Today, 29-year-old Sayfullo Saipov drove a rented Home Depot truck on a bicycle path on Manhattan, New York. With the vehicle he struck nearly two dozen bicyclers and pedestrians and then crashed it into a school bus. He killed eight people and injured eleven. The World Trade Center was located nearby. That suggests he did it as a symbolic act related to the 9/11 attack there.
Witnesses say Saipov exited the vehicle shouting “Allahu Akbar,” the common Arabic expression meaning “God is great.” He brandished a paintball gun and a pellet gun. That strongly indicates it was a suicidal act. Police then shot and arrested him. They say he left a handwritten note in the vehicle. It stated that he was doing this act for ISIS, referring to the Islamic State in the Middle East. ISIS regularly says in its propaganda via social media that Muslims should attack and kill people worldwide.
Saipov was born in Uzbekistan and immigrated to the U.S. in 2010. He had lived in Tampa, Florida, and was presently living in Paterson, New Jersey. He had a New York license for driving a truck. He was taken to a hospital where surgery was performed on him. It appears that he will live. Police and security personnel will question him about his motive. He obviously was inspired by ISIS to commit this terrorist act.
How can ISIS and Al-Qaeda convince these Muslim young men and others to commit such atrocious acts that often result in the killing of innocent people? Moreover, why do they sometimes do it as a suicidal act? It is mostly about the sacred text of the religion of Islam–the Quran. But governmental authorities and media worldwide, thus including the U.S., are either ignorant or reluctant to address this. President Trump is trying to do something about it by restricting immigrants from Muslim countries. I doubt that it is the right approach. Most Muslims are peace-loving people. I think there should be a worldwide call questioning the Quran.
The Quran has several very troubling verses that encourage Muslims to exercise violence against non-Muslim people. You can go online and read them. Some websites quote over 100 verses that advocate violence against, or intolerance toward, people of other religions. Of course, many Muslims argue vehemently against this interpretation. They often cite Quran 2:256 which states, “There shall be no compulsion in religion.” This is well and good; yet I think it contradicts many texts in the Quran. This inconsistency leads me to question that all of the Quran originated from Mohammed, the founder of Islam, as Muslims claim.
But people should read the Quran for themselves. In my opinion, it is the ultimate cause of this Muslim terrorism. This needs to stop. I have posted several times about this on this blog. Here is a list of some of my posts about this subject:
“Are We Doing Enough about Islamic Suicide Bombers?”
“Did El-Sisi Say Revise the Qu’ran?”
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