Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi

’” Although described as “shocking” and “twisted” in the Daily Star report below, this is only shocking and twisted by Western standards. It’s perfectly normal behavior for jihadists, who embrace death as the ultimate Islamic religious sacrifice in the way of jihad, which is rooted in Islamic texts. Yet Westerners delude themselves into thinking that normative Islam is a religion of peace.

Recall the “slip” of the Washington Post, which referenced Baghdadi as an “austere religious scholar.” That he was, except that the WaPo’s spin on the story wasn’t to present him as the despicable “religious scholar” that he was, who followed Islamic texts to the letter. WaPo wanted to show its respect.

Al-Baghdadi had a library full of copies of the Qur’an and other Islamic books in his hideout. At the end of his life, he “had to go out in the way of his choosing,” so he blew up himself rather than face being captured by the kaffir, and took his children with him to what he believed was paradise for martyrs.

For Westerners, his act was monstrous and shocking, but for al-Baghdadi and fellow jihadists (now living throughout the West in undetermined numbers), his final act was heroic and deeply religious.

On October 26, 2019, the terrorist mastermind and ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi died during a US Special Forces raid on his compound in remote Syria. But in the same way that he became the world’s most notorious terrorist, al-Baghdadi had to go out in the way of his choosing. His two young children, however, didn’t get a say.

As a US Special Forces task force broke into his secret complex and searched room by room, al-Baghdadi pulled his two young sons into a corner and prepared the suicide belt which would kill all three of them. He waited as long as he could, hoping Special Forces would miss him. That’s simply not how they operate. And when two American soldiers and a heroic military dog appeared at the doorway of the tunnel bunker, al-Baghdadi hit ‘detonate’.