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A viewpoint from a Lebanese writer …
The Chechen, his brother and the country they betrayed
I have been reading about the murdered [sic!] Chechen Tamerlan Tsarnaev and his younger detained brother Dzhokhar, his partner in the bloody Boston twin bombings last Monday. I think what I have read so far is equal to more than a huge book. But I haven’t read anything stating that Tamerlan held a stable job to support himself, his wife and his younger daughter, Zahra, who is almost three years old.
He enrolled in a graduate institute where he later met his wife, who comes from a wealthy background. She finished her studies and achieved her dream in 2007 and graduated. She stayed with him, married him, converted to Islam and wore the veil, exactly like he wanted her to do. However, he withdrew from the graduate institute as he did not bear staying there for more than two years. He did not finish his education and he left defeated.
‘A corpse’
I surfed a YouTube channel registered in his full name for hours. I did not find a single video that has anything to do with a cultural or educational topic or at least any topic that can help a 26-year-old man like him develop his capabilities and move on with his life. I also did not come across any comment by him on any other video that may have interested him. It is as if he lacks curiosity; as if he is a corpse that has nothing to do with life’s affairs.
On his YouTube channel, I found other users’ religiously inciting videos. They included interpretations of Islam. But the videos confirmed that he deviated away from an understanding of the Qur’an, including the verse: “And we have not sent you except as a mercy for mankind.”
These videos reflected his deviation from the religion; a religion that boasts tolerance and permanent motivation to produce, build, develop, and make efforts to support families and the poor.
Betrayal
The Chechen is the complete opposite of that. He is a model of those who do nothing and above all kill innocent people and betray a country that received them as refugees and that welcomed them. He is a model of those who betrayed a country that provided job opportunities. And instead of working hard to show gratitude, they terrorized and treacherously killed people, thinking that paradise has only one bridge paved with innocent corpses. And thinking that only murderers of innocent people cross that bridge in the name of a tolerant religion that they deviated from, believing they are on the right path.
And so, a verse from the Quran applies to them: “… Those whose efforts have been wasted in this life, while they thought that they were acquiring good by their deeds” (Verse 104 of Surah al-Kahef (The Cave).
The Chechen planned on killing and dying without thinking of a daughter left behind, alone without him. With his daughter, he left behind an American wife who comes from a respectable family and who converted to Islam for him. He abandoned all his strong ties. He left them to confront their fates because he selfishly thought that immortality cannot be achieved for Muslims unless by taking a shortcut; a quick act of murder and terror.
About the author:
Kamal Kobeissi, a Lebanese writer based in London, is a reporter and news producer at Al Arabiya.
In 2008 he wrote an article – The Causes of the Lebanese Civil War.
Khorasan in the time of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) included the whole of Afghanistan, Northern parts of Pakistan including Malakand Division, Central Asian States, part of Iran. Still a province in the North East of the Iran is named as Khorasan. Details
The basic purpose of this page is to create awareness among our Muslim youth about the army that will rise from the area of Khurasan holding Black Flags of Islam . This army will conquer many occupied lands of Muslims till it reaches to Jerusalem . Then it will pledge its allegiance to Imam al Mahdi (A.S) .
Hadiths:
The Prophet had informed the people of the martyrdom of Zaid, Ja’far and Ibn Rawaha before the news of their death reached. The Prophet said, “Zaid took the flag (as the commander of the army) and was martyred, then Ja’far took it and was martyred, and then Ibn Rawaha took it (Ar Raya) and was martyred.” At that time the Prophet’s eyes were shedding tears. He added, “Then the flag was taken by a Sword amongst the Swords of Allah (i.e. Khalid) and Allah made them (i.e. the Muslims) victorious.”Chechen Insurgency Leader Doku Umarov Tells Chechens Not to Fight in Syria
The Lebanese writer might need to know that
I’m actually interested in her, because of her conversion to Islam and going so far as to wear something that’s almost a burqa, much more than a headscarf.
Reports have described her as “raised as a Christian”. I hate it when someone says somebody is a Christian, since the background culture of our Western society is Christianity, so when you hear that someone is a “Christian”, you want to know what kind of Christian: Catholic, Methodist, evangelical, etc. I googled, but could not find a single report that said what denomination she was raised in. This recent story about her specifically mentions that she converted to Islam, but not that she was “raised as a Christian”. (It also has a photo of her in that hideous clothing.)
So I suspect that she was not given a religious upbringing. People like that are more likely to join cults; a Westerner converting to Islam isn’t that much different from joining a cult. To quote Ibn Kammuna:
Tamerlan was likely the most interesting and sexiest man she’d ever met. She probably didn’t need much prodding to convert to Islam to hold onto him. Although agree that that step would have been easier for her if she weren’t previously steeped in a devout Christian sect.
Several news reports are making a big to do out of the fact that they had screaming fights. As if that is rare. Or a sign of a troubled marriage (it’s often quite the opposite). Even Tamalan’s former girlfriend that called the cops on him for slapping her a few years ago still says nice things about him.
Observed what I took to be a local Muslim family a few times over a period of a few months. If not for the woman’s headscarf and the man’s raggedy reddish beard might not have noticed that they were Muslim. Their three daughters were cute and lively. Next time all the little girls were wearing headscarves and the mother was more covered than she’d been the first time. Their clothing was mismatched and well-worn enough that it was obvious that they didn’t have much money. Next time mother was in a black burqa and veil and the girls were more covered and far less lively. The eyes of the eldest girl made my heart weep for her.
Christian sect. If you are raised in any Christian denomination (other than Unitarian, which is heretical), you are taught that Christ is God, so if you are a Christian and you believe in God, you are going to believe that Jesus Christ is God. That is what (Trinitarian) Christianity is all about.
I was raised Russian Orthodox in a very laid back way, and I stopped believing when I entered puberty, but God is inconceivable to me as anything other than the Trinity. (This might remind someone of the old half-joke Are you a Catholic atheist or a Protestant atheist? I am a Christian atheist.) Thus, Islam, taken as a religious belief system, is to me something monstrous, a willful and depraved rejection of God. From a Christian point of view, Islam is nothing but a Christian heresy as farce. I really don’t see how anyone who ever had the least feeling of connection to Jesus (as I did as a boy) could ever convert to Islam.
Christians’ connection with God is Jesus; Muslims’ connection with their god is the Koran. The idea that a book can have a divine status is abhorrent to a Christian (unless they are a fundamentalist, but fundamentalists are on the margins of Christianity). This even comes out in popular culture. I don’t know if you watch Homeland, but there’s a scene that brings this out quite well, in which Brody’s wife, having just found out that he converted to Islam, and having found the Koran that he’d hidden from her, throws it on the floor:
But I think you’re probably right, Tamerlan was probably the sexiest man his wife to be had ever met. Ibn Kammuna did write that one of the reasons for converting to Islam is “infatuation with a Muslim woman”.
Doesn’t it depend on how much of the religious stuff sticks? My Catholic cousins were steeped in the “baby Jesus” which wasn’t a fetish promoted in my Catholic education. Then again Jesus Christ seemed like a fetish to me.
Perhaps I’ve seen too many convert from one religion to another to consider that core teachings of one’s original religion preclude any conversion. Other than Buddhism, I don’t respect any of them, and don’t respect Buddhism enough to join.
I guess it also depends what in particular sticks, not just how much it sticks. In my case, I never had problems with the ideas of Christ as lord and savior or with the Trinity. When I gave up Christianity, I simply stopped believing in the existence of God. I didn’t see any reason to revise my concept of God, however.
Also, this might sound silly, but when I was in high school, when I had long ago decided that believing in God is primitive, I saw the Jesus Christ Superstar movie, and took the whole thing at face value and as being basically true. (The movie does not show the Resurrection, which bothered the Catholic church, if I recall correctly.)
Jesus being a fetish: is that what this is about?
If you live in the West, you can’t run away from Christianity. It is a central part of our cultural heritage.
If someone raised Christian doesn’t want to abandon religion entirely, then becoming a Buddhist is fine. The problem with Islam is that Jesus is a very important figure in Islam: the Koran just says that what the Bible says about Jesus is false. Islam is an extremely aggressive religion. In fact, it’s a meta-religion. It’s all about how it is better than Judaism and Christianity.
Could be a toxic brew:
Still not getting how one goes from paranoid conspiracy construction to bombing a Marathon — but maybe that’s but a “failure of imagination” on my part.
This is the best piece I’ve seen on what was going on inside Tamerlan’s head:
But then the piece poses this puzzle:
The answer is obvious: he progressed to violent resistance because he was a Chechen!
Chechen identity hinges on fierce resistance
Except his Chechen identity wasn’t deep and/or long-standing. And it’s still a huge leap to lash out at the enemy of the Chechen enemy. As irrational as the US waging war against Iraq for 9/11 but among the perpetrators of that war were rational actors.
How can you know how deep and/or long-standing a person’s Chechen identity is? You can’t. Neither of the two brothers was even born in America. I was born in America, but because I’m a first generation American and my first language is Russian, I don’t have a purely American identity. In any case, assimilation takes several generations, especially if your family didn’t speak the national language. Poles who’ve lived in this country for generations still get together and dance polkas, so yes, an ethnic identity can be long-standing for people who live in America.
And why is it a “huge leap to lash out at the enemy of the Chechen enemy”? The Chechens have been oppressed by all kinds of empires, not just Russia. After a while, the oppressors just blend together in their eyes. The Chechens are a small but heroic people trying to survive in a world dominated by major powers. Russia, the United States—what’s the difference? The large countries oppress small nationalities. That is just part of the law of nature.
I have no idea of who you have in mind when you speak of “rational actors” among the “perpetrators” of the war against Iraq, unless you’re referring to the neocons, and are assuming that their intent was simply to destroy Iraq. But I don’t think their intent was to turn Iraq into a failed state. I really think they thought that they could turn Iraq into a functional satellite of the U.S./Israel, in the same way that the U.S. was able to turn Germany and Japan into satellites after World War II.
My maternal grandparents were immigrants from Germany and Austria and spoke only German in the home until their first born started school and was basically expelled because she couldn’t speak English. From that moment on in the presence of the children, it was an English only home and their first three children lost their first language. Not one of their five children identified with Germany/Austria and all but one ignored their mother’s wish that they would marry German Catholics. They kept the religion and some of the food but that was it. Were staunch supporters of the Allies in WWI even while their mother was ambivalent. Place formed them. And place included Italian, Polish, and Swiss Catholics which undoubtedly factored into retaining the religion.
Wasn’t discounting whatever the children in the Tsarnaev family experienced during their formative years — but based on the reports so far, the family was casual, at best, in their religious and Chechen identity and spoke Russian. What I won’t discount is the statements from their parents, uncle, and aunt that reject the familial religious and ethnic identity as the basis for what these young men did.
wrt Iraq — yes, was referring to the neo-cons as the rational actors. Would guess that more like a “banana republic” that could be plundered by US corporations was closer to what they had in mind for Iraq than Germany or Japan. Their frame of reference was the Cold War and not WWII.
Well, I was an only child and we didn’t speak English at home, so when I went to kindergarten (a German innovation, as you probably know), I couldn’t speak English. But I wasn’t expelled, and somehow I learned English. I remember when I was a little boy my father making me speak English to improve it, but when my mother was around, we never spoke in English, and I have never been comfortable speaking to my parents in English. So it’s not even as if my family was bilingual.
Since my parents were White Russians (anti-Communists), there was never a question of divided loyalty. That said, since the U.S. had no valid reason to get involved in WW I, I am unimpressed by your family having been “staunch supporters of the Allies”. (Remember, the Russians fought against the Germans, so I am looking at this from an American, not a Russian, point of view.) The correct course of action for America in World War I was not to get involved, in the same way that the U.S. should not have invaded Afghanistan or Iraq.
And why did your grandmother insist that her children marry German Catholics? What did she have against German Protestants? All Luther did was try to reform the Catholic church, but that church put up more resistance than he ever expected. It took him a while to realize that Rome is the Whore of Babylon.
I think I understand now why you reject religion in general. This is because you come from a Catholic background. But as an ethnic German, you should be able to relate to liberal Protestantism.
If you forgot about about your Catholic heritage, you would become comfortable with Christianity. That’s what happened with me. It became obvious to me that Russian Orthodoxy is extremely primitive. But I eventually learned that Lutherans believe the same things as Russian Orthodox; Lutherans are just more sophisticated.
In other words, your universal rejection of religion is simply a consequence of your inability, as someone raised as a Catholic, to admit that Luther was right, and to embrace the Protestant spirit.
Meant WWII.
I’m kind, non-violent, and an egalitarian. Don’t need an imaginary director in the heavens constructed by human mind to control and explain what happens on earth. But thank you for your concern.
Yesterday I watched here on Dutch television our new FM Timmermans who has been admired for his balanced view IP conflict. Nothing of his liberal views are expressed now that he is part of the Dutch bovernment and joins EU discussion on policy towards sending arms into Syria. He has conformed himself to the neocolonial policy set forth by Britain, France and the US. No intention to solve the civil strife through the UN Security Council, never spoke of the contrarian views of Russia/China on the sovereighty of a nation.
As a result of the long conflict, over 100 Dutch nationals heve gone to training camps of the jihadists in Northern Syria to fight and slaughter Shia muslims allied to the Assad regime. There was an extended interview with a person who facilitates the flight of Dutch men to the warfront. I listened to the arguments for Muslim youth to go on this jihad. Amazing how easy it is to deliver these youth to the bloodbaths in Syria.
Best argument he could make, you will be close to paradise, you will be amongst comrades and there will be no authority except Allah and you will live and die according to Sharia law. None have their mind set for a return to the Netherlands, their goal is to be martyred and be buried in Al Sham. Democracy has failed the people of Syria and the West does not prevent Muslims from being slaughtered by the dogs of Assad.
To radicalize, is a very small step when paradise is promised. Not just scary, but illustrates the harm of fueling any war by propaganda. Just confirms how illusionary the Obama/Clinton policy was/is in the Middle-East region. John Kerry on his present visit to the region suffers the same illness. No words for it but disgust. Violence begets violence.
Recall from a few years ago when the human rights advocate Samantha Powers was appearing on Bill Moyers show. Was impressed with her work and passion until it hit me one day that she never, ever, applied the same standards to what this country was doing in Iraq and Afghanistan to what the indigenous Arabs were doing to the non-Arabs in Dafur. Crystallized the liberal human rights mindset for me and explains why people like Hillary Clinton and John Kerry could support the invasion of Iraq and regime change in Libya and Syria and advocate for continuing to support theocratic dictatorships and monarchies in other countries.
that article claims that Tam went to Dagestan to visit his parents in 2011. True? Other reports have both parent in the US in the early months of 2012 when he did travel there.
But given the shortage of connections to radical Muslim mosques and individuals, it’s odd that Russia would have seen any – particularly if Tam wasn’t in Dagestan in 2011.
Guess we’ll all have to buy that he was self-radicalized from the internet and his smart but loyal young brother went along with the crazy scheme.