Recent press revelations have confirmed my initial suggestion that members of the Tsarnaev family were secular ex-Soviets rather than observant Muslims Only a few years ago did the late Tamerlan start exhibiting signs of fanaticism (he was thrown out of his mosque in Boston last January when he stood up to denounce the preacher there for praising Martin Luther King). Being a fanatic is, contrary to the impression both of Fox Cable News and some Muslim radicals, not actually the same as being a good Muslim; in fact, the Qur’an urges the use of reason and moderation ( “Do not commit excess in your religion” (Qur’an 4:171). All this shows that they were on an adolescent homocidal power trip, dressed up like al-Qaeda, the way the Aurora shooter was wearing an arsenal and dressed up like Batman. In any case, here are the signs that Dzhokhar in particular wasn’t ever observant, and Tamerlan’s later fanaticism led him and his brother to disregard Islamic ethics and laws:
1. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is a pothead. Most Muslim legal authorities consider intoxicants forbidden.
2. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev not only used marijuana, he was a well-known dealer of the substance to other students. Dealing in forbidden intoxicants is contrary to Islamic law.
3. “Drinking and partying” filled the days of the Tsarnaev brothers according to friends, though the late Tamerlan turned puritanical later on.
4. The Tsarnaev brothers carjacked an innocent Chinese-American. This is called theft and kidnapping, which are both forbidden in Islamic law. In fact is is a complaint of modernists against Islamic law that it is so hard on theft. It was in hopes of stealing a gun, another theft, that they murdered police officer Sean Collins. Murder is forbidden in the Qur’an which says that to kill a single soul is the same as killing all humankind.
5. While they were driving around with their Chinese captive, they were discussing with him girls . Upright young Muslim men are supposed to have their minds on other things than girls.
6. Spreading terror (hiraba in public spaces in order to gain power or money is forbidden in Islam.
7. Tamerlan Tsarnaev lived on government welfare even though he had turned on that government. Even very conservative Saudi clerical authorities hold that is not permissible for Muslims to take wealth from non-Muslims under false pretenses: “Taking wealth from non-Muslims in treacherous and deceitful ways is haram (impermissible), because deceit is haram [wrong] in Islam, whether it is done to a Muslim or to a non-Muslim.”
8. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev when he was naturalized pledged allegiance to the United States of America, saying “I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic . . .” All but the most radical Muslim authorities agree that Muslims owe allegiance to their countries and are obliged to defend them. The Qur’an, 61:2-3 says of breaking an oath, “O you who have believed, why do you say what you do not do? Great is hatred in the sight of God that you say what you do not do.”
9. Islam strictly forbids murder.
10. They blew innocent men women and children up! Which is against all Islamic law and practice.
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