Non-observant Muslims who commit acts of jihad terror are seeking redemption. My latest in PJ Media:
The news is full these days of stories about how everyone who knew the latest jihad attackers in New York and Minnesota is shocked — shocked! — that he could have done such a thing. If any of this shock is sincere, it is based on the difference between how the jihadi behaved before and during his jihad.
But that very difference may be why they opted to commit jihad violence: to redeem themselves after lives of sin and lack of interest in Islam.
Call it “Redemptive Jihad.”
It’s akin to what used to be called “Going Postal,” but with the supposition of a heavenly reward. This is Going Postal, Islamic style.
The New York Times reported Monday on Dahir Adan, who stabbed ten people at a mall in St. Cloud, Minnesota, on Saturday while making “references to Allah”:
[Adan] seemed like a model of assimilation, not a violent jihadist, people who knew him and his family said. The son of Somali refugees, he lived in the United States most of his life, did well in school, played sports, worked as a security guard and took classes at a local college.
Jama Alimad, a friend of the family, said:
He was a normal American kid. I can’t see anyone more assimilated than that guy.
A friend recalled:
He was such a sweet humble guy, and that’s still how I see him.
He was, said the Times, a “quiet, mild-mannered youth” who “was not especially religious, though also not an atheist.” However, there were some visible — but downplayed – problems. Adan seems to have dropped out of college, likely because of academic problems, and his brother is facing state drug charges.
The same was said about New York/New Jersey jihad bomber Ahmad Khan Rahami. He ran a chicken restaurant in New Jersey; the Times tells us of a friend’s recollection of him:
He gave me free chicken. He was always the most friendly man you ever met.
Also, according to the Times:
[H]is other known obsession was souped-up Honda Civics that he liked to race … Neighbors described him as a friendly car enthusiast and were surprised by the arrest … He used to wear Western-style clothing, and customers said he gave little indication of his heritage.
…
[Rahami] had rifts with his father, who was more religious and traditional … His father was especially displeased when Mr. Rahami had a daughter with a high school girlfriend, according to friends.
Then, as with Adan, there was a clear change:
In recent years, though, some friends noticed a marked change in his personality and religious devotion after what they believed was a trip to Afghanistan, where he and his relatives are from.
…
He grew a beard and exchanged his typical wardrobe of T-shirts and sweatpants for traditional Muslim garb. He began to pray in the back of the store. His previous genial bearing turned more stern.
There is the likely key as to why both he and Dahir Adan, mild-mannered, friendly guys, embarked on the path to jihad: they were trying to make up for previous activity regarded as sinful in an Islamic context.
Those Islamic sins include “assimilation” into Western mores (which hardline Muslims consider sinful), or simply a lack of interest in Islam.
And, jihad provides divine pardon for such sins.
A hadith — a report of Muhammad’s words that Muslims consider authoritative — depicts a Muslim asking Muhammad:
Instruct me as to such a deed as equals Jihad (in reward).
Muhammad replied:
I do not find such a deed. (Bukhari 4.52.44)
The Qur’an teaches that Allah will place a Muslim’s good deeds on one scale and bad deeds on the other, and send them to Paradise or hell depending on which scale weighs more (cf. 21:47).
A Muslim who is worried about his eternal destiny can decisively tip the scales in his favor by waging jihad, the deed that is greater than all others.
He can seize the Qur’an’s promise of Paradise for those who “kill and are killed” for Allah (9:111). This will not only make up for his sins or indifference, but will make him a hero to numerous Muslims worldwide.
We have seen this again and again.
After jihad mass murderer Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel drove a truck into a crowd in Nice, France, last July, murdering 84 people, Walid Hamou, a cousin of his wife, said:
Bouhlel was not religious. He did not go to the mosque, he did not pray, he did not observe Ramadan. He drank alcohol, ate pork and took drugs. This is all forbidden under Islam. He was not a Muslim, he was a s***. He beat his wife, my cousin, he was a nasty piece of work.
Does all that really mean that Bouhlel was not a Muslim? No. If he really did not attend mosque, did not pray, did not observe Ramadan, drank alcohol, ate pork and took drugs, all that means is that he was a bad Muslim.
He could at some point have awakened and thought: I’m headed for hell. What great deed can I perform that will outweigh all my evil deeds? The answer to that question, of course, was jihad, which according to Muhammad himself is the greatest of all deeds….
Read the rest here.

ICH says
wow these people need Jesus or atheism
mortimer says
They have made up their minds to put their life of sin behind them with the least effort and the greatest reward! If jihad fails, they can go back to sinning and then try again.
Whoever invented the term ‘REDEMPTIVE JIHAD’ is brilliant! We must all use this term FREQUENTLY, since it QUICKLY teaches the ‘jihad-skeptical’ and ‘reality-resistant’ with a memorable phrase that counterjihad has thought this issue through and that their opposition to jihad is on solid ground.
Law enforcement and security agencies need to learn and use the phrase ‘REDEMPTIVE JIHAD’ when discussing this phenomenon with one another and JOURNALISTS!
Jay Boo says
Without peer pressure, Islam has to contend with rational thought.
The gross irony is that that the pedophile rapist and murderer Muhammad lived a life of disgrace.
Muslims deserve better than the cesspool of Islam.
All humans do.
Angemon says
“Redemptive Jihad” is pretty much impossible to combat as long as people fear being branded a “bigot”, “racist” or “islamophobe” for pointing out something suspicious.
Jay Boo says
Because — The Qur’an is such an obvious JOKE.
If it were not such an obvious fraud, it would be able to stand on its own without Islam’s endless props such as Islamophobia claims, WUDU washing stations, 5 prayers to cover up Islam’s endless disgrace etc. (on and on).
It does not even require years of study to see what an obvious buffoonery Islam is.
Bozo the clown could have written a better practical joke book than the Qur’an with a lot less evil.
Rufolino says
Yes Angemon, this is problematic -and ‘paranoid’ can be added to the likely labels when the subject is raised.
Jay Boo says
Whether making WUDU or making DOO DOO a Muslim must follow an intricate set of rules or else the whole world will laugh and call them anal retentive fools and Allah will not be pleased. Being a Muslim is a very serious responsibility indeed. A Muslim man must also keep his Islamic man-dress dry or else others will think he has peed.
Islam the religion of killers says
I wonder how much water they give the women ??
Muslims are such creative thinkers they have be told how to wash ……
Bob says
I remember visiting a mosque in Johannesburg and spotting a notice showing the congregation how to use a knife and fork according to islamic law.. Talk about governing every aspect of life…!
duh Swami says
The only people interested in ‘sin’ are the priesthood and the guilty…
Pious Muslims can only be guilty of not being pious enough…
Some of them are not jihaqdding hard enough, and need to be ‘clenched’, by killing kuffar in the name of Allah , that is the pathway to redemption…
Jay Boo says
Witness
The — Washing of ALLAH.
D J says
I think this is Muslim equivalent of the Hail Mary pass, call it the Hail Mohammed but with more widely separated body parts.
Paul Clark says
All Muslims are “bad.” One cannot swear allegiance to the demonic Muhammad, to the demonic Koran and to the demonic Allah, aka. Satan and be righteous. Good Muslim is like moderate Muslim it is an oxymoron.
Stephanie says
Today,
https://twitter.com/DrZuhdiJasser/status/781182870815641600
Dr. Jasser joins Varney & Co discussing the WA mall shooting & his ties to ISIS 09.28.2016
abad says
The ONLY way Muslims can be redeemed is to repent (turn away from) Islam, accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
There is no other way.
Rosie says
that is exactly what I thought about the Orlando shooter. Conflicted because he’s engaged in conduct he’s been taught is sinful; by dying in jihad he a) commits suicide and escapes the raging internal conflict between who he is and who he has been told he has to be; while b) ensuring that on his death he’ll go straight to Paradise regardless of his earlier sins. So not so easy to say who is “radical” — IE a threat.
Lioness says
The media tried to make a big deal out of the fact that the Orlando murderer was not an observant muslim, i.e. he was not really a muslim. But Robert Spencer’s analysis here explains why a scum bag like that would particularly want to redeem himself in the eyes of Allah and therefore secure for himself the 72 virgins.
Paul Benson says
Great points in this piece.
The very nature of Islam in that it is a works based religion drives the sinful Muslim to acts of self-redemption. I recently did a piece that explains this in detail. Understanding Islam: Beware The Jack-Muslim. You can find it at this link:
https://pbenson.me/2016/09/20/the-danger-of-the-jack-muslim/
I feel this is an important understanding to grasp if we are ever going to understand the problem.
Blessings;
Paul Benson
http://www.paulbenson.me