Earlier today I posted a Time magazine article about suicide bomber (and murderer of 132 people) Raid Al-Banna that had his parents lamenting his deed and wondering what went wrong. But this MEMRI piece, "Iraqi-Jordanian Tension Over the Most Lethal Suicide Bombing in Iraq" (thanks to Waterdragon52), gives a very different picture of his family's reaction. Also, it tells us that the bomber was Hassan Al-Banna's grandson, which makes him the cousin of the famed Muslim "moderate" Tariq Ramadan.
This horrific act would have been simply charted in Iraqi terrorist statistics as another act of terrorism were it not for "a social event" that shed light on the perpetrator himself and on his family. On March 11, 2005, newspapers reported that the terrorist was Raid Mansour al-Banna from the City of al-Salt in Jordan. According to his father, Raid had studied and worked a number of years in the United States, "in one of the Californian airports, to be exact." [2] He was 32 when he blew himself up.What riled the Iraqis the most was that al-Banna's family honored his act by holding a festive ceremony known as "the wedding of the martyr" [ 'irs al-shahid ] to symbolize his wedding in paradise with 72 virgins. At these events, the bereaved family receives guests who offer it condolences and congratulations for their son's martyrdom. A truck was seen on television bringing food to a special tent erected to receive the guests. [3] In justifying the celebration, the family argued that the victims were Americans. In fact, there was no American casualty in this operation.
After the furor in Iraq regarding the "wedding of the martyr," his father began to deny the event. He said that four Islamists visited him and asked permission to hang a poster of "congratulation for the martyrdom." When he inquired about the meaning of the martyrdom in the case of his son, he was told by the Islamists that "whoever dies drowning or in foreign land is a martyr." Hence, he said, "I agreed to the hanging of the poster." Further, he told the press that his son was killed in Mosul [in the north] and that his body was buried according to Muslim ritual. The father stressed that if his son was involved in a suicide bombing in Hilla there would have been no body to bury in Mosul. [4]
A Letter from the Brother
Not satisfied with the festivities his family organized in honor of his terrorist brother, Naseer al-Banna published a letter on the internet praising Raid and wished him pleasant days in heaven alongside his grandfather Hassan al-Banna. He was puzzled as to why the Iraqis were calling his brother a terrorist.
In his letter, Naseer labeled the Shi'a as "American and Jewish agents." He claimed that the Shi'a religion was created by Jews and the Shi'a killed Prophet Mohammad's grandson, al-Imam Hussein whom the Shi'a consider the greatest martyr in Islamic history.
The brother concluded his letter by stating his intention to join the Jihad against the Americans, the Jews, and the Shi'a. [5]
It's always about them or death to someone else,the prophet of Doom rides again.
This is what I have been saying every time one of these families claim that they didn't know their son/whoever explodes themselves. They have two faces, one for the "infidel" world and one for the muslim faithful.
The so-called code of honor – whether among gangsters or supremacists – is a fraudulent concept that always breaks down.
It may start with treating Infidels as less than human but that distinction isn’t retained for long. Soon, some Muslims are not “real” Muslims; Sunni turns against Shiite. Next some Muslims aren’t Muslim enough; active jihadists in Saudi Arabia turn against the hypocritical jihadists in power.
Ah, the slippery slope of supremacist ideology. Anyone can be seen as a threat to the religion; any life can be dispensed with for the good of the faith, tribe, clan, umma, etc. Individualism is strictly speaking incompatible with Islam.
A culture of lies, hate and deceit...
The most bizarre thing I ever heard is that they wear 3 pairs of underwear when they blow themselves up....
Let's round 'em up and ship 'em out, raze the mosques etc.
No can do? Why not?
Because George Bushie is too cuddly with all the oil-deals and Cheney and the dollars just can't stop coming...
Terminator:
Please name one senior elected official of any country that imports a significant amount of middle east oil that isn't too close for comfort with the oil sheiks.
One thing about Bush is that he has somehow managed similtaneously to be in the pockets of both the Saudis and the Israelis. A neat trick for someone widely thought of as not being overly bright.
I missed the Hassan Al-Banna connection, but my main purpose in bringing this item to Robert's attention was to show how absolutely ignorant the mainstream media is when it comes to the Who's Who of jihad philosophy. They don't come a whole lot higher up in the food chain than the recent martyr's grandfather. Someone should really write Time magazine about this egregiously sloppy piece of reportage.
The aptly named al-Banna family: they've all gone bananas.
I wonder what the surviving Banana Brother will do when he finds that plenty of Afghan and Iraqi Sunnites are pissed at the terrorists, too?
Well, today they're starting to deny that they held a party in memory of their kinsman who blew himself to smithereens to disrupt someone's funeral or wedding. Maybe tomorrow they'll spit in the face of the mullah who urged such a deed. Maybe the day after that, they'll change their last name to Meyer in order to hide their ancestry. I'm beginnning to hold oout some hope for the human race.
OT- Where is Paolo? I haven't seen him post for a week or so.
Kepha-
The family al-B. are just performing the oldest Muslim trick in their book:
When caught, deny. When that's exposed- lie.
If they changed their name, it wouldn't be out of mortification, but manipulation.
They must see us as the biggest bunch of suckers
since those clever Frenchmen who 'bought' the Eiffel Tower from a swindler named 'Count' Victor Lustig -who convinced them that the City of Lights was tired of that 'big iron eyesore' and were selling it for scrap.
Au contraire, Messers. Bananas.
Are the Al-Banna's related to the Joe Bonnano's? At least the Mafia don't consider themselves "scholars".
I see this morning's Globe & Mail has published an opinion piece by Ra'id Al-Banna's better known cousin Tariq Ramadan "named last year by Time magazine as one of the 100 most important thinkers of the 21st century" asking for a moratorium on corporal punishment, stoning and the death penalty in the Islamic world.
Could you imagine it being deemed an earth-shattering statement for clerics and scholars of other faiths to make such a pronouncement.
I think the perfect cure for "celebrations" like this is an airstrike with liberal use of napalm and white phosphorous, followed up by a mop up squad! These people are koranimals!