Islam, Fort Hood, and All of US

Last week a Muslim major walked into a roomful of unarmed troops at Fort Hood and opened fire to lethal effect. He was a United States Army major. The people he was killing were fellow members of that same army, brothers in arms.

Therefore let those fight in the way of Allah,
Who sells the world’s life for the hereafter,
And whoever fights in the way of Allah, be he
slain or be he victorious, we shall grant him a
mighty reward. The Woman: 4.74
The Koran

The major wasn’t immediately lucky enough to go to his mighty reward. A mere woman (from a Muslim point of view) cut him down with four bullets even after he wounded her. Both are in the hospital; she to loud acclaim; he, neither victorious nor slain.

Colleagues of the major recall him protesting against being posted to Iraq—where, as he said, men in his uniform were killing Muslims. One again refers to the Koran to see how heinous a crime this had to be in the major’s mind.

Allah only forbids you [to make friends] respecting those
who made war upon you on account of [your] religion,and
drove you forth from your homes …. Whoever makes friends
with them, these are the unjust. The Examined One: 60.9
Allah does not love the unjust. The Elephant: 105.2
The Koran

It might not take a great stretch for a devout Muslim to see our attack on Iraq as a war on Islam and, certainly, thousands of Iraqis have been driven forth from their homes—to Jordan, Syria and even as far as the United States. To the devout, who take it seriously, that would mean simply wearing an American uniform would make one the “unjust”, unloved of Allah.
For the devout Muslim who takes the above passage from the Koran literally, that would make friendship with Americans completely impossible. One can only imagine how conflicted this officer, who by all accounts was a believing Muslim, felt wearing an American uniform—and being on the verge of a posting to a war in Iraq that an American president had called a “crusade”.
The Imam at the mosque he attended suggests that in his conversation the major made this confliction disturbingly clear. I doubt very much whether Major Hassan is alone in his feeling that by close association with America he was becoming unloved by Allah.
For over a decade the news has been full of stories of young American Muslims who traveled to Pakistan (or possibly other Muslim nations) to be trained to kill what we would prefer to go on thinking were after all their fellow Americans.
An army wife at Fort Hood put this sentiment clearly as she face a TV camera, “I just wish his name were Smith.” It would be easier to believe an American “Christian” simply went berserk rather than having to believe a fellow soldier was moved by his faith to kill us.
If the latter were true, whom then can we trust? At what point might any Muslim’s faith become real to him and, like the major, might he suddenly choose not to be among the unloved of Allah? A desire not to be on the bad side of one’s deity is understandable—and if you take the verse seriously--actually quite rational.
Christians are expected to be ready to die for their faith. Why not Muslims? Unbearable thought to the bereaved in Fort Hood? Perhaps we should be a little more willing to think it.