Rudyard Kipling"
“When you're left wounded on Afganistan's plains and
the women come out to cut up what remains, Just roll to your rifle
and blow out your brains,
And go to your God like a soldier”
General Douglas MacArthur"
“We are not retreating. We are advancing in another direction.”
“It is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it.” “Old soldiers never die; they just fade away.
“The soldier, above all other people, prays for peace, for he must suffer and be the deepest wounds and scars of war.”
“May God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won't .” “The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.
“Nobody ever defended, there is only attack and attack and attack some more.
“It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.
The Soldier stood and faced God
Which must always come to pass
He hoped his shoes were shining
Just as bright as his brass
"Step forward you Soldier,
How shall I deal with you?
Have you always turned the other cheek?
To My Church have you been true?"
"No, Lord, I guess I ain't
Because those of us who carry guns
Can't always be a saint."
I've had to work on Sundays
And at times my talk was tough,
And sometimes I've been violent,
Because the world is awfully rough.
But, I never took a penny
That wasn't mine to keep.
Though I worked a lot of overtime
When the bills got just too steep,
The Soldier squared his shoulders and said
And I never passed a cry for help
Though at times I shook with fear,
And sometimes, God forgive me,
I've wept unmanly tears.
I know I don't deserve a place
Among the people here.
They never wanted me around
Except to calm their fears.
If you've a place for me here,
Lord, It needn't be so grand,
I never expected or had too much,
But if you don't, I'll understand."
There was silence all around the throne
Where the saints had often trod
As the Soldier waited quietly,
For the judgment of his God.
"Step forward now, you Soldier,
You've borne your burden well.
Walk peacefully on Heaven's streets,
You've done your time in Hell."
Jihad Watch : Usama Hasan of the UK’s Quilliam Foundation gives the impression in
this article that Ibn Taymiyya was a moderate.
Hasan fails to mention
that Ibn Taymiyya also said: “Since lawful warfare is essentially jihad
and since its aim is that the religion is God’s entirely and God’s word
is uppermost, therefore according to all Muslims, those who stand in the
way of this aim must be fought.” And: “To fight in defence of religion
and belief is a collective duty; there is no other duty after belief
than fighting the enemy who is corrupting the life and the religion.
There are no preconditions for this duty and the enemy should be fought
with one’s best abilities.”
Ibn Taymiyya was one of Osama bin Laden’s favorite Islamic scholars; Osama quoted him repeatedly in his 1996 fatwa
declaring jihad against the United States. And here is Usama Hasan
invoking him to explain how he has supposedly “deradicalized” several
jihadis and would “deradicalize” Shamima Begum. But what if your pupils
start reading more Ibn Taymiyya, Mr. Hasan? Have you read Ibn Taymiyya,
Mr. Hasan?
It is hard to believe that you haven’t, given your work to
“deradicalize” jihadis: it would only make sense for you to be familiar
with how they become “radicalized” in the first place, and that process
has not infrequently involved Ibn Taymiyya’s writings. So don’t you
think that invoking Ibn Taymiyya to explain how you would turn a jihadi
away from jihad is a bit…cynical and deceptive? “How would I deradicalise Shamima Begum? With Islamic scholarship,” by Usama Hasan, Guardian, February 19, 2019:
