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  • 2016-08-02 (xsd:date)
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  • Captain Khan's Epitaph: 'Beware of Dying as an Apostate' (en)
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  • On 28 July 2016, Democratic National Convention (DNC) speaker Khizr Khan became the center of controversy after delivering an impassioned speech about his late son, U.S. Army Capt. Humayun Khan, and decrying Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's suggestions that he would enact a ban on Muslims entering the U.S. Khan's criticism of Trump included the following passage: Trump did not take the criticism lightly, engaging in an extended clash of words with the Khan family and the news media. Concurrently, rumors about the Khans were spread on social media, including the above-quoted claim that the epitaph on the headstone of Capt. Khan — a Muslim who was killed in Iraq while protecting members of his Army unit from suicide bombers and is interred at Arlington National Cemetery — includes the legend Beware of dying as an apostate. (The implication of that rumor is that Humayun Khan's family had the apostate line added to his headstone because they view him as a traitor to Islam.) But the guidelines for headstones detailed on Arlington National Cemetery's (ANC) web site do not include such atypical epitaphs: In fact, as the guidelines decree, Capt. Khan's headstone denotes his rank, awards received (a Bronze Star Medal and a Purple Heart) and the name of the campaign during which he lost his life. Missing from the headstone is any rhetoric placed by his next of kin declaring him to be an apostate: According to Reuters, the apostate claim originated with Islamic State propaganda: (en)
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