Carnal Reason

Terrorism Unveiled has an interesting article on Mohammad Reza Taheri Azar. The bulk of the article is a letter by Taheri Azar explaining his motives.

In the name of Allah, the merciful, and compassionate

To whom it may concern:

I’m writing this letter to inform you of my reasons for premeditating and attempting to murder citizens and residents of the United States of America on Friday, March 3, 2006 in the city of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, by running them over with my automobile and stabbing them with a knife if the opportunities are presented to me by Allah.

I would instead use a handgun to murder the citizens and residents of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, but the process of receiving a permit for a handgun in this city is highly restrictive and out of my reach at present, most likely due to my foreign nationality.

I am a servant of Allah. I am 22 years old. I was born in Tehran, Iran. My father, mother and older sister immigrated to the United States in 1985 when I was 2 years of age, and I have lived in the United States ever since. I attended elementary, middle and high school in North Carolina and was accepted into the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. I began my college career in August of 2001 and graduated in December of 2005 with a bachelors degree in psychology and philosophy with Allah’s help.

I do not wish to pursue my career as a student any further, because I have no desire to amass the impermanent and temporary fame and material wealth that this world has to offer. However, I made the decision to continue my studies and graduate from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill so that the world will know that Allah’s servants are very intelligent.

Due to the killing of believing men and women under the direction of the United States government, I have decided to take advantage of my presence on United States soil on Friday, March 3, 2006, to take the lives of as many Americans and American sympathizers as i can in order to punish United States for their immoral actions around the world.

In the Qur’an, Allah states that the believing men and women have permission to murder anyone responsible for the killing of other believing men and women. I know that the Qur’an is a legitimate and authoritative holy scripture since it is completely validated by modern science and also mathematically encoded with the number 19 beyond human ability.

After extensive contemplation and reflection, I have made the decision to exercise the right of violent retaliation that Allah has given me to the fullest extent to which I am capable at present. I have chosen the particular location on the University campus as my target since I know it well, and there is a high likelihood that I will kill several people before being killed myself or jailed and sent to prison if Allah wills.

Allah’s commandments are never to be questioned, and all of Allah’s commandments must be obeyed. Those who violate Allah’s commandments and purposely follow human fabrications and falsehood as their religion will burn in fire for eternity in accordance with Allah’s will.

Sincerely yours,

Mohammad Reza Taheri-Azar

The man could hardly have put it more plainly. He confirms the opinion I expressed here.

I found one remark puzzling: I know that the Qur’an is a legitimate and authoritative holy scripture since it is completely validated by modern science and also mathematically encoded with the number 19 beyond human ability.

This smacks of apostasy insofar as it suggests that the authority of the Qur’an could bolstered by either science or numerology. The numerology is curious, and anyone interested in that angle might want to check out the Belmont Club. Oddly, I have commented on another case involving numerological inferences.

Posted on March 26th, 2006 by pwyll
Filed under: religion