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."
Worried about the coronavirus? Don’t be. All you have to do to make
sure you don’t contract the virus is blow yourself up in a crowd of
infidels. Well, yes, but there’s always a catch, now, isn’t there?
This sage advice for a coronavirus cure comes from the thoughtful
medical researchers of the Islamic State, aka ISIS. The latest edition
of the jihad group’s al-Naba
newsletter tells Muslims to wash their hands frequently and avoid
traveling into Europe in order to avoid contracting the coronavirus, but
somewhat contradicts itself in also noting that the best way to turn
away “the torment and wrath” of Allah is to wage jihad.
The coronavirus, says ISIS, is a “plague” sent by Allah in order to
give “painful torment” for non-believers. This is by no means a novel
idea in Islam. The idea that Allah will punish the unrighteous in this
world is in the Qur’an: “So if they repent, it is better for them; but
if they turn away, Allah will punish them with a painful punishment in
this world and the Hereafter. And there will not be for them on earth
any protector or helper.” (Qur’an 9:74) The obverse of the idea that
Allah will punish the unrepentant in both this world and the next is
that if one is righteous, one will prosper in this world as well as in
the next.
With that idea likely in mind, ISIS states that “the Muslims should
not pity the disbelievers and apostates, but should use the current
opportunities to continue working to free Muslim prisoners from the
camps in which they face subjugation and disease.” In doing this, they
need not worry about the coronavirus: “They should also remember that
obedience to God — the most beloved form of which is jihad — turns away
the torment and wrath of God.”
The most righteous deed of all, the one that is most effective in
turning away Allah’s “torment and wrath,” is jihad. A hadith has a
Muslim asking Muhammad: “Instruct me as to such a deed as equals Jihad
(in reward).” Muhammad replied, “I do not find such a deed.” (Bukhari 4.52.44)
So while ISIS tells Muslims that they should take sensible
precautions against the coronavirus, it also tells them that committing
acts of violence against unbelievers will protect them from the virus
anyway. Meanwhile, the jihad group asks Allah to make the coronavirus
even more lethal than it is already, so as to “increase their torment,”
as well as to “save the believers from all that.”
Also, the Qur’an teaches that Allah will place a Muslim’s good deeds
on one scale and bad deeds on the other, and send them to Paradise or
hell depending on which scale weighs more. A Muslim who is worried about
his eternal destiny can decisively tip the scales in his favor by
waging jihad, the deed that is greater than all others. He can seize the
Qur’an’s promise of Paradise for those who “kill and are killed” for
Allah (9:111).
Of course, if one is killed, the points about avoiding the
coronavirus are rendered moot, especially in light of the fact that a
hadith attributed to Muhammad accords martyr status to those who die in a
plague: “There are seven types of martyrdom in addition to being killed
in Allah’s cause: one who dies of plague is a martyr; one who is
drowned is a martyr; one who dies of pleurisy is a martyr; one who dies
of an internal complaint is a martyr; one who is burnt to death is a
martyr; who one is killed by a building falling on him is a martyr; and a
woman who dies while pregnant is a martyr. (Sunan Abi Dawud 3111)
Another hadith adds that Muslims should not flee an epidemic:
“Narrated Aisha: (the wife of the Prophet) I asked Allah’s Messenger
about the plague. He told me that it was a Punishment sent by Allah on
whom he wished, and Allah made it a source of mercy for the believers,
for if one in the time of an epidemic plague stays in his country
patiently hoping for Allah’s Reward and believing that nothing will
befall him except what Allah has written for him, he will get the reward
of a martyr.” (Sahih al-Bukhari 3474)
The only difference, then, between dying in the midst of one’s own
jihad massacre and dying from the coronavirus is that in the former,
some infidels die as well. For ISIS, that is a big difference, and one
worth telling Muslims to wash their hands before they set out to murder
infidels.