Last week, the FBI discovered and announced that the young, Sunni Muslim married couple that was enamored with ISIS and committed the dastardly deed of shooting 14 people dead and wounding about 20 people in San Bernardino, California, had in the past memorized the entire Qur’an. It seems that each of them had done it before they had even met each other.
And this week’s issue of Time magazine has an article about the founder and head of ISIS, who is al-Baghdadi (original name Ibrahim Awwad Ibrahim al-Badri). It says he also has memorized the entire Qur’an, and he tries to get his followers in ISIS to memorize it as well. That apparently is why the couple had memorized it. In 2004, al-Baghdadi began studying for a doctorate. In 2010, he became head of the Iraqi al-Qaeda offshoot, naming it Islamic State/ISIS. With this organization he seeks to overthrow all political power in the Middle East and establish a caliphate there.
This Times article says al-Baghdadi “has elaborated an an apocalyptic vision of a final battle between the forces of radical Islam and the West.” The article says in a 2004 speech, al Baghdadi said all non-Muslims “are the rightful property of Muslims. He also said the time of death for each man and woman is preordained, implying that all killings must be the will of Allah.” The article says this “paved the way for his chief spokesman to deliver the following message to ISIS supporters everywhere a few months later: ‘If you can kill a disbelieving American or European, kill the disbeliever whether he is civilian or military.'”
Is this what memorizing the entire Qur’an can do to people? Just asking.
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