Tags

A Lone Gunman, Al-Biruni, Bibeau's Gun, Denying Passports, Isolated Incident, Jesus, Lex Talionis, Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, Provenance of Weapon, the Golden Rule

Le Prophète Mahomet Al-Bîrûnî, al-âthâr al-bâqiya (Vestiges des siècles passés). BnF, Manuscrits (Arabe 1489 fol. 5v) (Photo credit: Bibliothèque nationale de France)[1]

Al-Biruni, Russian Stamp (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Today is Friday, 24 October 2014. It has not been a good week for Canadians. Nor has it been a good week for the entire world. Isis militants do not necessarily live in the Middle East and those who do not are not easy to identify. However, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) has identified 130 Isis sympathizers in Canada and 93 are to be denied a passport.

He was awaiting a Passport

When he shot Nathan Frank Cirillo, 24, Zehaf-Bibeau, 32, the Ottawa gunman, was waiting for his passport to be issued. It seems he no longer had a passport but that he was about to be provided with one. He was anxious to leave and waiting frustrated him, which is why he was in Ottawa. His name was not on a list of 93 persons to be denied a passport.

Denying passports is a preventive measure aimed at keeping would-be terrorists within Canada.

However, individuals denied passports may kill fellow Canadians. This question is central to the shooting death of two Canadian soldiers on 21 and 23 October 2014 respectively. Martin Rouleau-Couture’s passport had been confiscated. On 21 October, Rouleau-Couture killed a soldier at St. Jean-sur-Richelieu in what is believed to have been an isolated incident.

The shooting death of Nathan Frank Cirillo, on Parliament Hill, in Ottawa, is also believed to have been an isolated incident related to a delay in obtaining a passport.

The question is whether or not refusing passports to would-be terrorists solves problems.

The Canadian government does not want to let out of the country persons who may join Isis and be implicated in acts of terrorism abroad. However, these would-be militants, may commit acts of terrorism inside their country, which is what happened this week in Canada. Two soldiers are dead and the suspected killers wanted to go to Syria.

Mohammed receiving his first revelation from the angel Gabriel. Miniature illustration on vellum from the book Jami’ al-Tawarikh (literally “Compendium of Chronicles” but often referred to as The Universal History or History of the World), by Rashid al-Din, published in Tabriz, Persia, 1307 CE. Now in the collection of the Edinburgh University Library, Scotland. (Caption and photo credit: www.zombietime.com)

A Lone Killer

It appears the Mr. Zehaf-Bibeau acted alone. However, he had to borrow a gun. Canadians cannot carry lethal weapons, except the police, the military, and similarly authorized individuals. Strict gun-control legislation is viewed as a security measure.

Therefore, who provided Zehaf-Bibeau with a deadly weapon?

Zehaf-Bibeau, who spoke four languages, nearly reached a room filled with members of the Conservative Party. He was prevented from entering the room by Sergeant-at-Arms Kevin Vickers, who killed him putting himself at risk.

Conclusion

Investigators must find the provenance of the gun. Did Isis supply the gun?

The more important issue may be that we are dealing with cultures where the lex talionis still prevails. One goes from retaliation to retaliation for centuries and, occasionally, as seems to be the case at the moment, matters spiral out of control. I believe Jesus of Nazareth’s was the first person, a Jew who lived in occupied Palestine, to advocate turning the other cheek, probably a metaphor. Jesus spoke in parables.

Many early societies applied this “eye-for-an-eye” principle literally.[2]

I should note, in closing, that the quotation posted on Facebook, by Zakria Habibi of Sherbrooke, missing since 17 July, is from a book written by Ahmad Ibn Taymiyyay, in the 13th century CE.

We definitely need to teach young children always to behave moderately, to respect the law, to respect human life, and to love another. We cannot do unto others that which we do not want others to do unto us.

That is the Golden Rule and the Golden Rule is the same every where. It is universal, and I believe it negates the lex talionis.

Sources

Gun control http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/who-may-carry-handguns-in-canada-1.1135084

The Middle East http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/should-the-west-stop-intervening-in-the-middle-east-1.2811177

With my kindest regards to all of you.

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[1] The Remains of Past Centuries

[2] “talion”. Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2014. Web. 24 Oct.. 2014
<http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/581485/talion>.