By Ben Hubbard
BEIRUT, Lebanon — For decades, (click here) he was the bespectacled caretaker of some of Syria’s
greatest archaeological treasures. He explored the sprawling ruins in
his hometown, named a daughter Zenobia after its ancient queen, and
became so intertwined with its development that one historian called him
“Mr. Palmyra.”
Now, months after his home
fell to the jihadists of the Islamic State, Khalid al-Asaad, the retired
chief of antiquities for Palmyra, has fallen, too.
After
detaining him for weeks, the jihadists dragged him on Tuesday to a
public square where a masked swordsman cut off his head in front of a
crowd, Mr. Asaad’s relatives said.
His
blood-soaked body was then suspended with red twine by its wrists from a
traffic light, his head resting on the ground between his feet, his
glasses still on, according to a photo distributed on social media by
Islamic State supporters....
I dare anyone to find an average person within Daesh older than 40 years old outside of the immediate leadership. They don't value life. They value death, both others and their own.
April 24, 2015
By Denise Natali
The Islamic State (click here) (IS) in Iraq and Syria may effectively employ radical
Salafist doctrine to mobilize core believers and foreign fighters, but
it relies on complex networks led by former Iraqi Baathist officers to
operate and control its so-called caliphate. Baathist leadership in IS,
most recently noted in Christoph Reuter’s riveting article
in Spiegel International, reinforces the political nature of IS and its
Sunni Arab, Iraqi nationalist roots. Alongside or within IS’ aim to
devise a "pure" Islamic society is a Baathist plan to run a meticulously
calculating state able to monopolize power, control territory and
eradicate potential threats through brutality and terror. Baathist
influences are evident in the nature of IS terror operations — extensive
security and spy networks, hierarchical bureaucracies, battlefield
tactics and elaborate financial and logistical networks — similar to
those used by former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and his Baathist
circles for 35 years in Iraq....
Well. Depriving a person of the age of 40 is beneficial to their soul. The justification for suicide bombers and/or child soldiers.
Well. Depriving a person of the age of 40 is beneficial to their soul. The justification for suicide bombers and/or child soldiers.
The Quran (click here) sets the age of responsibility at 40 (46:15);
that being when the human reaches full maturity. Anyone who dies before
this age goes to Heaven. This is because God's Mercy dictates that this
person died before reaching the age of full maturity and responsibility.
If the person (who dies before 40) believed in God and benefitted from
belief by nourishing and developing the soul, he or she goes to the High
Heaven. Otherwise, the person goes to the Lower Heaven.
"We enjoined the human being to honor his parents. His mother bore him arduously, gave birth to him arduously, and took intimate care of him for thirty months. When he reaches maturity, and reaches the age of forty, he should say, "My Lord, direct me to appreciate the blessings You have bestowed upon me and upon my parents, and to do the righteous works that please You. Let my children be righteous as well. I have repented to You; I am a submitter." 46:15
"We enjoined the human being to honor his parents. His mother bore him arduously, gave birth to him arduously, and took intimate care of him for thirty months. When he reaches maturity, and reaches the age of forty, he should say, "My Lord, direct me to appreciate the blessings You have bestowed upon me and upon my parents, and to do the righteous works that please You. Let my children be righteous as well. I have repented to You; I am a submitter." 46:15
