Bilal Mirza

Bilal Mirza  "… of Framingham is a close friend of convicted terrorist Tarek Mehanna. Both grew up together and attended the Islamic Center of Boston in Wayland as children."

He described Mehanna as a studious man of gentle faith. “Mehanna is a charismatic community leader who helps youth groups, facilitates study circles and enjoys action films like "The Hulk" and "Dark Knight…"

”Mirza shook his head at the allegations and the media coverage of the court proceedings. It’s unsettling. There’s this automatic assumption of guilt.”

Kamran Bajwa is a student and accomplished practitioner of Jewish ritual slaughter. 

A Visit to Stony Brook Valley Farms - Granby, MA


We talked about kosher slaughter. A good kosher slaughter, done with a flawless steel knife so sharp that it must slice paper, is quick and painless, the cut effortlessly made by the weight of the knife.

Kamran talked about using Bilal’s kosher knife for last summer’s Eid, marveling at how easily it cut.

We saw the knife later—an impressive Weimar-era German blade with an ebony handle that he picked up on EBay. 

The blade is squared off at the end to avoid puncturing the animal’s throat, a mistake that is painful for the animal and invalidates the religious validity of the slaughter. 

There are many little mistakes that can invalidate a kosher slaughter, which means that kosher standards are high. 

We can learn a lot from the Jewish community about perfecting technique.

Bilal is the proud owner of a rare ivory handled German "kosher" knife that is often used for at the Stony Valley Brook Farm or for Jewish ritual slaughter.