Seems both the prosecution and defense are “Islamophobes.” My latest in PJ Media:
The trial of Alton Alexander Nolen — a.k.a. Jah’Keem Yisrael, who beheaded a coworker, Colleen Hufford, and tried to behead another, Traci Johnson, at Vaughan Foods in Moore, Oklahoma in September 2014 — has revealed anew the incoherence and inconsistency of our official response to the jihad threat.
Nolen insists he was merely following the Qur’an. In statements he made days after the attack that have just been revealed during his trial, Nolen couldn’t have been clearer about his mindset, worldview, and motivations. When he was read his rights, he responded:
I’m a Muslim.
When asked why he beheaded Hufford, he answered:
I just feel like … I did what I needed to do. What Allah … says in the Qur’an to do. Oppressors don’t need to be here.
Nolen has a case. The Qur’an says:
When you meet the unbelievers, strike the necks (47:4).
Nolen thought Colleen Hufford was not just an unbeliever, but something even worse: she was, he explained, a “slave to the devil.” Nolen himself, on the other hand, was a “slave to Allah.” He told police:
You know the Muslim is somebody who submits their will to Allah … Whatever he wants done, that’s what we do … And you know he wants us to get the oppressors out of this place.
When asked if he regretted murdering Hufford, Nolen answered:
This wasn’t nothing but a trial for me. I passed it … because, like I said, I felt oppressed. … I knew for sure that … if I was to die right then … I was going to heaven.
I feel, you know, you know what I’m saying, if I was to die in five or 10 minutes I’m going to Heaven. That’s all that matters to me.
Here again, Nolen has a case. The Qur’an promises Paradise to those who “kill and are killed” for Allah (9:111). Nolen is, of course, still alive, but like the Fort Hood jihad mass murderer Nidal Malik Hasan, he likely believes that if he were to be executed, it would complete the requirements of the passage, and ensure his ticket to Paradise.
When asked if anyone had told him to behead unbelievers, he was quite clear about where he got the idea:
Uh, no. I read the Qur’an. Like I say, the Qur’an is easy to understand. … No one guides me but Allah.
Nolen also confirmed that he screamed “Allahu akbar” as he beheaded Hufford.
Both prosecuting and defense attorneys, however, seem to be discounting Nolen’s statements. The Oklahoman reported:
[H]is court-appointed defense attorneys are asking the jury to find him not guilty by reason of insanity. They have told jurors he is mentally ill and believed what he was doing was right because of delusional misinterpretations of Islamic teachings.
Cleveland County District Attorney Greg Mashburn, meanwhile, went even farther, saying:
[Nolen] didn’t know the difference between right and wrong, and didn’t know the consequences of his actions.
Nonsense. He knows very well the difference between right and wrong. The Qur’an says: “When you meet the unbelievers, strike the necks,” and as far as he is concerned, that is right, and he knows that as a consequence of his actions, he will go to Paradise.
Mashburn is saying that standard Islamic belief is tantamount to insanity. Does he have any idea of how “Islamophobic” he is being?
We have seen this before. In Montreal last March, a police complaint was filed against the Dar Al-Arqam Mosque in Montreal for hosting an imam, Sheikh Muhammad bin Musa Al Nasr, who preached:
O Muslim, O servant of Allah, O Muslim, O servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.
But this is a quotation that is attributed to Muhammad. Are the Canadian police really going to stop imams from quoting Muhammad? Are Oklahoma authorities really going to ascribe obedience to Qur’anic commands to insanity?…
Read the rest here.
Michael Copeland says
Question for the defence attorneys:
What is the non-delusional interpretation of “Strike the neck” and “Kill them wherever you find them”?
Emilie Green says
Dead on. [That’s an old Islamic pun.]
What’s the mitigating context of “kill them wherever you find them?”
Carolyne says
According to the Pope, we are not reading that correctly. I don’t know how he reads it.
marina says
Why don’t these attorneys open a Koran and see for themselves. They are the ones who are delusional.
Mateen Elass says
Robert,
Once again you are misconstruing the position of DA Greg Mashburn, as far as I can tell. The portion of his statement that you quote is misleading — in that section, he is defining the position of the defense attorneys. In the article to which you link this post, immediately following to statement you quote is his next sentence: “And clearly he knew what he did was wrong.” Mashburn made exactly the point you echo in this post. Please don’t demonize public authorities when they are upholding the very truth that we want our larger society to hear clearly!
gravenimage says
But he *didn’t* know what he did was wrong. This is not because he is mentally ill; it is because as a Muslim he adheres to different standards than do civilized people.
The most you can say re his mental state is that he knew that what he did was wrong according to Infidel law.
Save Europe says
Spot on! Correct.
gravenimage says
Thank you.
Mateen Elass says
Graven, I believe the idea behind “knowing right from wrong” does not pertain to one’s having the “right” morality, but rather to one’s having the capacity to make moral judgments, even if the conclusions reached are reprehensible to those holding other ethical positions. The inability to employ moral reasoning (regardless of the conclusions one reaches) is what leads the court to conclude that a person is legally insane.
gravenimage says
Well, one can argue this, Mateen. The usual assumption is that we all share the same basic morality, which is mistaken when it comes to Muslims.
But yes–this Jihadist is definitely sane by those standards.
Mateen Elass says
By the way, I said “Once again…” not because I think you make a practice of demonizing justice officials, but because in your earlier post on this same case you said the same thing about Mashburn and I made a comment about it there. In general I think you are very accurate in your assessment of those who refuse to speak accurately about the role Islam plays in motivating barbaric and criminal behavior.
Irene Brekelmans says
You need millions of psychiatrists to cure the ones who “do not know the difference between good and evil” Of course they know, they are just standing in the queu to be hero’s and get their 72 virgins.
How lame.
gravenimage says
Robert Spencer in PJ Media: Oklahoma Beheading Trial: Is Obeying the Qur’an a Form of Mental Illness?
…………………….
By civilized standards, one could say yes. Of course, this means that all pious Muslims are not just mentally ill, but criminally mentally ill.
Whether they are deemed mentally ill in the clinical sense or not, they are a danger to us all.
The problem is, of course, that Westerners do not understand that this is how *all* devout Muslims think, and that all too many act on it.
PRCS says
Unfortunately for Colleen Hufford, the Muslim who acted out Islam’s teachings–on her, one was enough.
gravenimage says
God knows this is all too true, PRCS.
Benedict says
“Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God.” – John 16:2
Ren says
Islam itself is a mental illness. Muhammad thought he was possessed the first time he saw the supposedly angel Gabriel.
Save Europe says
……YES, apparently it IS a form of mental illness! The number of times the MSM and various Police Forces – particularly in France and Germany have detained a Jihadi trying to hack a civilian, soldier, or Police Officer, on the streets – and then said ‘the attacker had a history of mental illness, are unquantifiable…..seriously.
Alarmed Pig Farmer says
Nolen is instructing Oklahoma in Islam 101. But they won’t listen, he’ll be put away as obviously insane, when in fact he’s obviously Moslem.
This murder for some reason moved me. If you can’t be safe from them in Oklahoma, where can you go. I’m thinking Poland or Hungary.
gravenimage says
I know how you feel, APF.
But we need you here.
Michael says
If obeying the Qur’an is a form of mental illness, then Islam is not a religion, but a mental health hazard. The First Amendment doesn’t apply, and the authorities can close down mosques and remove children from Muslim parents on grounds of public health and safety.
DogOnPorch says
It’s naive when we think we can control Islam with a few ordinances……
“Didn’t you see the sign??? No beheading allowed!”
Carolyne says
Yes, the sign is right beside the “No guns allowed” sign.
nicholas tesdorf says
Quite true, belief in Islam and Jihad is a form of mental illness. The cure is Christianity.
gravenimage says
There are many non-Christian apostates from Islam who are also now decent human beings.
WPM says
Charles Manson had his “family” of murders and kooks, Mohammed worshipers {Islam in its true form} are Mohammed,s family. Cult followers who murder, rape, steal ,lie , causing mayhem on a world wide scale.
Aussie Infidel says
“Is Obeying the Qur’an a Form of Mental Illness?”
Nolen is suffering from ‘religious fanaticism’ – the same ‘mental illness’ which afflicts many devout people from all religions. Fortunately, most religions are relatively benign and cause few problems. But Islam is a toxic mix of religion and the politics of hatred and violence, and has become a world-wide scourge against humanity. The Quran is virtually a manifesto to fight against unbelievers and conquer the World for Allah. It is specifically designed to incite any fanatics or psychopaths in the Muslim community to become jihadis.
While all psychopaths suffer from mental illness, those who are Muslims, have also been deeply indoctrinated to commit violence in the name of Allah. These are not only sick people, but also they follow a sick religion which has declared ‘holy war’ against all non-Muslims. Not only should jihadis like Nolen be on trial, but also the so-called ‘religion’ which inspired him to commit such violent behaviour, should be subjected to a judicial inquiry.
Why should we continue to tolerate an ideology which is intolerant of any other faith? That’s not freedom of religion; that’s totalitarianism!
WPM says
Nazis are totalitarian, the KKK is totalitarian nether is accepted in modern world today. Islam is the same in practice by followers of the founder of Islam, Mohammed. Mohammed the most perfect man to be imitated by practicing Islamic followers, a murdering, thieving, raping, warrior ,enslaver of woman ,children, child molester, and a world class bigot to boot. That is what is held up to aspire to become , and to die in the cause will give you a first class ticket to Islamic whorehouse in the sky.
Michael Copeland says
In 1960, Maududi wrote “no one can regard any field of his affairs as personal and private.” The totalitarianism of God’s sovereignty, Maududi wrote, would “[bear] a resemblance to the Fascist and Communist states.”
https://www.counterextremism.com/extremists/abul-ala-maududi
Richard Courtemanche says
Perhaps, but could also be mainly stupidity, excuse…