“In fact the only way a Muslim could Islamically justify serving as a soldier in the U.S. army is if his intention is to follow the footsteps of men like Nidal.” “Alleged Fort Hood Gunman a Hero, Says Islamic Cleric With Suspected 9/11 Links,” by Patrick Goodenough for CNS News, November 9:
(CNSNews.com) – The Muslim U.S. Army major accused of shooting dead 13 people at Fort Hood last Thursday was a “hero” who faced a choice of betraying his nation or betraying Islam, according to a radical U.S.-born cleric whose possible links with Maj. Nidal Hasan are now under investigation.
The cleric, Anwar al-Awlaki, led a northern Virginia mosque in 2001 which was attended by Hasan – and by three of the 9/11 hijackers.
Questioned but not arrested after the 9/11 attacks, he is now based in Yemen, from where his online lectures have been inspiring jihadists over the years since.
London’s Sunday Telegraph first reported at the weekend that Hasan had attended Dar al Hijrah Islamic Center in Falls Church during Awlaki’s tenure in 2001. Officials subsequently told U.S. media outlets investigators were looking into possible links between Awlaki and Hasan.
In a posting on his Web site Monday, Awlaki praised Hasan, calling him “a man of conscience who could not bear living the contradiction of being a Muslim and serving in an army that is fighting against his own people.”
He criticized U.S. Muslim organizations for condemning the shooting attack, calling them hypocrites and – quoting from the Koran – saying “painful punishment” awaited them….
Here we have an interesting situation. Awlaki thinks Hasan is a hero and that what he did was Koranically and Islamically correct. Lindsey Graham and many others think that what he did had nothing to do with Islam. It would be illuminating and instructive if we were able to have a public discussion about this, and about why it is important in the first place. But of course, we won’t.
“Nidal opened fire on soldiers who were on their way to be deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan,” Awlaki said. “How can there be any dispute about the virtue of what he has done?”
“In fact the only way a Muslim could Islamically justify serving as a soldier in the U.S. army is if his intention is to follow the footsteps of men like Nidal.”….