Islam and Jihad

The Ultimate Exploitation

The outstanding feature of

Islam’s suicide bombers

Is their unvarying youth.

No old or middle-aged men,

Closer to natural death,

Figure in this martyrs’ roll.

For aeons, of course, old

Men have sent the young to war,

But (kamikazes apart)

Without insisting, as an

Absolute necessity,

On their death in the action.

The Sin of Stereotyping

You’re watching out for Jihadists?

Perish the thought that you should be

Culturally insensitive

And target dark-complexioned young

Men while failing to grill old males,

And every freckled youth. 

The Way of Jihad

An eight-year-old Afghan street-girl:  
Buy her with cash, food or trinkets. 
Promise more if she takes a bag
Over to that kind policeman.

She crosses the square, but slowly
(The bag’s a bit heavy for her).
Tense, impatient, you will her on, 
Remote control in eager hand. 

She reaches him, sets the bag down, 
Winning a slight fatherly smile.
Your moment of glory: you hit  
The button, and dismember both.

 How the Jihadists Have
      Got the West Wrong

2014

Gleeful displays: beheading
Journalists, taxi-drivers,
Child holding a severed head,
A teen promising murder.

Intent plain: set fear in the
Hearts of cowardly Kuffar.
Plain, too: profound ignorance
Of the culture of the West.

For it is revulsion and
Outrage, not fear, that have marked
The Western response and so
Strengthened Obama’s campaign.

To the Memory of Curtis Cheng
2015
    
A mild, elderly accountant 
Going home as usual from work,
Head shattered by a cowardly
Bullet, fired point-blank from behind. 

Farhad Jabar, fifteen, dressed up
In the black gown of an imam,
Rejoiced, praised Allah, waved his gun
Until police fire cut him down.

Farhad Jabar undoubtedly
Believed his sneaky murder of
Curtis Cheng, a total stranger,  
To be an honourable act.

It is also clear that he was
Inviting reprisal in his 
Triumphal prancing, and desired 
To die in the way that he did. 

To many, ‘alienation’  
Suffices as Farhad’s motive.
But that notion throws a wider 
Noose: so why no kafir Farhads? 

Could it be that only in mosques   
And madrasas may simple youths 
Hear murder praised and be told of
Martyrdom’s glory and rewards? 

Multicultural Ambiguities:
Three Days in September 2014
2016

Monday, an ABC debate:
Australian academic, a
Muslim, claims ‘counter-terrorism’
(Police household raids) is the same
As ‘terrorism: both are ‘theatre’.
She makes no mention of murder.

Tuesday, outer Melbourne suburb:
By agreement, eighteen-year-old 
Muslim lad meets two policemen.
A handshake is offered, he pulls
A knife, repeatedly stabs both.
One kills him with a single shot.

Wednesday: Both policemen are known 
To be in hospital when the
Islamic Council’s spokesman states
Its overriding concern - that
The knife-wielder be considered
‘Innocent until proved guilty’. 

Of Islam and Peace

2016

A religion of ‘love and peace’,
Apologists constantly claim.

But the peace, it turns out, depends
On the world bending to Islamic
Values; and these are currently
A matter of bloody dispute
Between Sunni and Shiite.

In the meanwhile, ardent Muslims
Find it difficult to condemn
Random killings of non-Muslims
Because ‘martyrdom’ ranks as the
Ultimate confirmation of faith.

Christians, of course, in centuries
Past behaved in much the same way,
Slaughtering Muslims and Pagans
In the name of faith; and turning
On their own in Prot-Papist wars.

But Christians nowadays do not
Sanctify as martyrs self-chosen killers
Of unlucky passers-by; nor
Tempt gullible young males with a
Dream of carnal heavenly rewards.

Of Earthly Cowardice and
           Heavenly Lust
2017

When it comes to murder, 
Committed Jihadists 
Have two singular strengths.

First, they know it’s blessèd
To butcher a kafir:
So beheading a bound
Captive or slaughtering
Random others (unarmed,
Unwary) becomes a
Matter of manly pride.

Second, they know that 
To murder and die in
The cause brands them ‘martyr’,
Ensures entry to the
Ninth level of Jannah
Where specified carnal
Rewards (rich housing, fine
Foods, and sex) will be theirs -
For all eternity.[1]

[1] Except for women martyrs, who are promised all ninth-level rewards except sex.  This they are denied on the ground that, being ‘shy by nature,’ their ‘longing for men is not as strong as men’s longing for women’; and that ‘is why Allah the Almighty motivates men by referring to the women [houris] of Paradise …  Women … long for adornment and jewels more than men because they are naturally disposed to this’: Quran, 43:18.

The Issue of Islam
    2017

      For a thousand years and more     

Sunnis have hated Shiites, 

Shiites have hated Sunnis.
    Now, with modern weaponry,
    Each seems focussed mainly on 
  Mass-murdering the other.
  Might a sly cynic see this 
   As a blessing for the West?

 
The Response of Australia’s Imams 

To a Deadly Community Event

2018

That Hassan Khalif Shire Ali  

Had mental issues was widely

Accepted once he crashed his ute  

In busy Bourke Street, set fire to

Some gas bottles, then wielded a

Long knife to kill one bystander 

And wound two more before flailing 

At police until he was shot.  

The National Imams Council     

First condemned the Prime Minister   

For implying that radical    

Islam could have had something to  

Do with Shire Ali’s mind-set; then 

Contemptuously rejected   

A courteous invitation       

To meet and discuss things with him.