"... opportunity to spread the will of Allah"
I believe Mohammed Reza Taheri-azar has that all wrong.
Running down students at UNC-Chapel Hill, as he's accused of doing, isn't a mission from God.
But that's just me talking. Muslim leaders need to say it, too -- emphatically and repeatedly.
I applaud the Muslim Students Association at UNC-CH for its quick response to Friday's frightening episode.
Of course no one should associate one person's actions with the beliefs of the Muslim community as a whole.
The Muslim community in Greensboro is peaceful, respectable, successful and an asset to our city.
But here's what worries me: The experience in Europe, where large and rapidly growing Muslim communities are producing radicals -- even "jihadists," according to this report -- among the younger, native-born generations.
This has not occurred in the United States, yet. Let's hope it doesn't.
But when I see a young man like Taheri-azar -- seemingly Americanized and integrated into our culture -- suddenly and without warning turn into a jihadist, I wonder how many more like him there are. To think there are none would be foolishly naive.
What happened Friday in Chapel Hill might be a case of "nutjobbery," to borrow Ed Cone's term. But violence to "avenge the deaths of Muslims around the world," or "to spread the will of Allah" is evidence of an ideology, not insanity. It is an ideology with a significant following in other parts of the world.
If this attitude exists here, it cries out to be repudiated. And not only repudiated but stamped out before it becomes truly dangerous.
Comments (8)
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Hey, Charlie Manson had an ideology, too. Didn't make him any less insane.
Put another way, how is this any different from "God told me to"?
Posted on March 6, 2006 4:22 PM
I don't recall what Manson's ideology was. But insane isn't the same as irrational or "doesn't make sense to me."
In reading reports about this suspect, I'm looking for comments from people who knew him to the effect of, "Yeah, he was kind of crazy." It's just the opposite. Other students, professors and an employer speak highly of his intelligence and demeanor.
Maybe he'll get a lawyer who will try the insanity route. Maybe he'll change his story and say he was trying to run down demons. Maybe committing a crime in the name of Allah is prima facie evidence of insanity.
Were the 9/11 hijackers insane? Suicide bombers? Bin Laden? After all, God told them to.
But people are driven to extremes more by ideology than by madness in this world. It will be interesting to see how the legal system sorts this one out.
Posted on March 6, 2006 4:57 PM
10-1 on acquittal. He should be deported post haste but then that is not the politically correct thing to do.
Posted on March 6, 2006 6:55 PM
I hear that Yale is planning to post his bail and enroll him as a doctoral candidate.
Posted on March 6, 2006 9:44 PM
Thanks, Jerry.
For those who haven't heard, here are the opening sentences from an article in the Yale Herald:
"Special programs welcome grown-up students to Yale
"From Afghani envoy to Buddhist ascetic, adult Yalies keep a low profile."
BY THERESE LIM
"At Yale, it is commonly understood that the student next to you could be a high school valedictorian, a chess champion, or a musical prodigy; few Elis, however, would suspect their classmate to be a former Taliban official. Yet one of this year’s freshmen, 27-year-old Sayed Rahmatullah Hashemi ’09, served for years as an Afghani diplomat for the Taliban government. Today he studies Political Science in WLH next to kids fresh out of Exeter.
"Sayed Hashemi ’09, was foreign envoy for the Taliban before enrolling at Yale this year.
"Hashemi is but one of many older, non-traditional Yalies enrolled in Yale’s Nondegree Students Program, one of two Yale academic programs designed to accommodate students who cannot study full-timedue to other commitments. The other program, the Eli Whitney Students Program, operates under a similar structure but allows participants to graduate with a Yale degree."
There you have it. Hashemi, once the chief international spokesman for one of the world's most repressive regimes, is just another nontraditional student at Yale ... the same university that banned U.S. military recruiters from campus.
Posted on March 7, 2006 9:04 AM
Why is Manson doing hard time if he was insane? I agree with doug, I don't recall any ideology being involved when his little group committed their atrocities. the best that I can understand is that he was so stoned on drugs that he concocted an Armageddon scenario where he could start a race war between black and white, called Helter Skelter. He and his little band would go into desert, survive the war, then emerge to be the leaders of the victorious blacks.
So, is that an ideology, or was he just a drugged, deluded terrorist?
Posted on March 7, 2006 1:19 PM
Aren't most ideologies simply an accumulation of insanities?
By nature, humans are not ideological. We're geared for survival and the pursuit of happiness. We become ideological because some nation or religion tells us we should. And they're almost always lying.
Posted on March 8, 2006 11:21 AM
I can't say I agree with your definition, Beau. One's ideology may be love one's neighbor as oneself. It may be the platform of the Green Party. It's any belief system. The term is value-neutral. Some ideologies surely are a collection of insanities, but most are just a way of thinking.
Posted on March 8, 2006 11:35 AM