Posted on 04/17/2007 3:26:38 PM PDT by Cicero
You are like Ibrahim ... a great fighter against idolatry. ...
The axe was in his hand! . . . Ibrahim, the fighter of idolatry, came out of the house of "Azar", the idol-maker of his tribe. He broke the idols; he broke Nimrood. He fought against ignorance, oppression and passiveness. ...
You are like Ibrahim! Fight . . . This teaches you to be ready to jump into the fire for Jihad! ...
You are like Ibrahim! Sacrifice your Ismail. ... PUT THE BLADE AT YOUR SON'S THROAT SO THAT YOU MAY TAKE THE BLADE FROM THE EXECUTIONER'S HAND!
Ibrahim's life was filled with struggle when he reached this point- breaking the idols, fighting with Nimrod, tolerating his fire, struggling with Eblis, sacrificing his Ismail, migration, homelessness, loneliness torture, passage from the stage of prophecy to the stage of leadership, . . . from "the house of "Azar" to being "the builder of the ... Kaaba!
How wonderful! Ibrahim and Ismail built the Kaaba. Ibrahim and Ismail, one was saved from the fire and one saved from being sacrificed. ...
You, the builder of Kaaba ... the enemy of idolatry, the tribal leader, the fighter against oppression, ignorance and disbelief ... Everywhere else is insecure and shameful. The earth has become a huge polluted house of prostitution.
It is a slaughterhouse where everything but aggression and discrimination are forbidden.
Now that you are standing in Ibrahim's position and are going to play his role, live like him, be the architect of the Kaaba of your faith. Rescue your people ...
- Make your land a secure land, since you are in a safe area.
- Make the earth a sacred mosque, since you are in the holy mosque. - Since the earth is the "mosque of Allah".
(Excerpt) Read more at al-islam.org ...
Interesting. I’m not convinced that’s Cho in the picture, but he does call himself Ismail Ax.
And notice that the owner of this blog calls himself “narcissik-ax.”
What that suggests is that in certain circles, these names have some known meaning.
I have toyed with the notion that it may be connected with the Black Muslim naming style in some way, as in “Malcolm X.” I’m not sure what that website is about, but it talks about “bling.”
I have heard about showing the bottom of the shoe being an insult, but I confess I haven’t made a world tour to check it. Here’s a piece in the WSJ that suggests it holds for the Arab world, and apparently also at least as far as India:
http://www.opinionjournal.com/taste/?id=110003324
That disturbed me as well, I'm sick of this obeseience to the non-Western faiths. A small minority of people at the Convocation would derive comfort from the words spoken by the Imam or the Buddhist, as compared to the familiar words fr0orm the Bible.
We are being conditioned.
Rosebud.
I know what you mean. I know Christ was in that room but it was sad that I didn’t hear his name mentioned.
Got your post a little late....
I could not agree with you MORE. The interesting thing was that later on near the end, someone must’ve started the Lord’s Prayer and it looked like every single student/person in that auditorium was reciting that in unison. That spoke volumes to me, knowing that for many (probably most) the words of comfort come from the Christian Scriptures. I think what you said about the conditioning is right on. Thank God, I’ve already been conditioned by the Holy Spirit.
Fox news just skimmed right over this. They reported they have no idea what the phase means.
I should have made note of the thread. It was one of the first about the note. Lost forever in database bit-bucket land probably.
I also saw an earlier reference, too, maybe on the very large discussion thread somewhere. But the problem for me is that Melville’s Ishmael is an observer, not an actor or an avenger. In the end, he plays the role of one of Job’s servants, who reports back with word of the disaster, which was caused by the monomania of Ahab. I don’t think a crazed killer would take him as a model.
:-)
It wasn’t Moby Dick. I don’t remember what it was and American lit isn’t an area where I would claim any expertise at all, so I can’t be of much help.
Oh, OK. The other suggestion was in one of Fennimore Cooper’s “Prairie,” a character with an ax named Ishmael Bush, I believe. “The Prairie” follows Nattie Bumppo, who stars in “The Last of the Mohicans” and “The Deerslayer,” as he goes out west in his old age.
Here’s a brief comment on the character that I just googled: “Then there is the Squatter, Ishmael Bush, who is brutal, stupid, representing the border between nature and civilization, or the first step of civilization. He seems to be the most interesting character in the book, because he represents almost all phases in the book. He has left civilization, he lives an almost mythic life on the prairie, but at the end of the novel he returns to civilization.”
That is probably the reference. Deerslayer et al. were very popular at the time. The boundary between the wild and civilization was fairly sharp but kept moving west fairly rapidly. Ismail Bush and ax might have been a parallel to Danl Boone or Johnny Appleseed (Swedenborgian), who moved ahead of the boundary or with it. By 1886 there was no frontier, officially gone per US Census, so no more frontiersmen.
Yes, I’m fond of the Natty Bumppo books, although you have to take them as they are.
Mark Twain wrote a really funny essay called “Fenimore Cooper’s Literary Offenses” on this subject, which I read in school and which somewhat put me off “The Deerslayer.”
http://www.readbookonline.net/readOnLine/1131/
The bit about the Indians creeping along the dead tree to drop on Bummpo’s canoe is particularly killing.
I noticed that as well.
THAT'S when I got teary-eyed; the comments by the "speakers" left me unmoved for the most part.
But when that Spirit welled up from the People, it was authentic and evident that it was THAT prayer which was comforting to those assembled.
Let me say also that I am a great believer in what I have termed "The Holy ShutUp."
There seems to be a belief that Saying Something is Helpful.
It seldom is in a time of intense grief.
I would have preferred a Convocation of silence, interspersed with music, and thirty two lit candles.
No clue now. I haven’t played in many years.
Yes, that’s correct, but according Islam, Abraham took Ismail, and his mother out into the desert and left them there on orders from Allah, Ismail’s mother (Haggar?) told Abraham that if Allah wanted him to leave them, that Allah would protect them, and he did, by providing a well that sprung up under Ismail’s feet (Zam Zam, I think it was called). Anyway Ismail, then became a prophet, himself. Abaraham was supposed to have smashed the idols with an ax.
I thought that this may have been the meaning of the writings on Cho’s arm, also, and posted it yesterday. Then, someone posted to me that there is a psychologist named Ismail Ak, that could have been recommended to Cho to read. So, who knows?
All this conjecture brings one word to mind...Rosebud
I’m late responding, happygrl, but I had the same experience you did. When I heard all those people, in the sincerity of their hearts, reciting the Lord’s prayer, I teared up as well. I like your saying too “Holy Shut Up.” We know the Holy Spirit intercedes when we cannot come up with words and sometimes it’s probably best left up to Him anyway. Amen?
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