

"We are looking for justice," Imam Mohammad Elahi, head of the Islamic House of Wisdom in Dearborn Heights, told the crowd Saturday. "We hope for a fair and just investigation in this case ... because the closest road to Allah," the Arabic word for God, "is justice."

Detroit FBI Special Agent in Charge Andrew Arena said his agents acted appropriately when they shot Abdullah during a raid Wednesday at a warehouse in Dearborn. Agents had gone there to arrest Abdullah and a group of men suspected of federal crimes and Islamic extremism. While the others surrendered, FBI officials say, Abdullah shot at the agents and they returned fire, killing him.

But Elahi said at the service: "Shooting is one thing. Killing is something else."

The crowd was primarily African American, but included Muslims with roots in Asian countries, Iran, the Balkans and the Arab world.

"All power is in Allah's hands," said Imam Talib Abdur-Rashid, a Muslim leader who heads the Mosque of Islamic Brotherhood in New York City.

At the burial in Canton, speakers urged the crowd not to seek revenge on the police or informants they used, saying that any punishment would come in the afterlife.