We have previously discussed the disconnect in some individuals, particularly ISIS recruits, who live relatively normal lives in the West only to become suddenly radicalized and violent as Islamic extremists. Chattanooga gunman Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez could be such a case, though police are still trying to confirm the motivation for the attacks. The attack has been labeled “domestic terrorism.” Abdulazeez, 24, murdered four Marines and wounded a police officer on Thursday in shootings at two military recruiting and training centers in Chattanooga, Tennessee. What is now known is that he posted a couple posts shortly before the attack discussing how Muslims should act in this short life and how they had to resist the corrupting influence of life around them in proving their faith.
Abdulazeez was born in Kuwait and comes from a deeply religious Muslim family. However, he appeared well-integrated into society in high school and, judging from his DUI arrest, engaged in non-Muslim practices. Notably, his arrest of DUI occurred recently on April 21, 2015. He was not on any watch list though his father was investigated once for suspicious international ties.
Abdulazeez was in many respects a successful member of our society. He attended Red Bank High School in Tennessee and is described by a former coach as “an All American kid.” While he would stop practicing in sports to pray each day, he also was known to like beer and socialize. According to the Chattanooga Times Free Press, his high school yearbook quote contained a joke that now has a more menacing meaning: “My name causes national security alerts. What does yours do?”
He graduated from the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga with a degree in electrical engineering. He worked from April 2009 to April 2010 as an intern with the Tennessee Valley Authority and had internships at Mohawk Industries and Global Trade Express.
While his fellow students describe his as deeply religious, they describe him as nice and funny in relations with other people. In high school, he was a wrestler and later trained as a mixed martial arts fighter. One such fight was videotaped.
He has been described as a “Jordanian citizen” who seemed to have a change in behavior after returning from a trip to the Middle East two years ago. There may have been multiple recent trips. We have seen other cases where relatively short exposure to radical Islamic centers or figures has pushed some young Muslims to extremism. He reportedly had become more devout in the last couple months. In this case, a relatively short period is being cited for the change of a person once described as the “All American kid” to a murderous fanatic.
Particular attention is likely to be given to two recent blog posts from July 13, 2015.
The first is entitled “A Prison Called Dunya” where he talks about how short life is and how it is “nothing more than a test of our faith and patience”:
I would imagine that any sane person would devote their time to mastering the information on the study guide and stay patient with their studies, only giving time for the other things around to keep themselves focused on passing the exam. They would do this because they know and have been told that they will be rewarded with pleasures that they have never seen.
. . .
It was designed to separate the inhabitants of Paradise from the inhabitants of Hellfire, and to rank amongst them the best of the best and worst of the worst. Don’t let the society we live in deviate you from the task at hand. Take your study guide, the Quran and Sunnah, with strength and faith, and be firm as you live your short life in this prison called Dunya. Allah (SWT) says live for this life and the hereafter according to their length. Rasulullah says the life on this world compared to the hereafter is like a drop compared to an ocean.
Brothers and sisters don’t be fooled by your desires, this life is short and bitter and the opportunity to submit to allah may pass you by. Take his word as your light and code and do not let other prisoners, whether they are so called “Scholars” or even your family members, divert you from the truth. If you make the intention to follow allahs way 100 % and put your desires to the side, allah will guide you to what is right.
The second post was entitled “Understanding Islam: The Story of the Three Blind Men” and he discussed how may of leading Islamic leaders were generals and political leaders who sought to convert the world as the Prophet’s Sahaba, or companions:
We often talk about the Sahaba (RA) and their Ibada. We talk about their worshiping at night, making thikr, reading quran, fasting, sala. But did you ever notice that in one certain period towards the end of the lives of the Sahaba (RA), almost every one of the Sahaba (RA) was a political leader or an army general? Every one of them fought Jihad for the sake of Allah.
So this picture that you have in your mind that the Sahaba (RA) were people being like priests living in monasteries is not true. All of them towards the end of the lives were either a mayor of a town, governor of a state, or leader of an army at the frontlines. The Sahaba (RA) were very involved in establishing Islam in the world. Their mission was to establish Islam and live it. …
We ask Allah to make us follow their path. To give us a complete understanding of the message of Islam, and the strength the live by this knowledge, and to know what role we need to play to establish Islam in the world.
What is currently known presents a chilling picture of a young man who appeared to have succeeded in society in going to college and pursuing his athletic and religious interests within a pluralistic environment. I expect many will be exploring what triggered this violent outburst with a particular interest in the trip back to the Middle East as well as the influences that he found in the United States. We have seen other cases of successful or seemingly well-adjusted individuals who turned into Islamic extremists and murderers. There remains a belief that exposure to the freedoms of the West is the greatest counter to extremism and for most it is. However, we have seen cases where exposure to Islamic extremism can also overwhelm some individuals and push them to violence.
Abdulazeez’s at a minimum show someone who appears torn between or at least a participant in two cultures. In the days to come, we will hopefully learn more about what specifically triggered this murderous rampage.
Lest we focus on Abdulazeez and his twisted view of morality, below are the Marines that he murdered in cold blood in Tennessee. They are Gunnery Sgt. Thomas Sullivan of Springfield, Mass.; Lance Cpl. Skip ‘Squire’ Wells, of Marietta, Ga.; Sgt. Carson Holmquist, of Grantsburg, Wisc.; and Staff Sgt. David Wyatt, of Chattanooga:
Dead Ahead
1, July 17, 2015 at 2:56 pm
Max-1, off topic for what reason?
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It’s only off topic in your world because it fails to comport into the white establishment’s use of terrorism to explain the white establishments’ unnatural fears of middle eastern religions.
Olly,
Incorrect, what you mean is… It’s never terrorism when white police officers kill unarmed black men.
Jade Helm protester seeks to kill US Military… And liberals.
But he’s not even under Federal investigation. He’s white. Oh, and not Muslim.
http://freakoutnation.com/2015/07/counter-jade-helm-coordinator-i-cant-wait-to-kill-thousands-of-these-fcks-man/
These first generation ( mostly young adult male) children of Muslim immigrants, well educated, seemingly well adjusted to the new country have time and again , in the UK and now the US and perhaps other Western countries shown that they are susceptible to radical Islamic propaganda turning them into killing machines in the name of their faith, Allah.
If the leaders of the faith – Islam- would call out, label the perpetrators of these actions ( ISIS, Tsarneyev brothers, etc) as apostates -call it what you like – excommunication, shunning, damned to hell, spawn of Satan etc perhaps young impressionable Muslims would be less likely to take up the sword.
But there is no “pope”, supreme priest/imam in the Muslim world, there is no synod, conclave, ecumenical council to determine that ISIS and its theology is bogus.
Karen, no one thinks the war in Iraq STARTED terrorist attacks. My contention is that it made things FAR worse, as I stated SEVERAL times.Misrepresenting others’ comments doesn’t make your assertions more credible. I’d think you would’ve learned that by now.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304370304575151663088415470
“ADRIAN, Mich.—Nine members of an anti-government militia group were charged Monday with conspiring to kill a law-enforcement officer in an effort to start a “war” against the U.S. government, authorities said.
The group, known as Hutaree, planned to kill an unidentified local law-enforcement officer in April and then attack local, state and federal officers who came to Michigan to attend the funeral, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan said in a 12-page indictment.”
These nutty militia types could’ve just as easily shot up a recruitment center instead of police to start their war they so desire.
Anyone who thinks the war in Iraq started terrorism against the West should review the long list of foiled as well as successful terrorist attacks around the world over the past 50 years.
They were teaching elementary age kids to chant “Death to America! Death to Israel!” decades ago. For extremists, the West with its freedoms is the enemy and a global extremist Islamic caliphate is the goal. Don’t take my word for it. Review the writings and speeches of the Muslim Brotherhood, Palestinian Authority, as well as anything that’s come out of Iran and Saudi Arabia. You know, the country where no Jew is allowed to set foot.
It’s troubling to see the Muslim Expansion gain a foothold again. This happens from time to time over the past millennium or so.
It’s sad, because there are many Muslims who find great peace and contentment in their worship, and enjoy the freedoms of the West.
Max-1, off topic for what reason?
Max, someone way upthread in a vapid comment mentioned that terrorists will start killing children here next, while completely ignoring those 20 children. I guess it’s only terrorism when people of mid eastern ethnicity shoot up places and people.
I would be very interested if forensic psychologists could study the phenomenon of middle and upper class, supposedly Westernized young men and women becoming suddenly radicalized. We need more information on how this switch gets flipped to combat it.
The very first comment posted lumped all faiths together as equally at fault.
That’s false logic. You didn’t see Mother Theresa or Ghandi or the Rev Martin Luther King, Jr beheading people or shooting them in the name of converting the world by violence to their faith.
I can never understand this knee jerk reaction to automatically say the fault is religion in general.
What is the difference between terrorism and mass murder? The former is an attempt to enact political change by terrorizing an entire group of people by violence against individuals, while the latter is simply murder on a larger scale. An example of a domestic, non Muslim terrorist would be the white shooter of black worshippers in the church in NC. An example of the positive value of faith is the outpouring of forgiveness in the name of God and support for each other regardless of race that came in the aftermath of the shooting.
The Aurora shooting was mass murder, but the shooter was not trying to enact political change, convert a region to a religion through the threat of violence, or inspire others to commit similar violence to achieve that political goal.
“At least 21 other people were shot this weekend in Chicago.” (6/21/15)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/21/james-jones-shooting_n_7632520.html
Shhh! And it’s never NEWS when black Americans shoot up people…Max-1 said so.
@Max-1
Uh, Abracadabradreeze here is white, isn’t he???
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
Annie,
It’s never terrorism when white Americans shoot up people…Mr. Turley said so.
tofubamboo
1, July 17, 2015 at 6:53 am
@ Dave: First, Christianity is not tyranny. And no Christian I know of goes around shooting and beheading people. Second, focus your anger on Islam. IT IS NOT A RELIGION OF PEACE. MUSLIMS HATE ALL WHO DO NOT AGREE WITH THEM. Read the Koran, which states all infidels should be killed. So one can only assume that this deranged twerp yesterday thought that was fine, and hoped for all his heavenly virgins. What he is likely to find are burning fires. So, as a Catholic, I do believe there is a hell where he has gone.
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bias run amuck.
No real Muslim is a terrorist. Turn your phrase around. The KKK heavily imparts Jesus into their terrorism.
Try that one…
12 people murdered in a movie theater, 20 children and 6 adults in a school, 9 people in a church…
Why aren’t they terrorists, too?
Mr. Turley, you’re doing a good job keeping the establishment’s hard line hating Muslims and protecting white terrorism here at home.
Osama Bin Laden must have had a vision that Bush would invade Iraq. That is why 9-11 happened. Right. Sure. When did we become The Great Satan??? I bet it was during the term of a Democratic President! Wiki knows! Let’s see what they say!
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
To each his own. I agree with Randyjet, I wouldn’t have hired the guy either. Just another wacko looking for trouble.
tofu
p&p
If you read what I wrote and not respond with a knee jerk you will understand that Christianity, Judaism, and Islam all contain the extreme directives to convert or eradicate. It is the secular society over centuries that has tempered Christianity and Judaism to the peace based organizations they are today. That you are selective and perhaps Catholic signifies that you have relegated the hate, convert, and eradicate bits to history. Islam is still primarily in the medieval phase where it doesn’t quite go as far as Christianity did in its medieval phase but is still extreme and dangerous. That you are so defensive says much about your acceptance of others.
LOL, should be “thinking”, not “thong”. Thanks autocorrect for the chuckle.