Lee Boyland

Major Hasan's Bloody Jihad
November 14, 2009

There can be no doubt that Major Nidal Hasan became radicalized, planned his jihad (holy war), and murdered thirteen people at Fort Hood, Texas. He had calling cards printed with "SoA" and "SWT" placed under his name. SoA means Soldier of Allah, and SWT, Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala means Glory to God (Allah). Was Hasan's murder spree an act of terrorism? By my definition, yes. The Secretary of Homeland Security will probably declare it to be a "Man-caused disaster."

Unfortunately, the lesson, written in the blood of innocent Americans, Hasan's jihad should teach us is being missed or ignored. Our news media, politicians, and pundits, in a rush to justify this form of radicalism, or to excuse its horror for the sake of "political correctness" and "diversity", or even worse—to blame someone else—have missed the truth. In so doing they appear to be looking at the trees, not the forest.

Based upon reports, and after viewing Hasan's slides from his Walter Reed presentation, I see a man, born a Muslim, who was radicalized by one or more imams, preaching insurrectionist rants in mosques. As Hasan began to accept the hard core, fundamentalist doctrine of Islam, he became conflicted. Islam means "Submission." A fundamentalist Muslim submits him or her self totally to the will of Allah. Hasan was facing a growing conflict: obey his oath to defend and support the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; or submit to the commands of Allah as relayed to him by his imam.

Hasan repeatedly expressed his growing frustration, yet no one listened. His final act, the murder of thirteen men and women, and one unborn child, was accompanied by his yelling, “Allahu akbar”, God is great. By doing so, he was proclaiming himself to be a Mujahedeen. We must listen to Hasan's message, even though we find it hateful. Whether or not he acted with other jihadists is of secondary importance. Identifying the cause of Hasan's action, his personal jihad, is important.

How did Hasan see the problem of a Muslim in the U.S. Army fighting and killing what we call Islamic terrorists? Only Hasan knows for sure; however, one can speculate. An adherent to fundamentalist Islamic doctrine would see Hamas, Hezbollah, al-Qaeda, the Taliban, et al, as defenders of the faith—Mujahedeen (holy warriors) conducting jihad—a holy religious war—against Allah's kafir (infidel) enemies. Hasan's presentation, The Koranic World View As It Relates to Muslims in the U.S. Military provides a window into his thinking. Slide #5, Concept of Jihad, states "2. Islam, A Muslim holy war or spiritual struggle against infidels." Slide # 12, Muslims in the Military" addresses the question of killing fellow Muslims "[4.93] And whoever kills a believer intentionally, his punishment is hell; he shall abide in it, and Allah will send His wrath on him and curse him and prepare for him a painful chastisement." Slides 21 -23 deal with worship of Allah and Submission.

Why is Hasan’s conflict different from that of the WW I and WW II GI, a devout Christian or Jew, forced to kill German and Italian Christians and Jews? Why should he be privileged to have a “special” internal struggle not allowed to American soldiers of Oriental descent, required to fight and kill their ethnic and often religious brothers in Japan, Korea, and Viet Nam?

Why, indeed, is there no similar reluctance on the part of the Mujahedeen to slaughter fellow civilian Muslims … just because they are not radicalized or are of a different sect? Of course the clerics have an answer, but not one that makes sense in the West.

In no way am I attempting to condone Major Hasan's actions! He must be tried in a military court and punished in accordance with the Uniform Code of Military Justice. There can be no other choice. Nevertheless, we must recognize that Hasan's personal jihad is the symptom of a disease infecting an unknown number of America Muslims. A disease that can spread. Punishing Hasan, while it must be done, merely treats the symptom.

We Must Identify & Treat the Disease

How many more Hasans are in our military? Marshal Frank includes a summary of similar attacks on his blog. When Hasan enlisted in the Army, he apparently saw no conflict between his religion and his duty. I am sure there are many Muslims in the military who do not feel conflicted. But there is no guarantee that some will not follow Hasan's footsteps and become radicalized. This is a problem seeking a solution, not a cover up. Hasan suggested offering conscientious objector status to conflicted Muslims. In my novels, I suggested an Honorable Discharge as the answer to the same problem. Either option works, and I am sure there are many more good ideas. We must find an acceptable solution and implement it—and do so quickly.

Now it is time to look at the forest, time to identify the disease: Islam, as interpreted by fundamentalists who view it through the lens of the seventh and eight century. If the Koran is letter perfect and not one letter can be changed, as fundamentalists believe, then Islam cannot be reformed, and the religion is incompatible with Western values. Muhammad created his religion, Islam, in twenty-two years. Muslims believe all words recorded in the Koran were Allah's words, given to Muhammad by the angel Gabriel. Islamic law, Sharia law, is based upon:

The Koran, compiled in 652 C.E., twenty years after Muhammad's death in 632 C.E., by the third caliph;

Muhammad's biography, Sirat Rasul Allah, written by Ibn Ishaq in 750 C.E., 118 years after the Prophet's death (No known copy of the original biography exists, however, Ibn Hisham prepared a revised—sanitized—version in 830 C.E. which is considered to be holy scripture.); and,

The Hadith, made up from hundreds of thousands of stories of Muhammad's words, speeches, actions and deeds compiled by Islamic scholars between 850-870 C.E.

That Islam is a peaceful religion has become accepted folk lore. Calls for the introduction of Sharia Law in the West evoke no outcry from liberal progressives or the main stream media, yet these same people constantly rant about the separation of church and state. Islam is both the church and the state. There can be no separation in a true Islamic state. Liberals support and justify what they object to, and do not see the paradox. Feminist fail to condemn the Muslim's treatment of women. It is past time for them to pull their heads out of the quicksand of political correctness and face reality.

Muhammad's prophethood had two phases: the Meccan or peaceful phase; and the Medina or hostile phase. His early years were spent in Mecca. In the year 610 C.E. Muhammad received his first messages from the angel Gabriel—there is only one God. Believing he was the prophet the Jews and Christians were waiting for, Muhammad recited his messages seeking converts to his new religion. His recitations were either memorized by "remembers" or written down by his followers. At first, the Meccans laughed at Muhammad, but as he made converts among pilgrims traveling to Mecca to worship the 360 stone idols housed in the Ka'aba, he became a problem. Meccan revenue derived from pilgrims dropped. If there was only one god, then there were 359 unemployed idols. Muhammad was "invited" to leave Mecca. When he departed for Medina, he left his peaceful attitude behind.

The last ten years of Muhammad's life were spent in Medina, where he became a caravan raider, a pirate, a general, a warlord, and conqueror of Arabia. Twenty-two years after Muhammad's death, the third caliph, Uthman, had scribes record the recollections of the rememberers and copy the written records (known as fragments). The scribes produced 114 booklets, none of which contained dates. Uthman instructed the scribes to assemble the booklets with the longest one first to the shortest one last, and the booklets became the Surahs of the Koran.

Now the conundrum: Muhammad's eighty-six peaceful verses were short, while the twenty-eight hostile verses were long rants. This means Muhammad's last recitations, the twenty-eight hostile surahs, come first, thereby giving the mistaken impression to readers of the Koran that Islam's Prophet changed from being hostile to peaceful, when in fact he transitioned from peaceful to hostile. The jumbled chronological order of the surahs allows radical clerics to tailor their message as required to convert Muslims to their radical ideas.

Radical Islam's message is attractive to individuals angry with the system, which is why prisons are the number one recruiting ground for radical clerics. If Islam is to be allowed to exist in the U.S., its peaceful adherents must: band together and expel the radicals from our soil; actively and forcefully demonstrate against the fundamentalists; and be willing to openly pledge their support to the Constitution of the United States above all else, including Islam. Failure to do so will encourage more bloody individual jihads like Major Hasan's.