SADDAM'S EXECUTION BRINGS MIXED REACTION FROM MUSLIMS.

Byline: TONY CASTRO Staff Writer

Islamic reaction to Saddam Hussein's execution ranged from near- jubilation to condemnation Saturday, amid concern that Saddam's supporters would view him as a martyr, possibly leading to even more violence in Iraq.

Muslims in the San Fernando Valley and Los Angeles were also displeased by the timing of Hussein's hanging early Saturday -- coming on the weekend when Muslims mark the end of the yearly pilgrimage to Mecca.

Ali Muhammad Shakoor, imam (religious minister) at the Islamic Center of Reseda, celebrated the ``festival of the sacrifice'' with his congregation Saturday morning and said there was no mention of the execution of the former Iraqi dictator.

But after the services, Muhammad Shakoor said Saddam's fate should be extended to other dictators.

``I am very happy that at last the United States did one good job to bring this one big dictator to the highest accountability,'' Muhammad Shakoor said. ``But there are other dictators who should also be made accountable by the United States, and I hope the work doesn't end with Saddam Hussein.

``His execution is a relief of a kind, but there is some concern that his followers are going to see him as a martyr.''

Ensar Demirkan, a Muslim representative on the San Fernando Valley Interfaith Council, was even more emphatic that Hussein had been brought to justice.

``I visited Iraq two times (in 2001) and felt the impact of the atrocities committed by this man against his people,'' Demirkan said. ``And I believe this guy got what he deserved.''

Still, some like Hamid Helmandi, a member of the Tampa Masjid in Northridge, opposed the execution on principle.

``I don't believe in killing, and I didn't agree with (the execution),'' he said. ``I'm not saying he was a good man. We've seen that he was not.

``But in killing him, we are doing the same thing he did. I believe that as humans, we have to be better than that. We can't do to him what he was doing to others.

``The Buddha and Gandhi are my heroes, and I don't believe they would have approved.''

Other Muslims, meanwhile, appeared uninterested in Hussein's execution.

``We have been immersed in prayer as part of our religious observance,'' said Daud Mohammad of the Islamic Foundation of Ibn Taimmiyah in Culver City, ``and it hasn't been on our mind today. It's not something we have been giving much thought to.''

This weekend, Muslims around the world have been marking Eid al-Adha, an important holiday that is considered a time of forgiveness and compassion.

Muslim countries often pardon criminals to mark the occasion, and prisoners are rarely executed during the holiday.

Muhammad Shakoor said Eid al-Adha -- Feast of the Sacrifice -- is the most important date in the Islamic calendar and honors the biblical patriarch Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son Ishmael for God before God decided to spare Ishmael's life.

Muhammad Shakoor said that although he welcomed Saddam's execution, he wondered if the deposed Iraqi leader should have experienced the kind of suffering he had imposed on Iraqis he tortured and killed.

``He might have suffered more with a life sentence in prison,'' he said. ``I think, being in prison day after day without his family and without his power until the end of his life, might have been a more terrible, more painful punishment.

``But he paid for the pain and suffering he inflicted on his fellow man.''

tony.castro(at)dailynews.com

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Ali Muhammad Shakoor, at the Islamic Center of Reseda, speaks of worshippers' reactions to Saddam's execution.

Tom Mendoza/Staff Photographer