“Those whom God wishes to destroy, he first deprives of their senses.” Euripides
Yemen’s Defense Ministry said Friday that the U.S.-born al-Qaida cleric Anwar al-Awlaki has been killed,” The Associated Press reports. It’s being reported he may have been killed by a missile fired from a U.S. aircraft at a convoy of vehicles.How does an educated mind turn into a killing machine?
Who was Al-Awlaki:
Anwar al Awlaki eloquently articulated a menace that was far more incriminating, venomous and mindboggling for millions of ‘wayward Muslim youth’ looking for a direction from an ideology that croots in the hinterland of the thousands year old traditions, culture and sights of deserts of Nejd in contrast to a world that has moved on to a new cusp of takeoff. In this age of knowledge Awalki presented the option of dragging the 1.4 billion faithful to the ‘virtues’ of the dark ages with a persuasiveness that was unparalleled. He was the pied piper of the lost generation of Islam.
Awlaki’s is the story of a big turnaround of mind post 911 when he gave numerous interviews to the press: ‘About killing, the greatest sin in Islam after associating other gods besides Allah is killing an innocent soul.’
His Islamic education consists of a few intermittent months with various scholars, and reading works by several prominent Islamic scholars. Muslim scholars say they do not understand his popularity. Although al‑Awlaki lacks formal Islamic training or study, he speaks fluent English and can therefore reach a large non-Arabic-speaking audience. Writing on the IslamOnline.net website six days after the 9/11 attacks, Awlaki suggested that Israeli intelligence agents might have been responsible for the attacks, and that the FBI “went into the roster of the airplanes and whoever has a Muslim or Arab name became the hijacker by default.” The FBI conducted extensive investigations of al-Awlaki, and he was observed crossing state lines with prostitutes in the D.C. area. To arrest him, the FBI considered invoking the little-used Mann Act, a federal law prohibiting interstate transport of women for “immoral purposes.” But before investigators could detain him, al-Awlaki left for Yemen in March 2002.
He authored an essay in Arabic titled “Why Muslims Love Death” on the Islam Today website, praising the Palestinian suicide bombers’ fervor, and months later at a videotaped lecture in a London mosque, he lauded them in English. Known for giving eloquent talks on Islam and attracting young non-Arabic speakers, al-Awlaki “was the magic bullet,” according to mosque spokesman Johari Abdul-Malik; “He had everything all in a box.” “He had an allure. He was charming.” His wicked footprints are visible all over the entire expanse of Global Terror Inc. His sermons were attended by two of the 9/11 hijackers (Al-Hazmi, and Hani Hanjour), which the 9/11 Commission Report concluded “may not have been coincidental”, and by Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan. When police investigating the 9/11 attacks raided the Hamburg, Germany, apartment of Ramzi Binalshibh (the “20th hijacker”), his telephone number was found among Binalshibh’s personal contact information.
The paradox that mankind faces today is that this rising tentacles of malice, poison and contaminated minds ois n the rise in an age where what is one of the most important thing that has ever happened in human history is that violence has gone down, by dramatic degrees according to STEVIN PINKER, and in many dimensions all over the world and in many spheres of behavior: genocide, war, human sacrifice, torture, slavery, and the treatment of racial minorities, women, children, and animals. In age of knowledge he was an agent who wanted to drag mankind back in to the darkness and silence of stone age.
Once you’ve tasted the truth, you won’t ever want to go back to being ignorant! My opinion is that in the world of knowledge, the idea of good appears in the end, and is seen only with an effort; and, when seen, is also inferred to be the universal author of all things beautiful and right. The roguish, wicked, depraved and deviant characters of the so-called holy men have now entered the minds of young educated men; beware and make sure that every sign of these aberrant and wicked men are eradicated. The misguided “cannon-fodder” youths should know there will never be light at the end of the tunnel of the warpath they are led on by the twisted religious ideologues. Senses need to be restored, we should know that this blind fight to kill and mutilate has no individual victims but the whole nation.
His command of English helps to instill the basic techniques of terror and venom 101 in the minds of these confused vulnerable young men. How does an educated mind turn into a killing machine is a topic I discussed yesterday at a night out with pseudo philosophers. I started with a little story from Plato’s most famous book, The Republic. Socrates, where he talked to a young follower of his named Glaucon, telling him this fable to illustrate what it’s like to be a philosopher — a lover of wisdom: Most people, including ourselves, live in a world of relative ignorance. We are even comfortable with that ignorance, because it is all we know. When we first start facing truth, the process may be frightening, and many people run back to their old lives. But if you continue to seek truth, you will eventually be able to handle it better. In fact, you want more! It’s true that many people around you now may think you are weird or even a danger to society, but you don’t care. Once you’ve tasted the truth, you won’t ever want to go back to being ignorant!
Modern-day frenzied, manic and agitated rage of young men has a lot to do with living in ignorance without the ability to face truth, because truth is very difficult to swallow. Since the 9/11 tragedy, every dreadful terrorist incident that involves an attempted or successful radical attack, the blazing question within the nation of Islam arises and one that the entire ‘nation’ wants to rush back to is: what turns youthful, elegant well-educated men like Feisal Shazad, Ajmal Amir, Mohammad Siddiq Khan, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab into terminators and hate-mongers who want to kill indiscriminately?
These young suspects in Yemen unfortunately match a new educated class of terrorist pedigree. These are the children of Awlaki brain-washing; his ‘new class’ includes Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Christmas Day “underwear bomber,” and Feisal Shazad, the Time Square perpetrator. He urges Muslims to follow in their footsteps. Amongst others he also considers Army Maj. Nidal Hasan, the Fort Hood shooter as someone he inspired. He commented after Christmas Day “underwear bomber” failed attempt as: ”Our unsettled account with America includes, at the very least, one million women and children. I’m not even talking about the men. Our unsettled account with America, in women and children alone, has exceeded one million. Those who would have been killed in the [attempted Christmas Day bombing] are a drop in the ocean.”
This cancer stems and flourishes in a society that refuses to deal with challenges of terror with clear transparency, lucidity and censure. It is double standards of sermons from pulpits every Friday where bloodhounds of terror are given a breather, legitimacy and warrant to kill to avenge the lost glory of Islam. Let’s nurture understanding of different cultures and creeds. People have to understand that they need to come out of self-imposed ignorance and stop the prevalent culture of blaming others for their own ills; we need to clean our house and need to put our house in order. I just don’t see why should million of other young men suffer for crimes of one demented man, others have dreams too; there are many others who want an education in these universities and want to be trusted. Why are we closing the doors to everyone? Living in the 21st century is living with everyone; no exclusion can be possible on the basis of a radical strain.
“When falls on man the anger of the gods, first from his mind they banish understanding.”
Lycurgus
