Jihad Joe_ Americans Who Go to War in the Name of Islam - J. M. Berger [66]
Yet the affable imam’s dark side was never far from the surface. Even as religious devotion became the defining characteristic of his career, Awlaki’s personal choices reflected an inner conflict—he was twice arrested for soliciting prostitutes and once for “hanging around a school.”11
A rare recording from Awlaki’s San Diego period discusses the practice of takfir: declaring Muslims with whom one disagrees to be apostates or infidels, outcasts from Islam who may be killed under Islamic law. During a Friday khutba (sermon), Awlaki told listeners that the practice was dangerous and wrong, basing his argument on a story from the hadith (non-Koranic traditions about the sayings and actions of Mohammed) in which the Prophet showed mercy to a Muslim who was suspected of insincerity.
[If] you tell your brother that he is [an apostate], if he is not, it will come back on you. [ … ] We do not know what is in the hearts of people. [If we think] this man is saying with his tongue what he doesn’t mean in his heart, [the hadith] tells us we are not ordered to open up and seek what is in the hearts of people. He is not ordered clearly [ … ] I am not told by Allah to seek what’s in the hearts of people. Meaning that we call people to Islam, but we are not judges over them. We do not judge the people. We leave the judgment to Allah, [glory to him].12
At the same time, however, Awlaki rattled off a number of occasions under which takfir was acceptable—if someone publicly says he or she is not a Muslim or clearly states belief in something that is incompatible with belief in Allah. Other qualifying offenses include “giving the attributes of Allah to a human being” (an offense known as shirk) or insulting the prophets of Islam.13
Another lecture made some time during his residence in the United States showed an early interest in the concept of jihad.
And if you look at the wars, not only the fights between individuals, but even wars between nations and states, most of the time, it’s over wealth. It’s over dunya [earthly or material concerns]. What are they fighting for? Over oil, over land, over natural resources. That is why wars happen.
Therefore, the only justified war, the only justified war is jihad. Because that is the only fight that is happening for the sake of Allah [the glorious]. Everything else is happening for the sake of dunya [the material world]. They attack jihad in Islam, as if their wars are justified. What are they fighting for?14
Awlaki had a remarkable ability to bridge the American experience with the tenets of Islam. His speeches were peppered with humor and references to American popular culture.
Isaac Asimov, in an interview with him, a few months before he died, he was asked the question, “What do you think will happen to you after you die?” This is one of the most prominent science fiction writers that the world has seen. He said, “Nothing. Nothing. Nothing will happen to me after I die. I will turn into dirt.” His knowledge, and the books that he wrote, and all of that intelligence, and all of that fame and wealth doesn’t make him any different from the most ignorant and illiterate non-believer in Mecca 1400 years ago the ones who rejected resurrection.15
Thomas Friedman, he is a famous writer in the U.S., he writes for the New York Times. He says the hidden hand of the market cannot survive without the hidden fist. McDonald’s will never flourish without McDonnell Douglas—the designer of F15s. In other words, we are not really dealing with a global culture that is benign or compassionate. This is a culture that gives you no choice. Either accept McDonald’s, otherwise McDonnell Douglas will send their F15s above your head.16
In 1998 the Yemeni-American imam took a job as vice president of a Yemeni charity called the Charitable Society of Social Welfare (CSSW). The charity was controlled by a