Are all war criminals and terrorists mentally ill?

 

There  have been repeated attempts by pundits, politicians and professors to turn terrorists into people with a mental illness. Where is their concern for the millions of us who live with mental illness? Now we have to contend with people wondering if we will get a gun and murder innocent people on the street.  It seems it is perfectly politically correct to tie terrorists to the mentally ill.  To justify terror with an unsubstantiated statement; oh …he had a mental illness. And then never show the psychiatric reports. Right. The records are personal!

When we allow others to associate terrorists raised, bathed and swaddled in their respective ideologies to claim mental illness, we are  justifying PM Trudeau’s decision to bring home “Canadians” who went to the Middle East to fight for ISIS.

Our PM declared “A Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian…You devalue the citizenship of every Canadian in this place and in this country when you break down and make it conditional for anybody.” So what if they left the comfort of the west and went to fight with our enemies trying to murder Christians and Jews and wipe out the Yazidis. Not to worry. Our country will rehabilitate these people. How? Oh, with art and music therapy.

The Prime Minister, though has taken the time to acknowledge:

“We recognize the return of even one individual (who joined the ISIS group) may have serious national security implications.”

To Trudeau, traitor or patriot, we are all equal. If he had been our fearless leader during WWII  and discovered that some Canadians had fought for the Reich would he have called for their reintegration? Would they have passed muster as loyal, proud, grateful Canadians? Would he have brought them home to de-radicalize them? A little music a little art?

Following WWII many Nazis fled Germany. Many were hunted down and brought to trial. Eichmann the most famous. Did anyone suggest that he was mentally ill, for believing in Nazism?

Did historians look into the past and say Heinrich Himmler or Mengele were mentally ill? After all, how could someone in their right mind do such things?

During the Nuremberg trials were any Nazis allowed to defend themselves with “I am mentally ill”?

The Nazis who pulled babies from the arms of the Jewish mothers, threw them in the air for target practice, like skeet shooting. Were they mentally ill?

And what of the Duke of Windsor, the King who abdicated his throne; was he mentally ill for believing in Hitler and Nazism?

America finally deported a Nazi war criminal to Germany. There was no mention of mental illness.

 

If these people were not declared mentally ill for believing in Nazism for scapegoating the Jews, for murdering the mentally and physically disabled, how can we say with a straight face that people who believe in the teachings of Islam and murder people are mentally ill?  Or even radicalized? Do they read a different Quran? Do they attend mosques that teach a different Islam? Different prayers?

 Let’s look at the teachings of Islam from the Prophet Muhammad:

“The last hour would not come unless the Muslims will fight against the Jews and the Muslims would kill them until the Jews would hide themselves behind a stone or a tree and a stone or a tree would say: ‘Muslim, or the servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me; come and kill him;’ but the tree Gharqad would not say, for it is the tree of the Jews.

Muhammed admonished:

“The resurrection of the dead will not arrive until you will fight the Jews and kill them…” And his Scriptures spoke of hate for ‘the other’. “Jews are among the worst enemies of Islam. (5:82).” Jews are among the worst enemies-that means there are more.

Muslims, today say the Al Fatiha.  A prayer  that demeans and denigrates Christians and the disbelieving, and describes Jews as the enemy of Allah. One might say ”dehumanize.” And in Canada we allow students a time and place to recite them in our secular and diverse schools.

Muslims who pray 5 times a day, repeat at least 17 times the verse:

“The path of those you bestowed favours upon, not those who have incurred (Your) wrath and those who have deviated.”

Muslim scholars explain that those who “deviated” from Allah are the Jews and Christians. But especially the Jews, who angered Allah, who cursed them and “turned them into monkeys and pigs,” according to Osman Haji, Imam of the Sahaba Masjid mosque in Edmonton, Alberta.

From Imam Omar Subedar of the Peel District School Board Faith Leaders Network, Imam at Makki Masjid in Brampton, Ontario and Vice President of Mathabah Institute regarding the verse:

“I seek refuge in Allah from Satan the accursed. In the name of Allah the Beneficent the Merciful. Not the path of those who have incurred Your anger or path of those who have deviated, who have fallen astray. Now who are these people? Whom are the categories Allah (swt) is referring to? The first group, the prophet (pbuh) has identified as the Jews (اليهود), and the second group “those who have deviated,’ the prophet , peace and blessing upon him, has identified them as Christians (اليهود).”

Sheikh Wael Al-Ghitawi, Montreal;

In two Friday sermons delivered at the Al-Andalous Islamic Center in Montreal, Canada, in August 2014, Sheikh Sayyed Al-Ghitawi prayed to Allah to “destroy the accursed Jews” and to “kill them one by one.” “Oh Allah, turn their children into orphans and their women into widows,” he said in the sermons, which were posted on the Alrahma Qanat on YouTube. Is he mentally ill?

And his followers. If they do what he asked, are they mentally ill? Radicalized? Or following the teachings of their Imam?

Like the followers of Hitler and Nazism.

Sheikh Muhammad Bin Musa Aal Nasr in Montreal, Canada who shares the words of Muhammed.

 “What is the disease of the Jews? It is that they believed in only part of the Scripture, while rejecting another part. As Allah said, disparaging them: ‘Do you believe in part of the Scripture and reject another part? And what is the reward of those among you who do so, except disgrace in this world?’ Allah ordained disgrace for them in this world: ‘On the Day of Resurrection they will be consigned to the most severe torment. Allah is not ignorant of what you do.’ And what is said about the Jews is also said about all those who imitate the Jews.”

“If you worship Allah, you can rest assured that Allah will fulfill His promise and will support you. On Judgment Day, when the Muslims defeat the most vicious of creatures – the human demons – the stones and the trees will say: ‘Oh Muslim, oh servant of Allah, there is a Jew hiding behind me, come and kill him!’ – except for the Gharqad tree, for it is the tree of the Jews.”

And if his followers went to the Middle East and joined ISIS-is it because they are radicalized or mentally ill? Or just responding to the teachings?

On its official website, ICNA (Islamic Circle of North America) Canada shares with its members and followers the book “Riyad us Saliheen” (“The Gardens of the Righteous” رياض الصالحين) which contains modern commentary to the verses from the Qur’an and hadith. These books are available in Downtown Toronto. The Quran is distributed for free across Canada.

“The Jews have predominance over the Muslims in spite of the fact that they are a minority. But according to this true narration, the situation will definitely change before the Day of Resurrection, and the Muslims will dominate the Jews. Allah is the Master (Rubb) of everything.”

Here are seven parallel translations in English for the 286th verse of chapter 2 (sūrat l-baqarah) of the Quran.One thing upon which all agree is this sentiment :

Allah should “give us victory over the disbelieving people.”

Are all of us on Canada supposed to just accept that teaching as accommodating? Is it not an attack on all other Canadians, of all backgrounds?

We just learned that the  Canada Revenue Agency  (CRA) took action against the Ottawa Islamic Centre and Assalam Mosque. “Many of the views expressed by the organization’s speakers are misogynistic, homophobic, racist and/or promote violence.” The CRA was also concerned that “radicalized individuals” had attended the mosque, one of whom, Ashton Larmond, is now imprisoned for attempting to join the so-called Islamic State.

Are these speakers an anomaly? Rare birds? Or is their message shared in other mosques in Canada and around the world?

Seems the message is universal.

“The entire Muslim Community in Canada stands against this duplicity and hypocrisy by the CRA and its affiliates.

The Canadian Revenue Agency (CRA) cannot bully the Muslim community into watering down our faith, our tradition, and our principals.

The guest speakers who attended the Ottawa Islamic Centre and Assalam Mosque are *mainstream* Muslim scholars and orators. We stand by them. We stand by their statements that were in accordance with the Qur’an & Sunnah. We will never abandon our brothers and sisters for temporary and measly trade-offs. It is our principals that define us, and not the desire to appease others while dwelling in comfort.

And those who listened, like Ashton Larmond, are they deemed mentally ill for following the beliefs?

Seems when you highlight the modern radical teachings of Islam to raise awareness of their danger to democracy you are accused of Islamophobia.When you call for death to the Jews, go to war with Jihadists against allies of Canada, and dehumanize others, well… You are mentally ill.

Or perhaps it is simply the banality of evil.

 

 

 

From the Ethics of the Fathers: “Rabbi Tarfon used to say, it is not incumbent upon you to complete the task, but you are not exempt from undertaking it.”