Here’s the court room exchange.
When he was later asked what his defence to the charge of murder was, he said: "I am a soldier. I'm a soldier of Allah".
He also told the Old Bailey he loved extremist network al-Qaeda.
Adebolajo said: "Al-Qaeda I consider to be Mujahideen. I love them, they're my brothers. I have never met them. I consider them my brothers in Islam."
He said he had been brought up as a Christian by his family and his parents had taken him to church every Sunday.
"The memory that sticks in my mind... is probably every New Year's Eve in the evening around 11 o'clock we would gather around in candlelight and read passages from the Bible," he said.
He converted to Islam in his first year as a student at Greenwich University.
Last week, CCTV footage of him running towards the police car with a meat cleaver raised was shown to the court. He said he should be ransomed back to other jihadi fighters, set free or killed if he was found guilty.
"I’m not even able to fathom how someone would start killing in the name of a new religion he just professed a few years ago."
ReplyDeleteSadly, this is very real. First, me. I converted to Islam in Autumn of 2009. By 2010-2011ish I was a very hardcore Salafi. I literally dreamed of being a shahid for Allah. I wanted to fight the Americans, Israelis, Shi'ites, Hindus, and the corrupt "Muslim" governments. Second, somebody I knew. He was known as "Uncle Umar". He converted 2 months before I did; in Ramadhan 2009. A few months ago I heard the news that he had died fighting for the FSA in Syria. He was from Toronto and had a wife and children.
I can't answer exactly why other people are this way, but speaking for myself, hopefully I can shed some light. I had zeal for my new religion. I wanted to be the perfect Muslim. Combine that with the fact that the people I hung around were Salafis, and you have a deadly mix. The Jumuah khutbahs were almost always political. Martyrs were glorified. "Shaykh" Osama bin Laden was a Shahid to be celebrated and mourned. I also had considerable influence from online Salafis. It's a very slippery slope to go down. Insha'Allah the others that are like me will find the light of Ahulbayt (as) and realize that Islam is not about killing non-Sunnis but rather it is about love and compassion for our fellow beings. Prophet Muhammad (sawa) was so compassionate that he pardoned the very people that fought him for years and killed many of his close friends. He should be the example for Muslims to follow insha'Allah.
Thanks for sharing your views.
ReplyDeleteI definitely cannot understand the converts mentality. It's weird for me to find people to suddenly become unstable or hardcore about religion. I also think the extremist mentality goes hand and hand with delusion of grandeur where people think they are serving a greater cause (like establishment of an Islamic government or serving their dirtbag Muslim brethren). People should always think for themselves and stop being brainwashed by ideas/fantasy which doesn't do good to anyone.
You're welcome.
ReplyDeleteI think it has a lot to do with "convertitis". The majority of people that convert from one ideology to another do it by jumping in with both feet. They are absolutely committed to their new ideology to the point that they aren't being rational anymore. People that convert to Christianity will go all out missionary style. People that convert to Islam can quickly get sucked in by the Salafis. I'm sure other religions experience the same things when it comes to converts. Very eager but not knowledgeable. It's a toxic mix.
Yes, I agree. Thinking for yourself is a good thing. Unfortunately, that's hard to do when you don't have the required level of knowledge. Imagine a brand new convert to Islam. He hasn't read the Qur'an yet. He hasn't studied the ahadeeth. He knows very little about the history. If somebody claims to present an Islamic perspective, he will probably follow it hook, line and sinker. It's not that he wouldn't think for himself if he could. But he does not have the ability to yet. How can you counter the Wahhabis if you don't know your own ideology well enough?
I mostly don't agree with almost everything you said except this: "They are absolutely committed to their new ideology to the point that they aren't being rational anymore".
ReplyDeleteWhy is it that people who converts to other religions (e.g Islam or Christianity) eventually end up not thinking much despite the fact that it was their thinking (thought process) that brought them to the new religion?
Secondly, this whole..oh I need to find a master to teach me about Islam because I'm so new at this and I'm soo soo scared ..I'll get "things" wrong, is silly. What, you don't see books around you? Google search doesn't work at your end? Are you living all by yourself in the North Pole? Why put your faith in the hands of someone who may not know better himself/herself.
Thirdly, over-relying on hadiths has been the most destructive force in Islam. Hadiths are Islamic literature, secondary sources. You read and analyze them to form opinions about people, culture and sometimes Islamic practices but you don't let it control your mind and rule your life. Only fools let their minds be controlled by whatever the hadith peddlers think was important to them but maybe not to you.
Thanks for your comments.
Your first point is rather interesting. The reason, I think, that most people stop thinking once they've converted is because they are so firm in their new belief that they can't handle going through yet another existential crisis. For example, when I first became a Shia, my Sunni/Salafi "friends" (if you can really call them that) were furious and began to spew meaningless (or so I thought) propaganda. After 2 years and much research, I have realized that their propaganda is rooted in fact. It might be a little sensationalized or a little exaggerated, but it is, for the most part, rooted in truth. But I dismissed it because I couldn't dare look at my new found beliefs in a negative light. Now, however, I am much more able to take the criticism and answer it with a level head.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your second point, to a degree. Limiting yourself to a single "master" is quite a terrible idea in my humble opinion. It is for this reason, among many others, that I disagree with the modern system of taqleed that has taken over popular Shi'ism. I don't do away with taqleed entirely, but I find it useless to stick with a single fallible person and obey their every command. That takes away our humanity and our right to think for ourselves. It takes away our ability to look at the various opinions and come to a mature conclusion on our own. However, I do disagree with you on a point. Using books and Google are great; but at the end of the day, what are you doing? You are taking advice from the fallible person that wrote that book. Or the fallible person that put their opinion on the web.
This ties into your third point, which I disagree with. I would rather rely on the ahadeeth than a book written by a fallible person. Why? The ahadeeth may be secondary sources, I agree. But these books are tertiary sources at best. I do agree that some people put too much weight on the ahadeeth, a flawed method of recording what the ma'sumeen have said, but I do believe that it is better than nothing. KitabAllah wa Ahlulbayti. We have the Qur'an (which is only half of what we need at best; less than that at worse - if you believe in tahreef). How do we follow the ahlulbayt? By looking at what they said and did via the ahadeeth.
Just out of curiosity, how do you organize the massively disorganized religion of Islam into a nice set of beliefs and practices that you can adhere to? My method is very flawed, but, as far as I know, it's the best I've got. I'd be very interested to hear yours.
Thanks for your replies :)