John McCain has lived a rather storied life. He’s a POW survivor from the Vietnam War, who used his heroic story to leverage a rather extensive—which is code for “man, do we need term limits”—career as a politician in Washington, D.C. But did you know that, apparently, he also has a background in theology?
He revealed this shocking fact during an interview with FOX News when he corrected Brian Kilmeade about the true meaning of a well-worn phrase used by terrorists around the world just before they kill innocent people in the name of Muhammad. According to McCain, the phrase “Allahu Akbar” has nothing to do with radical Islam. No, according to the Reverend McCain, it is the Islamic equivalent to a Christian saying “thank God.”
I guess that means we shouldn’t be all that upset about the 9/11 attacks. After all, those radical Islamic terrorists did take a moment to give a prayer of thanks just before they crashed those planes into the Twin Towers and the Pentagon. Allahu Akbar could have been their way of offering up a prayer of thanks for the great flying weather. Perhaps, they were grateful for the new converts to Islam that would surely result from their “mission” trip to America. Maybe they were offering up a proactive thank you for the 72 virgins Allah had waiting for them in glory.
I guess we have to consider the possibility that when Major Nidal Hasan killed 13 fellow soldiers at Fort Hood, his shout of Allahu Akbar during his terrorist attack workplace violence episode was really just his way of praying for good mental health. He was, after all, a psychiatrist.
For the record, Allahu Akbar doesn’t even resemble “thank god.” According to Al-Islam.org, “Allahu akbar implies that God is superior to all tangible and intangible, temporal and celestial beings.” This apparently benign theological statement carries a totally different meaning when you consider that Islam has always had a political aspect, and Islamic jihadists always shout “Allahu akbar” when attacking infidels.
9/11 hijacker Mohamed Atta gives us further clarification on the intentions of using the phrase. He wrote, in the instructions to jihadists that were found in his baggage, “Shout, ‘Allahu Akbar,’ because this strikes fear in the hearts of the non-believers.” In other words, he didn’t say, “Shout, ‘Allahu Akbar,’ because it’s important to give thanks before you murder innocent people.”
Of course, the Reverend McCain would tell you that 9/11 and Syria are different situations. In the video above, he went so far as to give us his personal guarantee that the rebels in Syria are, in fact, “moderate” members of a group of liberty-loving freedom fighters, and are in no way terrorists. He has gone as far as calling these killers “patriots”—a word he once used to also describe Obama. I wonder if this guarantee is better than the one he gave in 2008, when he personally guaranteed Republican voters that he was a Conservative.
I find it quite pathetic that McCain feels so free to use the patriot label to describe the Free Syrian Army—actually members of al-Qaeda—but he calls T.E.A. Party members “hobbits,” and routinely attacks defenders of the Constitution, such as Rand Paul (R-KY) and Ted Cruz (R-TX). I also find his theology as inaccurate as his arguments for getting involved in Syria.
Oh well. Tomorrow it’s A.A.I.F. . . . Allahu Akbar (thank god), it’s Friday!
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