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A Soundtrack for the Crusade
Wednesday, November 28, 2001
By Ali Asadullah / Company

It is important to note that in at least one commercial that aired in the period just following September 11, I'm in the Lord's Army was one of the featured songs. And prior to September 11, there was not the same push to market such music.

In the early days following the September 11 attacks, much was made in the news media of Osama Bin Laden's declaration of jihad against America. As evidence of bin Laden's conviction as a "holy warrior", news outlets ran and re-ran clips of the training/recruitment video produced and distributed worldwide by al-Qaeda this past summer.

What one sees in the video are al-Qaeda soldiers going through their paces; marching, taking target practice, detonating explosives, doing calisthenics, etc. What one hears in the video are the inspirational nasheeds, or devotional songs, of the mujahideen; a cappella verse extolling the virtues of fighting in the name of Allah.

Many of the broadcast media have used a copy of the video that contains subtitled translations of the lyrics. And one of the
clearest verses viewers have been able to hear is an Al-Qa'eda call to arms: "Thoori! Thoori! Thoori!" (Revolt! Revolt! Revolt!)

Altogether, the presentation does quite a convincing job painting bin Laden as a fanatical religious militant hell-bent on bringing sword and Qur'an to the doorsteps of each and every American. But bin Laden doesn't have a monopoly on holy war.

Consider America's very own, homegrown jihad culture. That's right; America is just as rabid about holy war as the media suggest the Muslim world is. The best evidence of this comes from the President of the United States himself, who clearly christened his war on terrorism a "crusade". While Bush has repeatedly emphasized that Islam and Muslims are not the targets of this campaign, his Freudian slip suggests otherwise. And almost every time the president steps before a microphone, veiled religious language is the order of the day.
(More: Islam-Online.com News Source)
2001 © Islam Online.

Personally, I think Asadullah is just having a few reality issues here.

First of all, though there are many who will contradict this, Americans aren’t nearly as hung-up about religion as he apparently believes we are. As a result, the president admitting he prays is no longer considered a crime. It’s a FREEDOM. Also, greeting missionaries from prison in a war-torn land where they were certain their death was hours away would require a mention of religion. As it is, Bush wants to come across as a family oriented, religious man. Again, this is not a crime. It’s a FREEDOM.

Then, there’s his issue with the cable networks ‘pushing’ religious battle hymns to American children. More news for Asadullah here:

The market does not ‘push’. The market ‘sucks’. If there is a market for a product (and only if there is a market for a product), it will be manufactured and sold -- if not by you, by someone else. It’s just that some people in this big ol’ world prefer money over morals more than other folks. There’s not a whole lot we, as individuals, can do about the fact that there is a market for religious battle hymns, but I’d bet dollars to doughnuts that the bucks are coming from adults and it is they who are humming along with these tunes on their way to and from work everyday. Some of them have a pretty catchy melody.

Hell, I’ll even break into a verse or two of Everybody Must Get Stoned now and then, and I even listen to some pretty wild shit at home -- but I ain’t no dope fiend.

Honest.

Dan