Perhaps he was a true beggar, motivated by the following hadith that has long convinced those who have little here in the now to “martyr” themselves for a more glorious hereafter? “Abu Bakr said that Muhammad declared that ‘The gates of paradise lay under the shadow of the swords.’ So a poverty-stricken, haggard-looking man arose and said, ‘Did you really hear the Messenger of Allah say that?’ Bakr said ‘Yes.’ So the man went back to his friends and bid them farewell. Then he broke the scabbard off his sword and flung it away. He then proceeded to walk with his sword to the enemy’s [infidels’] camp. He slashed away till slain.” Al-Qaeda’s Second, Ayman Zawahiri often quotes this hadith (see The Al Qaeda Reader, 152).
“‘Beggar’ suicide blast, other attacks kill 21 in Afghanistan,” from AFP, September 7:
HERAT, Afghanistan (AFP) “” A Taliban suicide bomber dressed as a beggar blew up an Afghan government building Saturday, killing six people, as two NATO soldiers and a dozen other people died in more unrest, officials said.
The disguised bomber gunned down a security guard and then detonated explosives at the government offices, with two state prosecutors among his victims, Nimroz provincial governor Ghulam Dastgir Azad said.
The blast brought down the single-storey building in the town of Zaranj on the southwestern border with Iran, the governor told AFP.
“We have recovered so far six bodies,” he said. The dead were provincial attorney Anwar Shah Khan, his 20-year-old son, his deputy and three civilians, Azad said.
“The whole building has collapsed. There might be more casualties,” he added.
A spokesman for the rebel Taliban movement said the bomber was a member of the militia, which has dramatically stepped up attacks this year.