Rod Huff's Blog, page 3

Life Imitates Art…Again

If you’ve read previous blogs or anything about Deadly Beliefs you know that the basic premise is that al-Qaeda is intentionally botching attacks on the US to have our intelligence forces discount their effectiveness and pay less attention to them. Meanwhile they are planning a monumental world-wide attack aimed at five non-Muslim countries. In my April 28th Blog – “Another Failed al-Qaeda Attack”  I documented a report of an al-Qaeda plan to derail a passenger train that runs between Toronto and NYC.

Earlier this week ABC News reported the government’s recently exposed surveillance program led them to discover an al-Qaeda had a plan to bomb Wall Street in 2008.  In an attempt to justify their data collection, the director of the National Security Administration testified to Congress that nearly 50 terrorist attacks have been thwarted by their programs.

The Wall Street failed attack centered on an auto parts dealer in Kansas City, Khalid Ouazzani who pleaded guilty to his role in funding al-Qaeda. He wasn’t charged with planning of the attacks since he became a cooperating witness. Just the thought of an al-Qaeda operative becoming a cooperating witness is hard to image. Their culture is one of dying as a martyr to attain a position in paradise close to Allah. Their typical extremist would commit suicide rather than assist the infidels.

Deadly Beliefs talks about data bases of killers and operatives who are ready to give their life to the cause – it also talks about another data base of operatives who are not competent and destined to be caught. That list is used to make assignments for their failed attempts – that list is used to make al-Qaeda appear to be a non-entity….but they are not.

Lone Wolves and al-Qaeda

Although my book discusses the threat of al-Qaeda’s cell system, there is a growing popular belief that the next big attack from the terrorist franchise will come via independent, “lone-wolf” terrorist attacks – acting by themselves or with a very small group of two or three.

Immediately after the Boston bombings, news broke regarding the Tsarnaev brothers choice of a pressure cooker bomb. It was determined that step-by-step instructions for this weapon were provided if al-Qaeda’s English-language on-line magazine, Inspire. They even published a special edition taking credit for the motivation of the Russian brothers shortly after the attack.

Call it what you like, but al-Qaeda is still set on decimating America and have publicly praised Tamerian Tsarnev for giving his life to Allah. Inspire published a special edition of their magazine featuring the dead terrorist’s image holding a cell phone with the last words texted to his mother (who is still denying her sons’ involvement in the attack). His text clearly tells his mother what his intentions were:

“My dear Mom, I will lay down my life for Islam. I’m gonna die for Islam Inshaa Allah.”

The surviving brother has admitted to FBI agents that they got the plans for their bomb from Inspire according to The Washington Post.

I am not nor would I ever deny the danger of independent radicals operating by themselves but they could not have pulled off their terrible deed without the help of al-Qaeda. I’ve said from day-one that the Tsarnaev brothers were associated more closely with al-Qaeda than we are being told. In 2012, the dead brother visited Dagestan for a six-month visit where the FBI knows that it is highly likely that he had meetings with specific militants as well as visits to known radical mosques.

Terrorism is unacceptable on our shores or, for that matter, any civilized shores. Al-Qaeda has been masterful in using our country’s resources, laws and the progressive politically correctness to work freely planning attacks – lone-wolf or cells the results are all the same.  Our freedom has been impact and our right taken away for the sake of not profiling. Not profiling even though the biggest attack on the US was at the hands of Middle Easterners – fifteen of the nineteen were Saudi Arabians with the other from Egypt, Lebanon and the UAE. That’s right all dark hair, dark skinned Middle Easterners – check out their pictures for yourself.

For more information on this topic I would recommend the book by Lone Wolf Terrorism, Understanding the Growing Threat by Jeffrey D. Simon. I would also recommend two articles:  Post by Suzanne Danis, PhD on the Homeland Security (HSToday.us) and a  USA Today article by Doug Stanglin .

Four Stages of Life

In the Islam religion they identify four distinct life stages:

Life in the womb.
Life in the world.
Life in the grave.
Life in the next life.

 

Life in the Womb

Islamic Law (AKA Sharia) clearly states that the fetus has rights and, for the most part, Muslims stand against Roe v. Wade. I say ‘for the most part’ because the Prophet Mohammad explained that after 120 days in the womb an angel comes to the baby to breathe a soul into it. Consequently, there are some elements of Islam that believe that abortions can be performed as long as it’s prior to that 120 day mark. There are two rituals that take at the birth of an Islamic child – the first involves the child hearing the first Call to Prayer that is traditionally whispered into the infant’s right ear followed by a reading from the Quran. The second ritual involves the naming of the infant – this usually takes place at a gathering of family and friends. The naming ceremony also takes place when an adult converts to Islam to signify his or her conversion to the world – Cassius Clay to Muhammad Ali for an example.

Life in the World

This segment begins immediately following the birth of a Muslim child. Children are not held accountable until they reach puberty which is considered adulthood. They believe that the angel who breathes a soul into the fetus at 120 days also provide each fetus with a book of deeds which follows the Islamic soul throughout his life. According to the Quran there are two angels that watch over you during your life – one on your left shoulder and one on the right. They are there to simply record your actions, thoughts and even your feelings. Muslims are not called to be perfect but they are called to do life the best they can. Unlike Christianity they have to continue to strive to be perfect – they do not believe in eternal salvation in this life.

Life in the Grave

Muslims believe that when they die their soul rises and collects in their throat for collection by the Angel of Death who is tasked with removing their souls – according to their beliefs, he literally pulls their souls from the physical body. The exact moment of death is described in the Quran:

“When a dying person breathes his last, when, ‘Can any doctor save him?’ the people ask, then, in the pangs of death he’ll know his time is due. His knees will shake as death approaches and then he will return to his Lord.” (Qur’an 75:27–30)

Once dead there is no repentance. The soul now moves to another world – a parallel universe (fans of Fringe can relate to this). Muslims do not view death as the end but merely a passing to the next phase of life. Their souls remain near where their bodies are last placed. The Life in the Grave stage of life is sometimes referred to as soul storage – this is the place they beielve their soul will stay until the Day of Judgment. Christians view death as a triumphant entry into the Kingdom of God where we celebrate with Him through eternity.

  Life in the Next Life

The end of a Muslim’s life in the grave is when God returns for the Day of Judgment – this, according to their belief will be the end of the world. Their souls are brought together for their final reckoning – everyone will receive a final grade. About a quarter of the verses in the Quran refer to the next life. At this day our record (that was recorded in our book of deeds mentioned above) will be read in our presence – imagine the thought of that? This process according to their beliefs can include witnesses and even people we hurt in this life. Their good deeds and bad deeds are stacked and weighed. Allah then explains the meaning of all the evidence that is presented and decides on his forgiveness or not. I am thankful that we have a God who loves us so much that he sacrificed His son on a cross.

If you are interested in winning a free, signed copy of Deadly Beliefs click on this link to Goodreads.com. Thanks for your interest!

Why Mecca?

Why is a pilgrimage to Mecca one of the Five Pillars? How did it become the holiest city in the Islamic religion? Where is it? What do Muslims do when they get there? To find out the answers to these questions read on.

Mecca is located in modern day Saudi Arabia with a history that goes back four thousand years when the valley was called Baca. It was a dry uninhabited until Abraham, according to Muslim beliefs, was instructed by God to bring Hagar his wife and his son to her, Ishmael to the desolate place from Palestine. Out of food and water Hagar took her son in search of survival when Ishmael struck his foot on the ground and water appeared thus saving them. Muslims believe that Ishmael and not Isaac as the Bible indicates was the son that God told Abraham to sacrifice and claim that the writers of the Bible changed which son saved by God providing a sacrificial lamb to replace his son.

The pilgrimage to the Kaaba was reference in the Bible by King David in the Psalm 84:4-6

4 Blessed are they that dwell in thy house: they will be still praising thee. Selah.

5 Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee; in whose heart are the ways of them.

6 Who passing through the valley of Baca make it a well; the rain also filleth the pools.

Mostly because of the continuous flow of water that still runs after four thousand years, Mecca became an important city in the middle of the desert. It became a stop for caravans that traversed Arabia – route from Yemen and India through Syria and Europe. The prophet Abraham was then instructed to build a shrine to God in the Valley of Baca. The Muslim belief is that the location of this shrine is in the center of Mecca and marked by a structure called the Kaaba that is 40 feet on each side and 50 feet high made of bricks and covered by black cloth embroidered by gold thread. The Kaaba is surrounded by Islam’s most sacred mosque called the Masjid al-Haram. During the pilgrimage Muslims must visit the Kaaba and walk counter-clockwise seven times around the shrine.

In more recent times, Mecca was the birthplace of Muhammad who is universally accepted by Muslims as the last prophet sent by Allah to deliver his word. In addition to his birthplace, Mecca is the location where he first received the Quran.

I hope this blog doesn’t prompt your interest enough to plan a vsit to the holy city – unless you are Muslim. Non-Muslims are prohibited from entering the city.

Mosques – the Center of Islamic Life

As I discussed in my blog about the Five Pillars it is extremely important that Muslims pray their five prayers every day. Since their mosques are open for prayer daily it’s not surprising that they become the center of activity in Islamic communities. In Deadly Beliefs, one of the cells is formed out of an apologetics class that is offered by Imam Taj Hatem to teach young believers to learn more about their faith. The mosque is the fictitious Antioch Islamic Center. One doesn’t have to dig too deeply into the concept of radical Muslims to see how they often have connections to certain mosques. In the recent Boston bombing the two brothers were associated with a mosque that had other known ties to terrorism. Their are countless other examples throughout the world. This is not to say that all mosques are the center of radical teachings.

In Muhammad’s day the mosque in Medina was used for community meetings, planning sessions for the growth of Islam and even homeless shelters. Currently in the US, the mosque takes on the location for activities very similar to our Christian churches or Jewish synagogues. They even host Sunday/Saturday school for young Muslims to learn about their faith. The number of Mosques has grown to 2,106 in 2012 – up 74% from 1,209 in 2000 according to USA Today. Muslims claim to be the fastest growing religion in the US but it isn’t. It is, however growing at a much faster rate than Christianity and Judaism is actually shrinking.

The most attended service of the week is Friday noon (Salat ul-Jumu’ah or the prayer gathering). This service is mandatory for men and women are allowed but there is no sin recorded if they do not attend. It is found in the Quran 62:9:

O you who have believed, when [the adhan] is called for the prayer on the day of Jumu’ah [Friday], then proceed to the remembrance of Allah and leave trade. That is better for you, if you only knew.

No shoes are allowed in the mosque and you will not find pews or any place to sit – the main halls are carpeted to allow them to pray face down. One of the requirements of a mosque is to show people what direction Mecca is from their hall. This is usually in a small inward curved niche in the front wall. When Muslims pray they must face in the direction of Mecca to show their respect to Abraham’s shrine.

Where they build mosques is a topic for a later blog. Suffice it to say for now but their locations are strategic and meaningful to their faith.

Al-Qaeda Is Weak and Bungling…..or Is It?

As I’ve discussed in earlier blogs, the central premise of my novel is that al-Qaeda has become ineffective – at least that’s what bin Laden and his successor (in my book), Nasi Ahsan hope to have the world think. Meanwhile the terrorist franchise is planning an attack that will make the 9/11 attacks seem insignificant.

In my research I found numerous articles in respected journals and websites that discuss exactly this – al-Qaeda IS weak and bungling. I will from time to time share some of these articles that helped in my creation of my story.

One of the more recent (2/25/2013) examples of this was written by Andy Liepman former principal deputy director of the National Counterterrorism Center and currently a senior policy analyst at the nonprofit, nonpartisan RAND Corporation. According to Mr. Leipman:

“…(if we look at) the evolution of the al-Qaeda brand over the past 12 years, what is clear is a pattern of al Qaeda (or some quasi-organized group acting in its name) pushing into a vacuum, overplaying its hand, and retreating back into the bush when it meets resistance. In Iraq, in Yemen, in Somalia, and now in Algeria, al-Qaeda wannabes and copycats, even those truly committed to bin Laden’s global jihad, have repeatedly made the same mistakes and have sown the seeds of their own eventual destruction.”

He warns that we can’t take our eye off of them but in Deadly Beliefs the administration does just that – everyone except one very intelligent and committed Department of Homeland Security Arabic expert, Teddy Brewer and a group of private citizens that observe some things that just don’t seem right. This type of diligent watch is exactly what Liepman says is important to eventually defeat this enemy:  “Public resilience in the face of this diminished threat will be an important factor…”

Here is a link to read this article written by someone who is clearly an expert on counterintelligence: Al-Qaeda Is Weak and Bungling – but Still Dangerous .

Quotes Galore

I have always enjoyed good quotes and when I find one I write it down for future reference. As I began writing my book it was a natural thing for me to include quotes and I did – many, many quotes. In fact, I begin each of the hundred and one chapters (don’t be intimidated – they’re short) with a quote that in some way sets the stage for the chapter that follows.

For instance, the prologue to the book begins with a quote from our current President:

Prologue
Abbottabad, Pakistan – May 2, 2011

“Tonight, I can report to the American people and to the world that the United States has conducted an operation that killed Osama bin Laden, the leader of al Qaeda, and a terrorist who’s responsible for the murder of thousands of innocent men, women, and children.”

                                                                                                  —Barack Obama

I’m not giving away anything about the plot but this quote obviously precedes the description of the night that Seal Team Six took eliminated the most evil terrorist that the United States had ever faced.

If you haven’t ‘liked’ the Deadly Beliefs Facebook page please do so. I communicate tidbits and news about the book. I will be randomly posting quotes from the book on our Facebook page to give you an idea of the type of quotes but they range from Greek philosophers, holy books (the Bible and the Quran), political figures, inventors, rock stars, you name it. As I determined what my goals for the chapters were, the first thing I would do is to search for a relavant quote. I used the web and reference books to find them and looked forward to the process. I have been told by early readers that they appreciated them – I hope you do as well.

The Number Five

As you read my novel you will see the number five showing up consistently in al-Qaeda’s plans. Initially in my research I discovered that terrorist sleeper cells typically had a five pointed star as their framework – five points with the cell leader in the center of all communication. Only the cell leader knows the entire plan and even total details of the plan is only disclosed to him as he has a need to know. Information is held very close to the vest for fear of a follower giving into interrogation if caught. Nasi Ahsan followed his mentor; bin Laden, in his attention to details and how the details tied into the Islamic faith. – five is an imprtant number in their religion.

The obvious number five in Islam is in the Five Pillars – for more info on them check out my blog from last week, How Muslims Believe They Reach Heaven. But during my research I began to find other key number fives represented. You will discover the number five come up time and time again throughout my novel.

I discovered the following on Mystical Numbers that takes a look at the importance of various numbers in all the world religions and mythology. Dr Gulam Mohd Chinchwalker assembled this list that I extracted the ten listed below:

Allah made man with five elements mud, water, fire, air and soul
Allah emphasized five colors in his creation fair, black, brown, red, yellow
Allah made man gave him five of his power sight, hearing, speech, intelligence, and feeling
Allah gave human beings five systems: respiratory system, circulatory system, digestive system, excretory system, and nervous system.
Allah gave human beings five fingers
Allah gave believers the five pillars of Islam
Allah created five essential basic needs of human beings: food, drink ,cloth, house, excretion
Allah provided five essential nutrient carbohydrate, protein, vitamin, minerals & fats
Allah made five type of tastes: sweet, salty, bitter, sour & spicy
Allah annoited five big Prophets: Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Mohammad

As you read Deadly Beliefs pay attention to the terrorist attention to their blessed number five.

 

Another Failed al-Qaeda Attack

As a reminder, Deadly Beliefs is based on the fact that al-Qaeda is purposefully failing at attacks on the US. Real life examples are the Detroit underwear bomber, the Times Square bomb in a van and the air freight shipments from Yemen. In my novel I created several other fictitious events. Their purpose was to have American and free-world intelligence agencies take their eyes off of them. Meanwhile they were planning to launch a massive attack on the US and four other non-Muslim countries.

In an example of art imitating life, we have added two more events to their list of failures. Granted the Boston bombers have not been associated with al-Qaeda or any other terrorist organization – yet. They definitely represented radical Islam.

Earlier this week on April 22nd  the second recent, real-life example of another al-Qaeda failure took place. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police arrested two suspects with ties to al-Qaeda in Iran. It was reported by Canadian media that the officials were tipped off by a concerned imam. The two planned to derail a passenger train somewhere between Toronto and New York City. The attack would have obviously caused numerous casualties and transportation disruption.

Is this the work of the same organization that pulled off a nearly-perfect attack on the US in September 2001 or are they attempting to make the CIA, Homeland Security and intelligence agencies around the globe lower their guard?

How Muslims Believe They Reach Heaven

In my previous blog I discussed the similarities in the roots and a few beliefs of Christianity and Islam. In this post and others to follow I will be discussing the multitude of differences between our two faiths. Before I dig into the details of the Five Pillars I need to point out that the doctrine related to the pillars may be the single biggest difference between the two belief systems as it relates to how one attains eternal life. I must also point out that it is not universally accepted in Islam. The majority of Sunni and the minority of Shia Muslims agree on both the importance and the practice of the five pillars. (for more information on the two denominations check out A Divided Islam).

In regards to the source of the pillars, individually they are discussed throughout the Quran but they are not summarized until the Hadith of Gabriel. Hadiths are reports that were passed on verbally and eventually written that summarized the teachings or utterings of the Prophet Muhammad that provided followers additional information and clarification of the Quran. The sources and how directly the writters’ relationships to Muhammad are very valuable in determining the acceptability and reliability of hadiths.

Back to the pillars – both the Five Pillars and the Six Articles of Faith (to be discussed in a future blog) are recoded in the Hadith of Gabriel which is the most important of all the hadiths. Whereas Christians believe that eternal life is achieved through the sacrifice made by Christ on the cross and there is nothing we can do to reach heaven by our own doing, eternal life in Islam is a result of works. The highest state of paradise is achieved through the sacrifice of life in jihad but their other route to paradise comes through the application of the Five Pillars in the Muslim’s daily life. It is like a daily check list to eternal life – if they do these things they reach paradise.

The Five Pillars of Islam are:

Testimony of Faith – this pillar is straight forward and recited (usually in Arabic) as a mandatory part of the Muslim’s daily prayers:  ”There is no god but Allah, and Mohammed is the messenger of Allah.” The acceptance of this is necessary to convert to Islam – a full, unconditional acceptance of this statement.
Prayer – there are five prayers daily and each has a name corresponding to its time of day:  Fajr (before sunrise), Dhuhr (midday after the sun passes its peak), Asr (evening before sunset), Maghrib (after sunset), and Isha’ (night). In many Muslim countries calls to prayer are broadcast from the rooftops of mosques and other buildings reminding followers to pray. Their Friday noon prayer is mandatory for all believers.
Charitable Giving – is mandatory based on their wealth to ease the hardships of fellow believers. Many give additional monies but 2.5% of their wealth is to be given to the poor.
Fasting During Ramadan – during this month (29-30 days based on the phase of the crescent moon) Muslims are required to fast from dawn to dusk. In addition to food it also includes, drinking, smoking and even sex.
Pilgrimage to Mecca (hajj) - The pilgrimage takes place between the 8th and 13th days  f the last month of the Islamic calendar annually and every able bodies Islam is obligated to make the journey some time in their lifetime. The Mecca experience includes many rituals but the main one is to circle the Kaaba (or Cube – a monument that is believed to have been given to Abraham from Gabriel). Muslims around the world face the Kaaba in Mecca when they pray. Male Muslims who have completed their pilgrimage are given the name Hajji as an honorary title – women are given Hajjah. It is interesting that the hajj is the only time when Muslim men and women pray together – the the millions in attendance make it imposible to have separate male and female lines.  In Deadly Beliefs bin Laden’s successor, Nasi Ahsan, was called Hajji by bin Laden and Ahsan’s closest friends.

Thanks for reading!