VA. Terrorist is he Gunman or Shooter

CAIR-CHICAGO: GUNMAN'S CRYPTIC SCRAWL FEEDS ANTI-MUSLIM RANTS - TOP
Manya Brachear, Chicago Tribune, 4/18/07
http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/religion_theseeker/2007/ 04/gunmans_cryptic.html

Why did Cho Seung-Hui, the lone gunman responsible for claiming 32 lives at Virginia Tech University Monday, scrawl 'Ismail Ax' in red ink on his arm?

Eric Benderoff touches on some of the theories in today's Chicago Tribune. He explains the most popular speculation sweeping the Internet refers to a story in the Quran, the holy book of Islam, about prophet Ibrahim and his son, Ismail. Upset that people in his hometown still worshiped idols and not Allah, Ismail smashes most of the statues with a sword to honor his father and his faith.

A similar story is told in the Bible, but instead of Ismail, it is Abraham's son Isaac. It is treated as a coming of age story about a young man claiming and defending his faith. Some in the Jewish tradition even consider it the biblical inspiration for bar mitzvahs.

But as Benderoff points out, Ismail is a literary name employed by James Fenimore Cooper and Herman Melville. And Seung-Hui was an English major. Not to mention Seung-Hui adopted Ismail Ax as his screen name on a video-gaming site.

It seems that every time an act of terrorism takes place, the Muslim community must step forward and apologize even though they have no connection.

Ahmed Rehab, the executive director of Chicago's Council on American-Islamic Relations, said he's too busy "gawking" at the outrageous theories.

"I'll be the first to admit Muslims have a problem with self-victimhood," he said. "But there seems to be one standard for people of Muslim faith and another for everybody else."

He notes even the most rampant anti-Muslim Web sites have suggested amid their accusations that the theory is a bit far-fetched.

But Rehab wonders if Seung-Hui were Muslim, would anything change? Would the evidence of mental problems and disturbing social interactions go out the window and the blame placed on his Muslim identity? Would it be fair to expect an explanation? Is it fair now to jump to such conclusions?

SEE ALSO:

DEBBIE SCHLUSSEL SUSPECTED VA TECH SHOOTER MIGHT BE A 'PAKI,' PART OF 'TERRORIST ATTACK' - TOP
Media Matters, 4/18/07
http://mediamatters.org/items/200704170006

Responding to the April 16 mass shooting at Virginia Tech, right-wing pundit Debbie Schlussel "speculat[ed]" in an April 16 weblog post that the shooter, who had been identified at that point only as a man of Asian descent, might be a "Paki" Muslim and part of "a coordinated terrorist attack." "Paki" is a disparaging term for a person of Pakistani descent.

Schlussel wrote, "The murderer has been identified by law enforcement and media reports as a young Asian male," adding, "The Virginia Tech campus has a very large Muslim community, many of which are from Pakistan." Schlussel continued: "Pakis are considered 'Asian,'" and asked, "Were there two [shooters] and was this a coordinated terrorist attack?" Schlussel asserted that the reason she was "speculating that the 'Asian' gunman is a Pakistani Muslim" was "ecause law enforcement and the media strangely won't tell us more specifically who the gunman is." Schlussel claimed that "[e]ven if it does not turn out that the shooter is Muslim, this is a demonstration to Muslim jihadists all over that it is extremely easy to shoot and kill multiple American college students."

In updates to her posting, after more information became known about the shooter, Schlussel first claimed that "[t]he shooter has now been identified as a Chinese national here on a student visa," which she called "[y]et another reason to stop letting in so many foreign students." Schlussel later wrote that the killer was a "South Korean national." The killer was later identified as Cho Seung-Hui, "a South Korean who was a resident alien in the United States."

As Media Matters for America noted, in a December 18, 2006, online post headlined "Barack Hussein Obama: Once a Muslim, Always A Muslim," Schlussel argued that because Sen. Barack Obama's (D-IL) middle name is Hussein, his late, estranged father was of Muslim descent, and he has shown interest in his father's Kenyan heritage, Obama's "loyalties" must be called into question. As Media Matters also noted, on the June 14 edition of MSNBC's Scarborough Country, Schlussel falsely claimed that "there wasn't a peep" from Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) when Suha Arafat, wife of former Palestinian National Authority president Yasir Arafat, stated that Israelis "poison Palestinian water and air and cause cancer for them." In fact, according to an October 6, 2000, New York Times article, Clinton disavowed Arafat's remarks after receiving an official translation "hours later."

Ghazzali wrote: Assalamualikum. I think we need to sympathize with the families of the lost ones and the survivors rather than going into  such discussion right now. Since you have already brought the topic, I would say that yes, the media were careful because frankly, if they used the word terrorist, the first thing that would have come to the mind of any audience, including muslims, would be al-qaeda or the likes. It's just fact. People have become islamophobic, there's no denying it. So I think the media didn't want to create any confusion, that's why they called the shooter 'a shooter'.

Bismillah and Salaams,

Good point, brother.

Brother Walid died and a Christian Lebanese woman named Reema Samaha.  Allah Yarhamhom.

Update:  They say he had the words "Ismail Ax" on his arm in red.  Some idiots on the web have written up some foolish accusation of a poor guy from Indonesia, who doesn't live in the US and doesn't even look like the murderer Cho. 

Obviously the guy was disturbed and imbalanced as an individual.  He devastated families of all races and religions.  His family was Christian, but he was just lost listening to Shaytan. 

The book "Prairie"  by Cooper has a charachter named Ishmael, who is off balance, and being that Cho, the murderer, was an English major, he may have been referencing him.

 

Edited by herjihad

I don't think he was a terrorist at all.  I think he was a very confused, lonely, and lost young man.  I feel badly for his family also.

Here is today's latest information on this unspeakable incident.  What a tragedy for the students and their grieving families, and for this lost and troubled young gunman.  I'm certain his parents loved him dearly too, and are shocked beyond words at his actions, and at their loss of their son.  I am unable to even find words to speak about the horror everyone has gone through, or is going through.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18148802/