In Islamic jurisprudence, Jim Foley of New Hampshire is a martyr (a Shaheed). In memoriam, James Foley; decapitated by ISIS on August 19.
ISIS's very name is a cause for acute revulsion. The reasons are myriad. Foremost among these is their vocation. They are "Murderers Without Borders." Jim Foley was a photo journalist without borders. Add to that, ISIS's fanciful assumption of being the resurrected "Caliphate." A painful joke!! Under a street thug from Anbar, Iraq, called "Abu-Bakr Al-Baghdadi."
On top of that, comes the abuse of the term "ISIS." It should not be confused with the heroine of ancient Egypt, Queen Isis, the goddess of mercy, and compassion, the loving wife of Osiris, and the celebrated mother of Horus who appears in relief as a falcon.
Osiris/Isis/Horus is the ancient trinity of which the great Egyptologist, Professor James Breasted of Chicago University said in his 5-volume work on ancient Egypt that it presaged the trinity in Christianity.
It was in the 1950's when, as a junior researcher at the UN, I was asked to help find if genocide was ever practiced in ancient Egypt. At the New York Public Library, I read Breasted's five volumes in search for clues. I found none, with the exception of two episodes of "secondary genocide:" a siege, and the destruction of wheat fields. No mass killings of other humans, non-involved civilians. That was five-thousand years ago, with no national, let alone international conventions, on genocide. Only the rules of common sense for common humanity.
So from Isis the Queen, to ISIS, the head cutters; from giving life, to decapitation; from the creation of great monuments, to the destruction of temples, churches and mosques; from the belief in great science and engineering on the banks of the Nile, the Tigris and the Euphrates, to the stockpiling of material intended for destruction in the name of God. An amazing decline in values, an uptick in the elevation of fiction to the level of belief such as jihad in the ISIS fashion. History does not repeat itself; its gears are pushed in reverse.
The decapitation of Foley is a clear signal for a close look at our interpretation of faith and force. They don't mix. ISIS mixes them because it serves the purposes of using the garb of Islam to hide their tools for decapitation of civilization. They use the rage against the West on the Arab and Muslim streets as leverage; the lack of cohesiveness among the 1.6 billion Muslims as an incubator for breeding brainless future jihadis, ready to proclaim an Islamic People's Republic of Terror.
It is amazing how such vicious Muslim renegades can be thought of as possible negotiating partners! There are no values, no commitment to law either domestic or international; no feeling for the right of others to their beliefs; and no regard to their own book, the Quran, that murder is a capital sin!!
Holding Foley's severed head with one hand, and the black flag of ISIS with the other, is a gruesome macabre. On that black flag is the Islamic inscription of "Muhammad, God's Messenger." Neither Muhammad nor God have anything to do with these animals who are masquerading as humans. In fact the common blessing in Islam is "In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful." Where is the ISIS belief in God's graciousness and in God's mercy?
By their deeds, they mock Islam, let alone other creeds. In non-recognition of their flag, the Quran says: "And now they reject the truth when it reaches them: but soon shall they learn the reality of what they used to mock at" (Chapter 6, verse 5). The future cannot be on the side of darkness. ISIS began with 3000 fighters; says it now has 20,000. But as they lost at the Mosul Dam, so they shall lose what they had gained by stealth, jihadi false propaganda, ransoms, and commandeered resources. May their loss at the Mosul Dam, thanks to U.S. air strikes and indigenous military footprint on the ground, be the beginning of the end of their farce.
But to defeat them, we first have to go into the ISIS brain. I needed to find a manifesto, an interpretation of their outlook on jihad. I needed to read their words to assess their idiocy. Coming back empty, I looked into the declaration of their cohorts -"Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis," the Gaza-based lunatics. Here is a summary of a video released in late August urging Egypt's army and police to defect. Just read and wonder about the voodoo rationale of these transnational non-State actors.
Using the modus operandi of ISIS, that terrorist group whose name translates into "The Friends of Jerusalem," show how they kill members of Egyptian forces in Sinai. Their leader, Ibrahim Al-Rubaish, taunts his targets by saying: "You have sold your faith for a loaf of bread." Then he adds: "You have worshipped El-Sisi instead of God. Do not blame us for killing you only because you pray and fast. You do not cry for the death of the noble Mujahedeen as you murder them."
"The Friends of Jerusalem," whose terrorism in Sinai has forced Egypt to declare them and their allies, Hamas, a terrorist organization goes on in its video to say: "El-Sisi is standing by his friendship with America. He would have no chance of survival without your weapons guarding him and obeying his orders. By doing that, you have disobeyed your Creator and sided with El-Sisi." Then Al-Rubaish adds: "I have searched the Quran and the Sunna (Muhammad's prenouncements and conduct) and found no justification for you, soldiers and policemen, to put your duties above God's orders. Your livelihood is in the hands of God, not in the uniform that you are wearing."
This is only a small segment of their heinous propaganda, which proclaims them as the interpreters of Islam. Disobeying them is made to sound as rejecting God!! It is a savage psychological warfare aimed at untutored masses and intended for mass panic. From "The Friends of Jerusalem," to Hamas, to the Brotherhood which gave birth to Hamas, to ISIS -it is one single tapestry but with different colors, woven in hell. That tapestry hangs together; its elimination needs regional hands and international shock and awe actors. A piecemeal approach is likely to needlessly prolong the agony.
Against this incredible array of facts against ISIS and similar organizations, it is unbelievable to find American media calling on Egypt to make peace with the Muslim Brotherhood.
On CNN last Sunday, August 17, Fareed Zakaria once more is stuck on his old script. He proclaims that "the Arab Spring in Egypt has failed to advance the cause of democracy in view of its crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood." Do the CNN pundits think that bringing Morsi back is possible? Is disfranchising the huge majority which voted for "El-Sisi Raiisi (my President)" a workable answer? When Egypt is fighting today for its secular identity, are those talking heads advocating a halt, so that their definition of democracy would prevail? Have they heard of "The Islamic project," called for by Morsi when he was in power, which was a scheme excluding everyone else except for Morsi's real base -the Muslim Brotherhood? Shouldn't the rise of ISIS change Zakaria's outlook in view of this game -changing menace?
This week, the Sinai authorities discovered five headless bodies in various parts of that desert province. The trademark of ISIS is already discernible in Egypt!!
The big question is: In an existential struggle, such as that of Egypt's secularists vs. the Brotherhood and its affiliates, which should come first, classical democracy or classical security?
During America's civil war, President Lincoln suspended habeas corpus, together with other provisions of the American Bill of Rights. The American Union was fighting for its existence.
So is with Egypt of today: The survival of the State's identity within its historic character comes before Mr. Zakaria's definition of what should constitute ultimate freedom. He is blissfully immune from the politics of Tahrir, and from the aspirations for a better life for 93 million Egyptians. Zakaria's silence would truly be made of gold for the land of the Nile.
The truth does not exist within the CNN studios. It only shows its face on the Egyptian street so that a repeat of the James Foley's decapitation would never be attempted in Tahrir Square. Queen Isis stood for the victory of good over evil. ISIS stands for evil pure and simple. May the soul of Jim Foley rest in peace!! And may the Murderers without Borders receive their punishment from above and from below!!
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