The King of Jordan has declared vengeance against ISIS and a number of Muslim clerics—and even Al-Qaeda—have condemned the fiery public murder of the Jordanian pilot.
ISIS caged the Jordanian pilot, produced a video with doctored footage in which they justified burning him alive by showing Muslim civilians, including children, who were, presumably, burned alive by coalition airplanes over Iraq.
Burning is not something new. Muslims have burned “heretics” to death in the past. The Fourth Caliph, Ali ibn Abi Talib, Mohammed’s cousin, did so.
American University of Beirut political scientist Hilal Khashan noted that “In Islam, in the Sourah Al Baqara, in Sourah number two, verse 194, it says ‘if one transgresses against you, you may respond likewise.’” However, this issue remains controversial.
In the snuff video, ISIS was explaining that they would hold anyone, even Sunni Arab Muslims, accountable for joining the “Crusader” alliance against them. The video (I have refused to watch it but I have read descriptions of it) is also a warning to any other Arab pilots and soldiers about the gruesome fate they could expect if they go to war against ISIS.
The sadistic death pornography in which ISIS specializes—beheading, limb amputations, crucifixion, enslavement, and genocide—did not get as impassioned or as public a response from Jordan when Syrian or Iraqi infidels were the victims. Also, Muslim-on-Muslim violence is a given in the Muslim world. Although Jordan has welcomed many refugees from Syria and Iraq, and joined an anti-Iranian and anti-Shiite coalition consisting of Qatar, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Morocco, and America, King Abdullah has never before vowed to avenge the blood of these victims.
The Jordanian pilot, Muath al-Kaseabeh, comes from a prominent family and tribe. His murder—so awful, so public—has shamed his country, his tribe, and his family. The Arab Muslim honor code requires blood vengeance, an “an eye for an eye” (precisely what ISIS believed they were doing in the above video).
King Abdullah donned a red keffiyah which symbolized his solidarity with the Bedouin tribes whose honor demands vengeance. The Jordanian Armed Forces vow to “avenge the death of the hero to confirm that the blood of the martyred pilot wasn’t shed in vain.” The King immediately executed two terrorists in custody.
Muslim clerics in the region may never have sounded as condemning as they now do. Egypt’s leading Sunni Muslim authority, al-Azhar University, described ISIS as a “Satanic, terrorist group.” In a sense, this rejects ISIS’s legitimacy as an Islamic authority. However, the Grand Sheikh of Al-Azhar, Ahmed al-Tayeb, said the “killers deserved to be ‘killed, crucified, or to have their limbs amputated’”—all very Islamic punishments and precisely what ISIS does.
A Saudi cleric insisted that “burning is rejected by Islamic law…only God tortures by fire.”
Admirers and civilian captives of ISIS watched and cheered Kaseabeh’s fiery execution.
Please note: The video presents “a long list of Jordanian pilots, some accompanied by photographs and a home address,” which is meant to encourage ISIS supporters in Jordan to “take revenge against them as well.” One “Suhaib” tweeted the following: “To any pilot participating in the crusader coalition against the holy warriors—know that your plane might fall in the next mission. Sleep well!”
ISIS rules by sadistic torture, sadistic intimidation, and sadistic enslavement. They produce death pornography in the hope that it will intimidate infidels as well as those Muslims whom they do not hold captive.
ISIS must be stopped now, not later. However, focusing only on ISIS is also a diversion from focusing on an equally barbaric Iran whose plan to achieve nuclear power is being enabled by President Obama.
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