Militant Islam Monitor > Articles > Muslim groups use Jeep Jihad as Da'wa opportunity - Muslim community leaders and MAS say 'he targetted the wrong people'
Muslim groups use Jeep Jihad as Da'wa opportunity - Muslim community leaders and MAS say 'he targetted the wrong people'
March 15, 2006
MIM: The more the Muslim groups try to practice damage control - the worse it gets. Reza Al Tahieri's letter to the newspaper of why he perpetrated his attack is polite, well reasoned, and to the point. He wrote that "The Koran is my Constitution" and stressed that he wanted to defend himself in order to explain what he did because "I am not insane".
At a press conference in North Carolina the Islamic Center of Raleigh and the Muslim American Society showed their radical Islamist face - it was reported that :
"...They say the students were not involved in any type of religious warfare, but were simply innocent victims..."
Which simply put means that Al Tahieri's only mistake was that he targetted the wrong people in his Jeep Jihad.
In keeping with the spirit of being and Islamist means never having to say you're sorry - the Islamic Center of Raleigh is using this opportunity to wage Jihad through Da'wa where Al Tahieri left off in his jeep Jihad. They have invited UNC students and the public to an "open house" to get to know the true Islam. Which begs the question of how much more "true Islam" anyone needs to see in order to understand what Al Tahieri meant when he wrote "The Koran is my Constitution". (see pdf of letter below).
http://www.news14charlotte.com/shared/print/default.asp?ArID=115548
Muslims denounce UNC campus attack
Updated: 3/15/2006 12:48:55 PM
By: Heather Moore, News 14 Carolina
Taheri-azar, a 22-year-old UNC graduate, is charged with nine counts of attempted first-degree murder and nine counts of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, inflicting serious injury after racing through a crowded campus gathering spot in a rented Jeep Cherokee. No one was seriously injured.
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Imran Aukhill of the Islamic Association of Raleigh said Mohammad Taheri-azar's actions appear to be "the work of a disturbed individual." | |
Members of the Islamic Association of Raleigh and the Muslim-American Society say he took excerpts from the Quran out of context and did not act in accordance with the teachings of Islam. They say the students were not involved in any type of religious warfare, but were simply innocent victims.
"It is unfortunate that some misuse religion and perpetrate violence in the name of religion as evidence by Taheri-azar's statements and actions, which appear to be the work of a disturbed individual," said Imran Aukhill of the Islamic Association of Raleigh.
Taheri-azar is at Central Prison in Raleigh with bond set at $5.5 million.
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http://www.fayettevillenc.com/article_ap?id=82212
Man charged in UNC assault claims Quran supports attackThe Associated Press
The University of North Carolina graduate charged with driving a sport utility vehicle through a plaza at the school, which he called revenge for America's treatment of Muslims, said in a letter the assault was justified based on his reading of Islam's holy book.
"Allah gives permission in the Koran for the followers of Allah to attack those who have raged war against them, with the expectation of eternal paradise in case of martyrdom," Mohammed Taheri-azar wrote in a two-page letter sent to a television news reporter and anchor at WTVD-TV, an ABC affiliate station in Durham.
Taheri-azar, 22, is charged with nine counts of attempted murder and nine counts of assault. On March 3, police say, Taheri-azar raced through a crowded campus gathering spot in a rented Jeep Cherokee. No one was seriously injured, and Taheri-azar later called 911 to turn himself in. During the call, he said he wanted to "punish the government of the United States for their actions around the world."
A native of Iran who grew up mostly in the Charlotte area, Taheri-azar has said he intended to kill the people he struck. He said he wants to defend himself in court and believes a trial will offer him the opportunity to educate people about the will of Allah.
"The U.S. government is responsible for the deaths of and the torture of countless followers of Allah, my brothers and sisters," he wrote in the letter, dated Friday. In it, Taheri-azar added he started reading the Quran in June 2003 and has read it 15 times since.
"My attack on Americans at UNC-CH on March 3rd was in retaliation for similar attacks orchestrated by the U.S. government on my fellow followers of Allah in Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, and other Islamic territories. I did not act out of hatred for Americans, but out of love for Allah instead," he wrote.
A spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim civil rights and advocacy group based in Washington, said Taheri-azar's claims of religious support for his actions are an old and repudiated claim.
"Islamic scholars have clearly and repeatedly stated that attacks on innocent civilians of any kind are prohibited by Islam and should be repudiated," spokesman Ibrahim Hooper said Tuesday.
"There are people who have strange views about any number of faiths and they shouldn't be taken as representative of those faiths. The people who kill abortion doctors claim they are doing it in the name of Christianity and we all know it is a distortion of Christian beliefs," he said.
Terrorism experts said Taheri-azar fits the description of a burgeoning type of terrorist _ a lone actor unaffiliated with any organization.
"In this world of global terrorism, you don't have ties back to any particular group," Solomon Bradman, chief executive officer of the Miami-based Security Solutions International, told The News & Observer of Raleigh in a story published Tuesday.
"In this new world, terror comes from incitement _ it doesn't come from an organization," Bradman said. "The only thing that makes this not look like a terrorist act is that he did a lousy job of it."
Taheri-azar's actions are also reminiscent of U.S.-grown terrorists such as Timothy McVeigh, who was executed for the 1995 bombing of a federal office building in Oklahoma City, said Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at the California State University at San Bernardino.
"The battle against terrorism today is against a violent ideology rather than a well-organized, top-down group," Levin said. "It's just a matter of time before we get someone _ an immigrant or someone American-born _ who commits a higher-intensity act of terrorism."
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http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=local&id=3992674
Eyewitness News received the letter Monday, in response to our request for an interview. It was sent from Central Prison in Raleigh and dated Friday, March 10.
Addressed to ABC11 Eyewitness News anchor Amber Rupinta, the two-page letter includes Taheri-azar's explanation of what he was trying to accomplish in the attack.
"Allah gives permission in the Koran for the followers of Allah to attack those who have raged war against them, with the expectation of eternal paradise in case of martyrdom and/or living one's life in obedience of all of Allah's commandments found throughout the Koran's 114 chapters...""The U.S. government is responsible for the deaths of and the torture of countless followers of Allah, my brothers and sisters. My attack on Americans at UNC-CH on March 3rd was in retaliation for similar attacks orchestrated by the U.S. government on my fellow followers of Allah in Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, and other Islamic territories. I did not act out of hatred for Americans, but out of love for Allah instead. "
Taheri-azar is charged with nine counts of attempted murder in the March 3 attack. Police say the Iran native drove a rented SUV through the Pit, a common area on the Chapel Hill campus. Six people were hospitalized.
Taheri-azar surrendered to police shortly after the attack. Investigators swarmed his apartment, where they discovered a letter, CDs and a handgun permit.
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