“One of the main lessons was that I never saw any Islam. No will to improve the world. Only lost, frustrated, suicidal, easily manipulated youths.” Ramai thus assumes that Islam involves a will to improve the world, when in fact the Islam that he claims he never saw any evidence of was staring him in the face: “The documentary shows how Ramai was brought into the group with a promise of a ‘path to paradise’, adding: ‘Our women are waiting for us there, with angels as servants. You will have a palace, a winged horse of gold and rubies.'”
Where does Rabai think that these Islamic State jihadis got this idea? From Marxism? From deconstructionist theory? If he had an ounce of knowledge of Islam, or honesty, he would know it is from the Qur’an, which describes Paradise in similar terms: “Those will have gardens of perpetual residence; beneath them rivers will flow. They will be adorned therein with bracelets of gold and will wear green garments of fine silk and brocade, reclining therein on adorned couches. Excellent is the reward, and good is the resting place.” (18:31)
And of course the houris are there: “Indeed, We have produced the women of Paradise in a creation and made them virgins…” (56:35-36)
But even though the jihadis appealed to him in this manner, Ramai says he “never saw any Islam” among them. And of course this is just what the counter-terror establishment wants to hear: the arrogant pseudo-academic puffball Max Abrahms tweeted this one out, as it fits the dominant paradigm that the Islamic State has nothing to do with Islam:
Abrahms, an establishment counter-terror analyst, is either unaware that the virgins of Paradise are actually in the Qur’an and have something to do with Islam, or was too careless to read the article before tweeting it out.
“IS cell infiltrated by French journalist ‘lost and suicidal,'” Middle East Eye, May 3, 2016:
A cell of Islamic State group supporters planning an attack in France was full of “lost, frustrated, suicidal, easily manipulated youths” and knew little of Islam, according to a French journalist who infiltrated the gang.
Said Ramai, an assumed named [sic], said he “easily” contacted the “Soldiers of Allah” on Facebook and joined for six months before leaving in January.
He filmed meetings with a hidden camera as they plotted to attack a night club, the footage of which was broadcast on Monday in the documentary, “Allah’s Soldiers”.
The cell consisted of 10 members and was led by a 20-year-old French-Turkish man called Oussama who, according to the documentary, was once a Satanist and an alcoholic who had been jailed for five months in France after trying to join IS in Syria.
“My goal was to understand what was going on inside their heads,” Ramai told the AFP news agency in comments reported on Monday.
“One of the main lessons was that I never saw any Islam. No will to improve the world. Only lost, frustrated, suicidal, easily manipulated youths.
“They are youngsters who are looking for something and that is what they found.”
The documentary shows how Ramai was brought into the group with a promise of a “path to paradise”, adding: “Our women are waiting for us there, with angels as servants. You will have a palace, a winged horse of gold and rubies.”…