I REFER to the report “A Facebook farewell” (NST, June 23) about Malaysian youths Salman Al Farisi and Ahmad Tarmimi Maliki seeking to be martyrs in Iraq and Syria.
One was credited with the suicide bombing of 25 Iraqi soldiers, to which the other posted on Facebook “May your deed be accepted by Allah; may Allah accept your martyrdom”.
Has it ever occurred to them that in the eyes of Allah, they may not be martyrs, that the ones they blew up were martyrs instead? The victims were Muslims, and they died for a “legitimate cause”.
Has it occurred to them that their foes might not be killed? I read in the newspapers that most Iraqis who join the police and armed forces do so because that is the main way to earn a regular income to support their families. Unlike the “so-called jihadists”, they do not join to kill or to be killed. They fight the “jihadists” because they| are attacked.
During the World War 2, when the Germans overran France, they told most of the captured French soldiers to simply lay down their arms and go home. Despite their vicious Nazi doctrine, the Germans saw no point in wantonly killing the French soldiers.
The NST report said Salman’s mother was pining for him. Has it occurred to Salman that those he wanted to kill also have mothers (and wives and children), who would be pining away, too?
Datuk Wan Abu Bakar Wan Teh Ibrahim, Dengkil, Selangor