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McCarthy on Obama and Fort Hood
Concerning Obama’s statement at Fort Hood that the attack was “incomprehensible,” Andrew McCarthy writes:
After the carnage we’ve seen for two decades, and the high religious authorities that have endorsed it, it is simply astounding that an American president—at a solemn memorial service for soldiers killed just days ago by a jihadist acting on his rational, broadly accepted understanding of his religious duty—could claim that “no faith justifies” sneak-attack murders, and that no religion teaches that “God looks upon them with favor.” In fact, a widely held interpretation of Islam holds exactly these principles. No one is saying that all Muslims follow Hasan’s construction of Islam, but hundreds of millions do and they have scriptures to back up their beliefs—scriptures we could all read if we’d just pull our heads out of the sand.I like very much what McCarthy said here: “a jihadist acting on his rational, broadly accepted understanding of his religious duty.” This is something all too few understand. Most people today call jihadists “fanatics,” who are acting out of “hatred.” Certainly they hate, but it’s not hatred that drives them, it’s the Islamic law, the commandments of Allah, that drive them. Jihadists are simply doing what Allah clearly tells them to do. Their understanding of his (evil, monstrous, and hateful) teaching is correct and rational. Until Westerners understand this basic point, they will never understand Islam.
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