• Why Jihad Watch?
  • About Robert Spencer and Staff Writers
  • FAQ
  • Books
  • Muhammad
  • Islam 101
  • Privacy

Jihad Watch

Exposing the role that Islamic jihad theology and ideology play in the modern global conflicts

Chattanooga jihad murderer wrote in diary about “becoming a martyr”

Jul 20, 2015 11:26 am By Robert Spencer

Mohammad Youssuf AbdulazeezHe drank. He smoked marijuana. He lost his job. He was going bankrupt. These are the explanations that are being offered today for why Mohammod Abdulazeez murdered four Marines. No explanation is being offered for why all the other people who drink, smoke marijuana, lose their jobs and go bankrupt don’t murder four Marines, or even three or two or one, or anyone else, for that matter. But nonetheless, the picture being painted is that Abdulazeez was depressed, he was suicidal, and so he snapped. That’s all. Nothing to do with Islam, you see. Nothing to do with jihad, or with the propaganda videos he watched about “children getting killed in Syria” — videos that were produced precisely so as to arouse those who watched them to take up jihad themselves.

What neither ABC News nor anyone else proffering this analysis today doesn’t understand is that Abdulazeez’s drug and alcohol use and his desire to “become a martyr” are not two incompatible aspects of his personality. In reality, one fed the other. As someone who tried to be a devout Muslim, he knew he was sinning, and knew that the only way he could make sure that his good deeds outweighed his bad deeds would be to perform the supremely good deed: jihad. The Qur’an says: “We shall set up scales of justice for the Day of Judgment,” says the Koran (21:47): if one’s good deeds outweigh one’s evil deeds, one will go to Paradise, but if one’s evil deeds outweigh one’s good deeds, one will go to hell.

And what good deed weighs the most?

Allah’s Apostle was asked, “What is the best deed?” He replied, “To believe in Allah and His Apostle (Muhammad). The questioner then asked, “What is the next (in goodness)? He replied, “To participate in Jihad (religious fighting) in Allah’s Cause.” (Bukhari 1.2.25)

So if a believer goes on jihad, his good deeds will outweigh all his evil deeds. Thus if a jihadist knows he is about to wage a great jihad, he knows its value will outweigh anything evil he has done. He knows that he can assuage his guilty conscience over drinking and smoking marijuana, and guarantee for himself a place in Paradise.

Also, in moments of personal distress, many people of all faith backgrounds turn to their religion and become more observant and devout. In Abdulazeez’s case, that could have led him to heed the Islamic State’s call to the devout, to murder U.S. military personnel.

“Chattanooga Shooting: FBI Recovers Gunman’s Disturbing Diary,” by Brian Ross, Doug Lantz and James Gordon Meek, ABC News, July 20, 2015:

With more than 30 FBI agents due to arrive today in Chattanooga, a diary belonging to the gunman and FBI interviews with his parents paint a picture of a disturbed, suicidal young man using drugs, preparing for bankruptcy and facing an appearance in criminal court, according to a representative of the shooter’ s family.

Four days after the shooting, the FBI has not found any connection to overseas terrorist groups, but Mohammod Abdulazeez’s diary says that as far back as 2013, he wrote about having suicidal thoughts and “becoming a martyr” after losing his job due to his drug use, both prescription and non-prescription drugs, the family representative said.

In a downward spiral, Abdulazeez would abuse sleeping pills, opioids, painkillers and marijuana, along with alcohol, the representative said.

Most recently, the 24-year-old was having problems dealing with a 12 hour overnight shift, and had to take sleeping pills, according to the representative. The young man was also thousands of dollars in debt and considering filing for bankruptcy.

Three months before the shooting, Abdulazeez was arrested on April 20 — a day celebrated annually by marijuana users — and charged with drunk driving. The arresting officer noted a smell of marijuana in the car.

The discovery of the diary comes as investigators also work to solve the mystery of Abdulazeez’s actions in the days leading up to the deadly shooting. The family representative told ABC News Abdulazeez rented the silver Mustang Tuesday, showed up at the local mosque and took a friend on a “joy ride” until 3 a.m. He did not sleep at his parents’ home for the next two nights and the FBI is seeking to retrace his steps.

“He bragged about [the car], and was showing it off to friends about how fast it would go,” the family representative said Sunday.

On Wednesday, Abdulazeez shot and killed four Marines and fatally wounded a Navy sailor after opening fire on two unguarded military facilities in Chattanooga.

The family representative said Sunday that the family told the FBI there were no outward signs of radicalization but added Abdulazeez “was susceptible to bad influences” and would be affected by watching news accounts of “children being killed in Syria.” For all his struggles with drugs, the representative said, Abdulazeez also struggled with being a devout Muslim.

The family representative said Abdulazeez had a number of guns in his house and often used them to go hunting or for target practice with friends at nearby firing ranges. FBI agents recently focused on the Walmart in Hixson, where officials tell ABC News Abdulazeez bought ammunition for his guns on July 11. Two young men, seen with Abdulazeez in the store, are being sought for questioning although they are not believed to be accomplices.

The family representative said Abdulazeez’s family sought, without success, to get him treatment for his mental illness, and to keep him away from a group of friends with whom he would drink and smoke marijuana.

A seven-month trip to Jordan last year was an effort to “get him away from bad influences in the U.S.,” not part of a path to radicalization, the family told agents….

Still, for the FBI, the psychological profile of the disturbed young man does not explain why he chose two U.S. military targets, seven miles apart, for his deadly mission.

Yes, that’s a total mystery. It couldn’t possibly have anything to do with the Islamic State’s call for lone wolf attacks on military personnel, now, could it?

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • More
  • Click to share on Skype (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)

Follow me on Facebook

Filed Under: American jihadis, Featured, Jihad in the U.S., United States, Useful idiots, willful ignorance Tagged With: Mohammod Youssuf Abdulazeez


Learn more about RevenueStripe...

Comments

  1. ich says

    Jul 20, 2015 at 11:30 am

    what a crock

    I cant wait for Obama to be gone.

    Good riddins.

    • jihad3tracker says

      Jul 20, 2015 at 2:07 pm

      Permit me to dive into your swimming pool with a relevant link to the latest weepy attempt at deceiving us into a thimbleful of sympathy for this Allah-loving murderer :

      http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/family-tennessee-shooter-fought-depression-substance-abuse/ar-AAdeUeG

      An Associated Press report about how VERY SAD TRAGIC AWFULL ! ! ! were the problems that Abdulazeez had to cope with. Here is the inevitable Muslim excuser IN PARAGRAPH ELEVEN — BASSAM ISSA of Chattanooga’s Islamic society.

      Howzabout sending him an email ? Among other points you make, remind him that MILLIONS OF OTHER AMERICANS also struggle with depression and substance abuse. BUT 99.9 PERCENT OF THEM do not kill exactly the kind of persons that ISIS has encouraged Muslims to slaughter . . . U.S. military.

      And by the way, important : make the subject line of your email empathetic so he will open it — taqiyya in reverse, shall we say ?

      • jihad3tracker says

        Jul 20, 2015 at 2:09 pm

        CORRECTION — BASSAM ISSA IS IN THE 18TH PARAGRAPH.

    • Dee says

      Jul 21, 2015 at 1:16 pm

      He shouldn’t have been in there in the first place. He stole of office and now the American people are paying a high price for it.-

  2. Jay Boo says

    Jul 20, 2015 at 11:39 am

    Why don’t they call it by its name.
    If not terrorism then it is at least a HATE CRIME against non-Muslims.

    Wrong premise is used to milk out a Wrong conclusion
    The sheeple news media knee jerk (PC) initial assumptions.
    1 It must be a self-radicalized lone-wolf.
    2 Motivation is mental illness (not Islam).
    Their Conclusion — (We are helpless to stop this kind of attack).
    Yes they actually say that.

    • jihad3tracker says

      Jul 20, 2015 at 12:25 pm

      Hello Jay — Thanks hugely for mentioning Truth with a capital “T”, that hit my shaggy old noggin like a lightning bolt about two weeks ago: WHAT WE SEE AROUND THE WORLD AND IN THE U.S. NOW ARE ******** MUSLIM HATE CRIMES *********.

      ISIS AND BOKO HARAM — WHEN THEY SUBJUGATE AND SLAUGHTER INNOCENT CHILDREN, WOMEN, GAYS, AND MEN — HAVE “TERRORISM” AS A DISTINCTLY SECONDARY MOTIVE.

      The pathology they undertake to please bloodthirsty Allah is justified by suras in the Qur’an, passages in Hadith, and examples in the Sira. When not busy beheading + crucifying + shooting + bombing + immolating + arsonising + stoning + amputating + rooftop-tossing + kidnapping + inventing new ways to subjugate and kill, those jolly fellows either clean their firearms or study the Trilogy . . .

      THEY ARE EXPERTS IN ISLAMIC TEXT & TEACHING WHO COULD PUT EVEN THE RENOWNED IMAM ANJEM CHOUDARY INTO THE AMATEUR’S CUBBYHOLE.

      So let all of us readers and commenters here turn a corner today, and PROMISE we will abandon “terrorism” as an inaccurate descriptive in all but the rarest occurrences, using “hate crime” instead. Those words are the sole resonators for Westerners marinating in a privlilege guilt bucket.

      Use them in conversations with clueless family and friends, emails to elected officials and media-enablers, letters to editors —– every possible opportunity. REVISING TERMINOLOGY CAN CHANGE UNDERSTANDING . . .

  3. marty says

    Jul 20, 2015 at 11:40 am

    It’s a pity he didn’t have the decency in his depression to simply kill himself and leave others alone.

    • Jan Aage Jeppersen says

      Jul 20, 2015 at 1:00 pm

      It is possible that Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez had been suffering from depression for years, but it is impossible that he was depressed when he acted as a jihadi and killed infidels.

      If the killer was depressed at some time prior to the act I suggest that this would be in the phase when he tried to make sense of the revelations in the Quran and hadiths. Any normal person would be depressed when reading such gruesome, barbaric, inhuman and perverse documents. I got depressed when reading Martin Luther’s Jew hating pamphlet “The Jews and their lies”, and Hitler’s “Mein Kampf”. And of course when I read the Quran.

      Had the killer survived he would not have shown any signs of depression. Instead he would have seemed spiritually intoxicated. I base this on observations and conclusions made by Jessica Stern, the author of “Terror in the name of God”.

      Stern reflected the puzzlement that initially strikes almost everyone encountering Islamist terrorism until they come to understand its ideology as a pseudo religion rather than as a political movement. She writes:

      “I have come to see that apocalyptic violence intended to `cleanse` the world of `impurities` can create a transcendent state. All the terrorist groups examined in this book believe – or at least started out believing – that they are creating a more perfect world. From their perspective, they are purifying the world of injustice, cruelty, and all that is anti-human. When I began this project, I could not understand why the killers I met seemed spiritually intoxicated. Now, I think I understand. They seem stat way because they are.”

      The joint commissioner of the Mumbai police, Rakesh Maria, said of the captured terrorist Muhammad Ajmal Kasab, the only surviving perpetrator of the 2008 mass murder in Mumbai, India, “He was led to believe that he was doing something holy.” He is also known as the smiling terrorist, and to me he seemed to be In an exalted state of mind and full of joy.

      The ancient Greeks called any psychic disturbance for “hiera nosos”. They were talking about holy illness. To them religious fanaticism and excitement was the original form of any mental illness. Religion, in the vicinity of which the demonical, the crime and madness are located, contain in its nature impulses and seeds to the most gruesome distortions and excesses. To the honour of the Gods more blood has been spilled than for any other purpose. As irresistible as religion only one force can take control of a human being – Eros. Both are characterized as being able to bring humans into a transcendent state of ultimate happiness and joy.

      • jihad3tracker says

        Jul 20, 2015 at 1:48 pm

        Excellent post, JAJ — I look forward to more from you.

  4. Jay Boo says

    Jul 20, 2015 at 11:44 am

    Islam is about display

    Abdulazeez is what happens when a Muslim takes a pig bath.
    Pig Bath = (Washing the outside before prayers while filling up inside on Islam’s filth)

  5. Jan Aage Jeppersen says

    Jul 20, 2015 at 11:51 am

    “Eliminate all other factors, and the one which remains must be the truth.” (Sherlock Holmes).

  6. miriamrove says

    Jul 20, 2015 at 11:54 am

    Of course his parents are now white washing this jihad terror ans saying that he was deprresed and the MS is buying it. M

    • JamesonRocks says

      Jul 20, 2015 at 1:13 pm

      Note to his parents: You are only as good a parent as your worst child.

      • miriamrove says

        Jul 20, 2015 at 1:19 pm

        Allahakbar!!! M

  7. jihad3tracker says

    Jul 20, 2015 at 11:57 am

    The following point is small comfort in the face of Mainstream Media’s constant blindness to what is staring them in the eyeballs — BUT HERE I GO ANYWAY :

    On at least two of the big-name network Sunday talk shows, current or former national security persons said that Abdulazeez is an example of “THE NEW NORMAL”.

    In other words, run-of-the-mill Muslims, not on FBI radar to any serious extent because they keep a low profile until rather soon before starting jihad, will be the most frequent source of future attacks.

    THAT AT LEAST SHREDS ISLAMOPHOBIA BULLSHITTERS LIKE CAIR + JORDAN DENARI ( AT ESPOSITO’S GEORGETOWN ACMCU ) and all the other frat boys who get their Saudi money for failed propaganda.

    Not that it will make a difference in their dog and pony show — Prince Alwaleed’s 32 BILLION BUCKS DISTRIBUTED AROUND FOR TAQIYYA buys a lot of rent and mortgage payments, plus those expensive clothes cowards and pussies love to wear as they stay out of actual jihad.

  8. Michael Copeland says

    Jul 20, 2015 at 12:15 pm

    The persistent failure by government, police, and media to grasp or express the connection to Islamic teachings makes everyone, as Raymond Ibrahim says, play Islamic Russian Roulette.

  9. AnnaK says

    Jul 20, 2015 at 12:28 pm

    It is far too difficult for them to see the common denominator present in all the terrorist attacks, lone or not. ?
    That these ” poor, abused, unemployed, loser druggies” are MUSLIM ?!
    Of course they know, nobody could be that stupid. If so, law enforcement, FBI etc needs an overhaul. Who can trust people that stupid to run anything ?
    Oh they did, under BO.! The Robert Spencers etc.out, and the mind-controlled in ! BO needs to go and Trump or Cruz or Carson come in.
    Also need a return to paper ballots or the machines will be geared to Hillary !

  10. Angemon says

    Jul 20, 2015 at 1:13 pm

    What neither ABC News nor anyone else proffering this analysis today doesn’t understand is that Abdulazeez’s drug and alcohol use and his desire to “become a martyr” are not two incompatible aspects of his personality. In reality, one fed the other.

    Pretty much.

  11. Alarmed Pig Farmer says

    Jul 20, 2015 at 1:21 pm

    Mohammod wrote about becoming a martyr? If I’m not mistaken the word martyr appears several times in the Holy Ko-Ran. In fact, martyrdom is a big deal in the Good Book. Quick, somebody shoot an email to the FBI that a clue has been unearthed, and that we now have at least a remote distant shot at ferreting out what motivated Mohammod.

    I mean, his first name might have been taken for a strong hint, given what his namesake did, according to the sacred Islamic scriptures, at least. But we’re a multicultural bunch, and don’t want to prejudiced or anything like that.

  12. Dan says

    Jul 20, 2015 at 2:24 pm

    Watch a program called, “The Downside of High” or “Downside of Being High.”

    In the old days, one joint of Marijuana was about like a bottle of beer but today a joint is closer to about six beer.

    The problem is that chemicals that make you high are not the same as those that “Mellow you out, dude.” with the increase of the former coming at the depleting of the latter.

    In regular users there has been a MEGA RISE in paranoid schizophrenia so, combine that with Islamist teachings, and you couldn’t get a better recipe for cooking up a bunch of psycho jihadists.

    • duh_swami says

      Jul 20, 2015 at 3:52 pm

      Smoking pot does not ’cause’ schizophrenia. There are people in the institution who have or do smoke pot, but no one is in there simply because they smoked it. There are people on drug programs, but they are usually for heavy drug users.

  13. Voytek Gagalka says

    Jul 20, 2015 at 3:10 pm

    How about this explanation which those “experts” conveniently overlooked:

    “He drank. He smoked marijuana…” Meaning he committed a “sin” according to his creed and according to his belief system will be punished in hell! Thus, according to the “messenger,” he has no other choice but to follow the path of jihad (i.e. become MARTYR) and thus commit his hideous crime.

  14. Filomina says

    Jul 20, 2015 at 3:24 pm

    It’s so sad to see Americans carrying out Jihad on their fellow countrymen in the name of Islam. This was definitely done for Allah. to avenge the death of Muslims in Iraq and other places.

    • Huck Folder says

      Jul 20, 2015 at 11:28 pm

      Taqiyya Troll

      • Jan Aage Jeppersen says

        Jul 21, 2015 at 7:50 am

        No Huck. Just another victim of stealth jihad.

    • Jan Aage Jeppersen says

      Jul 21, 2015 at 7:48 am

      Jihad is not about avenging anything, it is an obligation valid for all time for all Muslims to kill or subjugate non believers under the law of Allah until Islam rules the Whole World. As long as one infidel are found in the world a valid justification to wage jihad exists. No further justification is needed. Westeners think that they can avert jihad by treating Muslims better but that is an illusion put forward by Islamists and Western apologists to promote Islam and weakening the West. Psychological warfare is what it is, and it is working as you so clearly demonstrate.

  15. DRHazard says

    Jul 20, 2015 at 3:44 pm

    I agree with Robert. The most problematic doctrine in Islam is the one that states all of one’s sins and failures, no matter how many or how bad, are erased by killing certain kinds of people. The inevitable result is that the true believer who has never been able to live up to the faith can fix it all through violent Jihad. Even before any act is committed the person is immediately relieved of the huge burden of guilt that probably every single devout Muslim carries around with them.

    • duh_swami says

      Jul 20, 2015 at 3:55 pm

      Quran 8:17…It was Allah wot dunit…

  16. Walter Sieruk says

    Jul 20, 2015 at 4:15 pm

    What a confused ,wicked, and deluded guy this Mohammod Abdulazeez was. He as well a other like minded murderous jihadists who died while murdering people in the jihad were all very ignorant of the truth For they will only end up in hell for their deadly actions. They were all under the strong delusion of the false teaching of Islam. As for this Chattanooga jihad shooter, he is not in heaven but in hell. For example, the Bible teaches that a murderer “shall not inherit the kingdom of God.” Galatians 5:21. [K.J.V]

  17. sidney penny says

    Jul 20, 2015 at 7:09 pm

    “No explanation is being offered for why all the other people who drink, smoke marijuana, lose their jobs and go bankrupt don’t murder four Marines, or even three or two or one, or anyone else, for that matter.”

    Another great/super statement from Robert Spenser that makes perfect sense to me but is does not to so many, including leaders in USA and the rest of the western world. .

  18. Mark I. says

    Jul 22, 2015 at 12:35 am

    We (the government) should do what the Israeli’s do to suicide bombers parents houses. Blow them to smithereens.

FacebookYoutubeTwitterLog in

Subscribe to the Jihad Watch Daily Digest

You will receive a daily mailing containing links to the stories posted at Jihad Watch in the last 24 hours.
Enter your email address to subscribe.

Please wait...

Thank you for signing up!
If you are forwarding to a friend, please remove the unsubscribe buttons first, as they my accidentally click it.

Subscribe to all Jihad Watch posts

You will receive immediate notification.
Enter your email address to subscribe.
Note: This may be up to 15 emails a day.

Donate to JihadWatch
FrontPage Mag

Search Site

Translate

The Team

Robert Spencer in FrontPageMag
Robert Spencer in PJ Media

Articles at Jihad Watch by
Robert Spencer
Hugh Fitzgerald
Christine Douglass-Williams
Andrew Harrod
Jamie Glazov
Daniel Greenfield

Contact Us

Terror Attacks Since 9/11

Archives

  • 2020
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2019
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2018
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2017
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2016
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2015
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2014
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2013
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2012
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2011
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2010
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2009
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2008
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2007
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2006
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2005
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2004
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2003
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • March

All Categories

You Might Like

Learn more about RevenueStripe...

Recent Comments

  • gravenimage on Chief Rabbi of UK Says It’s ‘Alarming’ That 44% of Muslims Are Anti-Semitic
  • Boycott Turkey on Iranian Kurdistan: Muslim brothers behead their sister in honor killing over her romantic relationship
  • gravenimage on India: Police make first arrest for ‘love jihad’ under new law
  • Mojdeh on New study reveals that Muslim religiosity strongly linked to hatred towards the West
  • Jack on Iranian Kurdistan: Muslim brothers behead their sister in honor killing over her romantic relationship

Popular Categories

dhimmitude Sharia Jihad in the U.S ISIS / Islamic State / ISIL Iran Free Speech

Robert Spencer FaceBook Page

Robert Spencer Twitter

Robert Spencer twitter

Robert Spencer YouTube Channel

Books by Robert Spencer

Jihad Watch® is a registered trademark of Robert Spencer in the United States and/or other countries - Site Developed and Managed by Free Speech Defense

Content copyright Jihad Watch, Jihad Watch claims no credit for any images posted on this site unless otherwise noted. Images on this blog are copyright to their respective owners. If there is an image appearing on this blog that belongs to you and you do not wish for it appear on this site, please E-mail with a link to said image and it will be promptly removed.

Our mailing address is: David Horowitz Freedom Center, P.O. Box 55089, Sherman Oaks, CA 91499-1964

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.