Mohammed Hamzah Khan, American Muslim Teenager, Arrested for Attempting to Join ISIS

Mohammed Hamzah Khan was terrified of paying taxes to the U.S. government, because tax money is used to support the military, and the military is dropping bombs on ISIS jihadists. According to the Qur’an (5:33), the penalty for “making mischief” in a Muslim land is death, dismemberment, crucifixion, or exile (depending on the severity of the “mischief”), followed by an eternity in hell. Needless to say, the penalty for dropping bombs on a Muslim country would be pretty harsh.

According to Muhammad, however, those who fund a military are equally responsible for the actions of the military (see Sahih al-Bukhari 2843 and Sunan Ibn Majah 2759). So anyone who pays taxes to a government that is fighting in a Muslim country is guilty of killing Muslims. This was the same reasoning used by al-Qaeda to justify attacks against civilians. Since civilians pay taxes to governments that are sending troops to fight in Muslim lands, the civilians are to receive the same penalty as the troops.

CHICAGO (AP) — An American teenager who expressed disgust with Western society was arrested at a Chicago airport, from where he intended to travel to Turkey so that he could sneak into Syria to join the Islamic State group, according to criminal complaint released Monday.

Members of the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force arrested Mohammed Hamzah Khan, a 19-year-old U.S. citizen from Bolingbrook, on Saturday at O’Hare International Airport. Khan is charged with attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, and a federal judge has ordered him held until a detention hearing Thursday.

On Monday, the slight, bearded Khan appeared in a federal court in orange jail clothes, calmly telling the federal magistrate that he understood the allegations. Later, as marshals were leading him away in handcuffs, he turned to smile at his parents at the back of the room.

There are about 12 Americans believed to be fighting in Syria right now, FBI Director James Comey said two weeks ago. There are more than 100 Americans who have either tried to go to Syria and were arrested, or went and came back to the U.S., Comey said, without offering more details.

According to prosecutors, Khan was trying to fly to Istanbul by way of Vienna when customs officers stopped him while he was going through security at O’Hare’s international terminal. While FBI agents interviewed him there, others executed a search warrant at Khan’s home and found documents he wrote expressing support for the Islamic State group.

One page in a notebook had a drawing of what appeared to be an armed fighter with an Islamic State group flag and the words “Come to Jihad” written in Arabic, according to the criminal complaint.

Agents also found a handwritten three-page letter from Khan to his parents in which he informs them he was on his way to Syria and the Islamic State, saying he was upset his U.S. taxes were going to kill his “Muslim brothers and sisters,” the complaint says.

“We are all witness that the western societies are getting more immoral day by day,” the letter says. “I do not want my kids being exposed to filth like this.” He also invites his parents to join him one day. (Continue Reading.)