The 13th issue of the Islamic State’s propaganda magazine, Dabiq, pays homage to Syed Rizwan Farook and his Pakistani-born accomplice wife Tashfeen Malik, the radical Islamic terrorist couple who together carried out the San Bernardino shooting massacre this past December.
The jihadi couple’s rampage took the lives of 14 innocent civilians and left 22 wounded.
The publication’s foreword begins by praising the duo:
As the American-led crusaders continue waging war against the Khilāfah, more and more Muslims continue demonstrating their willingness to sacrifice everything precious to them for the sake of fulfilling their duty to Allah. While many continue to do so by undertaking hijrah (jihad by emigration) to the Islamic State, others do so by defiantly terrorizing the crusaders in their very strongholds. Such was the case on the 20th of Safar when Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife Tashfeen Malik carried out an attack on the kuffār in San Bernardino, California.
The terrorist organization refers to those murdered in the brutal killing spree as kuffars, a highly derogatory Arabic term used to describe non-Muslims. The article pointed out that just before Malik carried out her rampage, she posted online her allegiance to Islamic State head Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi.
Dabiq also praises the couple for abandoning their infant daughter, suggesting that the children of those who martyr themselves for the Islamic State, and follow in the footsteps of Farook and Malik, will be taken care of: “For those who wonder how anyone could possibly leave their children behind in order to fight and be killed for the sake of Allah, we remind them of Allah’s promise to care for those left behind by the believers.”
The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) immediately came forward to aid the family of the terrorists in their quest to gain custody of the orphaned baby.
Many Muslims, including leading public figures, have contested the Islamic State’s version of Islam, some even suggesting it is not Islam at all.
During his first visit to the United States as Australia’s head of government this week, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull visited Arlington National Cemetery. In a brief interview with WorldViews afterwards, he said “We shouldn’t be so delicate as to say [the Islamic State] has got nothing to do with Islam, but equally we shouldn’t tag all Muslims or Islam itself as responsible for a tiny minority of criminals.”
Breitbart News conducted an exclusive interview with Dr. Dany Doueiri, a Cal State University San Bernardino professor who had Farook as a student. He said: “I can’t say that he’s not a Muslim. But he is a a bigot, an ignorant and an insult. So we try to distance ourselves from these people [like Farook and Malik], but I cannot deny the fact that he’s a Muslim. If he came and prayed, I don’t say he’s not a Muslim. I say he’s an idiot and he’s a sick man. And this is where it starts and this is where it should end.”
The Dabiq article closes by writing: “May Allah accept the sacrifices of our noble brother Syed Rizwan Farook and his blessed wife, accept them among the shuhadā’, and use their deeds as a means to awaken more Muslims in America, Europe, and Australia.”
Follow Adelle Nazarian on Twitter @AdelleNaz.