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Abdullah Azzam |
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| Stalin, Hitler and Mao operated according to Azzam’s philosophy. They recognized that “history” (that which is remembered and recorded) builds on slaughter—a “lofty edifice of skulls.”
The terror and death Bin Laden created is dwarfed by the efforts of Stalin, Hitler and Mao—whose reputations rest on a foundation of cripples and corpses.
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I apologize for neglecting to provide the link in the previous LSS Newsletter,"I Kill, therefore I am," to a lecture by Abdullah Azzam, “Martyrs: The Building Blocks of Nations.” Here, I crytallize Azzam's thought. As compared with the Western concept, Azzam doesn't pretend that political violence is a by-product--as societies attempt to achieve other objectives.
Rather, he suggests that the very purpose of political violence is the production of death. Historical "glory" cannot be established except on a foundation of "cripples and corpses." History "writes its lines with blood."
Richard A. Koenigsberg
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Bin Laden’s mentor—Abdullah Azzam—has been called the “Lenin of international jihad.” An entire philosophy of history is contained within the following passage (from “Martyrs: The Building Blocks of Nations):
| Azzam: “History does not write its lines except with blood. Glory does not build its loft edifice except with skulls, Honour and respect cannot be established except on a foundation of cripples and corpses. Empires, distinguished peoples, states and societies cannot be established except with examples. Indeed, (one cannot) change reality, or change societies, without blood, sacrifices and invalids, without pure, innocent souls.” |
This statement illustrates my “Law of Sacrifice:” ideologies become real insofar as people kill and die for them.
Azzam doesn’t beat around the bush. He states explicitly that history “writes its line in blood;” that honor and glory build upon a foundation of “cripples and corpses.” Empires, societies and states, Azzam says, are brought into being through the vehicle of blood and sacrificial death.
What is (political) history? The creation of death and “invalids”—testifying to the existence or reality of some sacred ideal.
People like Stalin and Hitler and Mao operated according to the philosophy put forth by Azzam. They recognized that history builds on a “lofty edifice of skulls.”
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