By now you may have heard that Omar Seddiqui Mateen frequented the Pulse nightclub, for the past 3 years, according to several regular patrons who said that Mateen was known to be gay. This has even been confirmed by his wife. Early Sunday morning, June 12 Mateen declared Jihad and mowed down 103 people, killing 49, at this very club before being killed by police in a gun battle.
Confused? With Islam’s vehement disgust with homosexuality, and deadly penalties administered according to Sharia in Islamic countries, one may think it very strange, or highly unlikely for a Muslim to be homosexual.
A few years ago my Marine son volunteered for a tour of duty in Afghanistan; Helmand Province. His mother and I each sent him letters every week or so, but his communicae to me was always very short emails, usually not more than a line or two, and never more than a paragraph. One of these emails read something like this; “Dad, you’re not gonna believe this, but every other Haji over here is gay!”
Needless to say, this took me by surprise, as I had been studying Islam for several years, and knew the social/religious standing of such behavior. I began my research.
Within a short time I came across an “Unclassified Report” from HTT (Human Terrain Team) AF-6 assigned to the 2nd Marines and co-located with British forces in Lashkar Gah, Afghanistan. The report was an eye-opening review of interviews of Afghani’s and British forces as well as Marines who had encountered homosexual and pedophilic behavior in the nationals as well as service men who had been propositioned by Afghani males. It is known as a report on “Pashtun Sexuality”. Pashtun is the largest ethnic group in Afghanistan and the second largest in Pakistan. They ruled Afghanistan for 300 years.
From this report, and other sources, I learned that homosexuality is, and has been a cultural norm in Afghanistan for generations. Kandahar has been known for centuries as “the sodomy capital of South Asia”, and the natives say that “even the birds fly over Kandahar with one wing; the other covers their posterior”. Indeed.
When the Taliban took power in the early ’90’s, they publicly executed anyone caught practicing or exhibiting any behavior suspected as homosexuality. After the United States liberated most of Afghanistan’s major population centers, the tradition made a resurgence. Young (prepubescent) Afghan males aged 12-14 are the most desirable, and these grow into men who look forward to when they too are old enough to take young boys for their pleasure. (Incidentally, Islamic texts, many scholars and some poets glorify homosexuality as one of the pleasures reserved for Paradise) Some Afghan men interviewed in the report said, “You cannot see the women to know if they are beautiful or not; but we can see all the boys, and which ones are beautiful.”
I have since learned that homosexual behavior in other Islamic countries is not uncommon. For many, as with the Pashtun, the label “homosexual” is denied while the practice is widely accepted. In those terms, according to the Pashtun, it is a sin “to love a man”, not to use another man for sexual gratification. A saying goes, “Women are for children, boys are for pleasure”.
As the report indicates, separation from women and not being allowed to even see women, let alone have any type of contact likely causes these young boys to bond more with one another, than even their mother or sisters, being put in the all male Madrassa at age 7. Women are forbidden to these boys as unclean and disgusting. This also helps explain the misogynistic attitude of the Pashtun as well as most of Islam toward women.
A US Army medic and “her male colleagues were approached by an Afghan man seeking advice on how his wife could become pregnant. When it was explained to him what was necessary, he reacted with disgust and asked “How could one feel desire to be with a woman, who Allah has made unclean, when one could be with a man, who is clean? Surely, this must be wrong.” -Unclassified Report, Pashtun Sexuality
So what has all this to do with Omar Mateen?
Mateen’s father, Seddique Mir Mateen is an Afghan Pashtun immigrant to the US. The younger Mateen was born and raised here. The two attended mosque every Friday in Orlando.
According to this CBS News article:
“Seddique Mateen hosts a program on a California-based satellite Afghan TV station, aimed at the Afghan diaspora in the in the U.S., called the “Durand Jirga Show.”
A senior Afghan intelligence source tells CBS News correspondent Lara Logan that the show is watched by some in people in Afghanistan but the primary audience is ethnic Pashtun Afghans living in the U.S. and Europe….
The Taliban Islamic extremist movement is comprised almost entirely of Pashtuns, and Mateen’s show takes a decidedly Pashtun nationalistic, pro-Taliban slant; full of anti-U.S. rhetoric and inflammatory language aimed at non-Pashtuns and at Pakistan, the source told (Lara) Logan.
The name of the show references the Durand line, the disputed border between Afghanistan and Pakistan that was established in the 19th century by Britain. It has long been at the heart of deep-seated mistrust between Afghans and Pakistanis.
Seddique Mateen once campaigned in the United States for current Afghan President Ashraf Ghani — seen as a moderate leader — who appeared on his program in 2014. But since then Seddique has turned against Ghani in both his broadcasts and numerous videos posted to a Facebook account.
In his Facebook videos, the alleged gunman’s father has often appeared wearing a military uniform and declaring himself the leader of a “transitional revolutionary government” of Afghanistan…”
Who saw that coming?
Allow me to further tie this all together.
So a Muslim who is a homosexual is doomed to Hell. He is shamed by his family, creating much stress, embarrassment, and tons of guilt.
He continues this behavior, due to perhaps, something which happened to him earlier in life? (Culturally speaking, and purely speculative, of course.) Perhaps his father’s criticism and affinity for the Taliban further influence Omar.
3 weeks prior to the shooting at Pulse, Orlando’s Husseini Islamic Center was host to an Imam who is known to preach that the most compassionate action toward homosexuals is to execute them. In fact, the very mosque the Mateen’s attended last Friday was the worship home of another terrorist who blew himself up for the glory of jihad and shahid (martyrdom) in 2014 in Syria.
Now, a shahid, a martyr, in Islam one who dies in jihad against unbelievers, gets instantaneous forgiveness for all his sins, including sodomy. As soon as the first drop of the shahid’s blood hits the ground, Allah absolves him of all his sin. What’s more this is the month of Ramadan. If a Muslim dies during Ramadan, or on the Haj, it is a much better thing.
Could this have been the answer for a mentally, emotionally disturbed and guilt ridden Omar Mateen? Did he council with the Imam, his father, or someone from the mosque who advised him of this? Or did he just connect all the dots himself, and decide that martyrdom would restore his standing in the Islamic community, wipe away the dishonor he had brought to his father, and assure Omar himself a position in the glorious Paradise which rewards those who attain it with endless sensuous virgins and young boys, along with rivers of wine. Everything that is officially forbidden on Earth.
But Omar knew he would not die unless someone came to stop him from his deadly work inside the Pulse club that night. Omar Seddique Mateen called 9-1-1 and told the police what he was doing, even while he was in the process.
I believe Omar Mateen wanted to die shahid. He would die by “suicide by cop” after punishing the infidel gay community in a glorious gun battle, restoring his honor and that of his father.