Just like Antifa is a mostly peaceful "idea," Islamic terrorism showed its mostly-peaceful ways this past week in Mozambique, where more than 50 men were herded up and subsequently decapitated after watching their villages burn, their wives sexually assaulted, and their children taken as slaves.
The terror group, known formally as Ahlu Sunnah Wal Jammah (which translates to "Followers of the Traditions and Community"), is also known as al-Shabaab, or "The Youth" – a common name for jihadist movements made up of young men looking to change the world by following the teachings and examples of Mohammed.
The group started by burning down two villages in northern Mozambique. After taking captives, they chased down those that fled in the woods. They then rounded up 50 men and older boys, led them to a soccer field, beheaded them, and chopped up their bodies.
What utter savagery.
Up to 2,000 people have been killed and 300,000 displaced as this group has gained more power over the past three years. In October, they even managed to temporarily overwhelm a strategic oil port in the country. Their attacks have been focused on an oil-rich northern province – undoubtedly as a quick way to get cash. This year, they also became an official branch of the Islamic State: a clear sign of an upgrade to their legitimacy.
You won't see this story on many U.S. news outlets. No, they're too busy fawning over King-elect Biden and his royal dogs to let you know about the savage brutality that needs to be addressed in our world.
Perhaps, however, it's better that way. At least then we don't need to hear the platitudes of how Islam is a religion of "peace." Having lived in the Middle East and befriended many Muslims, I can tell you that the majority follow general lawfulness as outlined by the apostle Paul in Romans 2:15-16, by nature doing what the law requires because God has given each of us a conscience and impressed His law upon our hearts. I have cared for many of them on a deep, personal level.
I will not for a second, however, pretend that Islamic theology is peaceful. There is a reason the most violent Islamic groups are the most passionate about their theology.
There's an interesting crossover between the American Left and Islamic jihad – a similarity many of you may have noted. Islamic "peace" is the same idea as Joe Biden's "unity" – a word usage that actually means "TOTAL AND COMPLETE SURRENDER OR ELSE." Just as everything in Leftism revolves around the identity of the collective, Islam has a concept of "oneness" that demands conformity.
However, unlike our nation's terrorists that sometimes use biblical platitudes for justification, at least the young cowards in this African terror group (I refuse to call them men) are following their faith sincerely. While the Christian faith respects all individuals as made in God's image, portrays God as our Father, and defines peace as wholeness, health, safety, and flourishing, Islam teaches none of these things. The 109+ verses in the Quran that call for violence have no historical context for their justification, no overarching metanarrative, and no juxtaposition to a loving and just God like the Bible does.
When these young men round up prisoners and relieve them of their heads, they are simply following the model left to them. After all, Mohammed once rounded up the local Jews in Medina, had every male decapitated, and then enslaved every woman and child (Mohammed also personally raped at least several young women during his pillaging and killing).
As noted by the historian al-Tabari, Mohammed's successor Ali did the same to a group of Christians who had converted to Islam but had second thoughts after seeing how the Islamic leaders were "shedding blood, terrifying the roads, and seizing properties."
The media will keep calling these examples of "extremism," even while similarly violent rhetoric and movements ramp up at home. I wonder, what model will our own youth soon be following? One that leads to life, or one that leads to terror and death?
