In the latest now-you-see-it-now-you-don't, the president of Oklahoma University's Muslim Student Association has declared that Joel Hinrichs is not a Muslim:

NORMAN, Okla. -- The president of an OU student organization said he believes Joel Henry Hinrichs III was neither a Muslim nor a visitor to local mosques.

Ashraf Hussein, the president of OU's Muslim Student Association, also confirmed that up to seven people were either questioned or detained regarding the bombing death of Hinrichs, a 21-year-old engineering student.

Hinrichs died Saturday night after a bomb he was supposedly carrying exploded while he sat on a bench next to George Lynn Cross Hall, about 100 yards from Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, where 84,000 people were watching a college football game.

While the incident and its investigation have spurred plenty of rumor and speculation, authorities have consistently maintained that there is no evidence Hinrichs belonged to an extremist organization.

What I'm wondering is whether the president of a Christian student association is vested with the power to declare whether a given student is a Christian.

Not that we can ask Hinrichs or anything. But his father was interviewed, and the video seems edited (at least I perceive gaps when I watch it), and at no point is he asked directly whether his son was a Muslim. (If that last link doesn't work, the original video can be found at KFOR's web site. Why this is still being treated as local news escapes me.)

His rather odd statement -- that his son would not become a Muslim "fanatic" "until pigs fly" -- if that's not an tacit admission that his son might be a Muslim, it would seem at the very least to beg for a follow up question about his religious beliefs. Frankly I'd be surprised if such questions were not asked.

And maybe answered.

As to the question of who determines whether or not someone is a Muslim, a Christian, or anything else, I've attempted to grapple with this before, because Philadelphia's Police Commmissioner (one of the few Muslims of such stature in this country) has been accused of not being a Muslim.

I think it would have been up to Hinrichs to determine whether he was a Muslim. But the fact of whether or not he attended a mosque is really not a matter or his opinion or anyone else's. He either did or he didn't.

And I'd like to know. It's highly relevant, as even the Muslim Student Association president acknowledges by discussing it.

Elsewhere Mr. Hussein is quoted as disturbed by the media's, um, "focus":

Ashraf Hussein, president of Muslim Student Association and petroleum and electrical engineering junior, said he is disturbed by the media’s focus.

“(Hinrichs) had a Muslim roommate; he had a Muslim roommate — that’s all they’re mentioning,” Hussein said.

I've been struggling to scrape together what paltry news items I can find on Google, and it hasn't been easy. The last thing I'd call it would be "media focus."

Regarding said "focus," one of the reason I remain skeptical about everything is because there isn't anything solid to focus on yet.

Today's Oklahoma Daily warns in an editorial:

....certain sites (that have obvious socio-political agendas) have been referenced as fact by individuals who have written us, posted on our Web site and spread this “information” throughout the World Wide Web.

And that is an example of how, sometimes, the Internet can act as a carcinogen of truth; especially if readers don’t consume this media critically.

If a “news story” does not name its sources, raise an eyebrow. If that story sites “very credible sources” as sources, raise the other one.

“Experienced law enforcement officials say,” should be considered just as unreliable online as “A believable OU student said, ‘I think there’s probably some sort of conspiracy,’” should be if it were the lead source for a controversial story in The Daily.

When FBI investigations come to a close, we will all know a lot more about what happened last weekend. Once again, however, The Daily feels it is not only struggling each day to find truth in this situation, but also beginning to battle the proliferation of information from media that have surrendered the search for truth in an effort to be inflammatory or to draw better ratings.

In short, consider the medium, and if it raises an eyebrow, turn somewhere else for your information.

"Turn somewhere else?"

Any idea where might that be?

MORE: At the risk of getting a bit out of focus (and perhaps even turning elsewhere), regarding the question "Who is a Muslim?" I'd like to mention another Pakistani, Faisal Alam, founder of the Al-Fatiha Foundation, an "organization devoted to advancing the cause of gay, lesbian, and transgender Muslims." (More here.)

Because Alam's status as a Muslim also came under attack by the same group now saying Hinrichs wasn't a Muslim, I think the details are worth a peek.

In a letter to the Oklahoma Daily, a proclaimed spokesman for both the Islamic Society of Norman (that's the mosque Hinrichs is said to have attended) and the Muslim Students Association declared that both organizations were "appalled and deeply offended" by Alam, that homosexuality is not compatible with Islam, and that Faisal Alam would have to choose between homosexuality and Islam:

....the term “homosexual Muslim” is an oxymoron and therefore he must choose one or the other.

While he and his organization are free to declare whatever they want about Faisal Alam or Joel Hinrichs, I'd like to ask where they derive the authority to issue binding pronouncements about who is or is not a Muslim -- and who has authority to issue religious fatwas against Al-Fatiha:

"The very existence of Al-Fatiha is illegitimate and the members of this organization are apostates," the decree said. "Never will such an organization be tolerated in Islam and never will the disease which it calls for be affiliated with a true Islamic society or individual. The Islamic ruling for such acts is death."

I'd be tempted to ask questions about precisely who is vested with either moral or religious authority to issue religious pronouncements (or, for that matter, complaints about discrimination) but I'm trying to stay with the, um, "focus."

UPDATE: Be sure to read Gateway Pundit's most recent post. Very interesting discussion of suicide. (While suicide-plus-homicide might have been Hinrichs's intention, he may well have failed at suicide in the legal sense, for reasons discussed below.)

There are no definitive answers to many lingering questions. Unbelievable as it sounds, there is still no answer to the simple question of whether Hinrichs was a Muslim (much less whether or not he attended the neighborhood mosque).

MORE: The Commissar shares my curiosity over why this story isn't being reported, and offers two alternative explanations:

...unfortunately, one of two things is going on here: either it’s media dropping the ball on a massive scale, or it’s a media whitewash — out of a desire for “political correctness” or a desire to protect certain politicians whose agendas these organizations favor but who are not serious about fighting terrorism. (Actually, I’ll bet on the first one.)

MORE: Regarding "when pigs fly," if we wanna get literal about these things, I'm sorry to be the one to report that the evidence is overwhelming that they already do.

And no; this is not a matter of blogger hyperbole or hysteria; it's actually the subject of government regulation.

(I am sorry that the above picture is not a more accurate depiction of real-world flying conditions. I do try to take serious matters seriously -- at least, when it isn't too painful.)

UPDATE: Via Michelle Malkin, I see that Hinrichs was already known to Norman, Oklahoma police who were investigating the attempted fertilizer purchase:

The officer, according to Younger, took a mental note of the conversation and its context, and then followed Hinrichs outside. The officer took down the student's license tag number, contacted Norman's police department dispatch operation, had Hinrichs checked for outstanding warrants -- but, alas, found nothing.

The officer continued his investigation Thursday night, but could only conclude that Hinrichs was an OU student and lived in university-subsidized housing. The officer did contact a Norman bomb squad technician; however, the plan at that time was for the off-duty officer to complete a written report for submission the following Monday.

Hinrichs died when a bomb he allegedly created exploded as he sat on a bench next to the George Lynn Cross Hall, about 100 yards from Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, where about 84,000 people were watching the Sooners play Kansas State in a college football game.

When asked whether or not the officer could have done something to prevent the explosion, Younger said the off-duty officer actually went "above and beyond" the call of duty to act as he did.

UPDATE: A lot of assumptions are being made that Hinrichs committed suicide, this Oklahoma Daily student editorial being typical. There is no more proof that he committed suicide than there is proof that he's a Muslim.

(Once again, the fact that his bomb went off is not proof of suicide.)

MORE: Pigs can't fly in Britain! (Via InstaPundit.)