I'm up feeding my baby right now and went to CNN.com. The front-page story is headlined:
Clerk changes robber's mind, religion
The headline, of course, enticed me to read the article. But the piece, written by Kiran Khalid, is not really a news story.
It's about a Long Island storekeeper named Mohammad Sohail who was confronted by a would-be robber with a baseball bat. Sohail pulls out a shotgun:
"He's crying like a baby," Sohail said. "He says, 'Don't call police, don't shoot me, I have no money, I have no food in my house.'"
Amidst the man's apologies and pleas, Sohail said he felt a surge of compassion.
He made the man promise never to rob anyone again and when he agreed, Sohail gave him $40 and a loaf of bread.
"When he gets $40, he's very impressed, he says, 'I want to be a Muslim just like you,'" Sohail said, adding he had the would-be criminal recite an Islamic oath.
"I said 'Congratulations. You are now a Muslim and your name is Nawaz Sharif Zardari.'" . . .
Sohail said the man fled the store when he turned away to get the man some free milk.
Um, why is this story on the front page of CNN.com?
I mean, I have no doubt this is how the story went down, but this is the thinnest and most bizarre religion story I've seen in a while. I don't even know why this is a news story. It reads like an in-house Muslim newsletter article.
We don't have Mr. Nawaz Sharif Zardari around to ask for his side of the events. Perhaps we do have an account of one of the world's latest Muslim converts. Of course, we could also have an account of one of the world's latest cracked-out robbers. Or anything inbetween. I honestly have no idea why CNN put this story up. Can anyone help me out here?