From Felons to Jihadists

The Islam-Crime Connection

Despite the noble aura that Muslims—and not a few Westerners—attribute to jihad, the closer one examines the nature of Islamic holy war, the more it appears to be dressed up criminality.

In the words of one UK study:

The lines between terrorism and criminality are becoming blurred as an increasing number of former criminals join the Islamic State… Nearly 60 percent of European jihadists studied by researchers had been jailed previously... Once recruited by ISIS, these people easily transition to committing violence for a different cause... [T]he welcome from ISIS offers criminals a perceived chance at “redemption” without requiring a change in behavior.

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Even so, the establishment refuses to see any direct correlation between Islam and criminality. As the director of the study himself explained, criminals “are the perfect fit” because the “Islamic State doesn’t require any intellectual sophistication. It doesn’t ask you to study religion. It makes it all like a computer game.

The implication is that criminals are ideal recruits because they don’t know—nor do they care to learn—the first thing about “true” Islam.

Or, as John Brennan memorably asserted of ISIS members when he was head of the CIA, “they’re criminals. Most—many—of them are psychopathic thugs, murderers who use a religious concept and masquerade and mask themselves in that religious construct.”

Here, again, we see how ignorance of history—willful or otherwise—undermines Western security. The fact is, from the very beginnings of Islam and throughout the centuries, the overwhelming majority of Muslims who participated in jihads had no “intellectual sophistication,” did not “study religion,” and generally behaved like “psychopathic thugs, murderers.” That’s because Islam’s “religious construct” was always designed to entice and mobilize such men.

All this is evident in the career of Islam’s prophet, Muhammad. After more than a decade of peaceful preaching in Mecca, he had won over only some 100 followers, mostly relatives. Once, however, he took to raiding and plundering all who rejected his Islam—and became immensely successful at it—his followers grew exponentially.

Then and now, those who undertook jihad were never obligated to have sincere or pious intentions. That’s because—and despite all Western projectionism and relativism—Allah is not God; he is not interested in the “condition” of the jihadist’s “heart,” but rather in his sword. The cold, businesslike language of the Koran makes this clear. Whoever commits to the jihad makes a “fine loan to Allah,” which the latter guarantees to pay back “many times over,” always commensurate with the jihadist’s efforts (Koran 2:245, 4:95).

Or as Koran 9:111 succinctly declares: