Who Is Allah

Marine reservist charged in DC-area military shootings

A 22-year-old Alexandria man has been charged with shooting at military buildings in the D.C. region last fall, and federal officials said in court papers that he videotaped himself shouting “Allah Akbar” after he fired shots at the U.S. Marine Corps museum in October.

Yonathan Melaku, a Marine Reservist, was taken into custody Friday under suspicious circumstances at Arlington National Cemetery. He had been carrying a backpack that held plastic baggies with ammonium nitrate, a material that can be used to make a bomb, as well as a notebook that included references to Osama bin Laden and “The Path to Jihad.”

Melaku was charged Thursday with two counts each of damaging U.S. property by shooting, and discharging a firearm in relation to a crime of violence.

At a news conference Thursday morning, prosecutors and the FBI declined to comment on Melaku’s motivation in the shootings.

“Today’s charges allege a pattern of violent behavior...we believe his statements that he’s targeting military installations speak to his desire to engage in violent activity against the military,” U.S. Attorney Neil H. MacBride said.

Federal officials said in court papers that between Oct. 16 and Nov. 2 Melaku fired shots at five military sites around the region. The shootings began Oct. 16 or early the next morning when shots were fired into the windows of the National Museum of the Marine Corps at Triangle. The Pentagon was hit a few days later. A U.S. Marine recruiting center in Chantilly was hit Oct. 25. Then, a shooter fired again on the Marine Corps museum Oct. 28, and on Nov. 1 shot a window at a U.S. Coast Guard recruiting center in Woodbridge.

In each instance, the shots were fired overnight or early in the morning when there were few people around, and authorities said at the time that they did not think the shooter aimed to harm anyone. They said they suspected the shooter might have been a Marine or someone with a grievance against the Marine Corps.

But on Thursday, federal officials weren’t so sure. “I can’t suggest to you his motivations or intent,” said James W. McJunkin, assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office. “Its not readily apparent yet.”

McJunkin and other officials would not comment on Melaku’s faith.

The FBI reported that Melaku joined the Marine Corps Reserve on Sept. 4, 2007, and has been awarded the National Defense Service Medal and the Selected Marine Corps Reserve Medal. He has never been deployed overseas nor had any documented mental or disciplinary issues, the Marines said.

Where is the Love?

If these past few years have taught me anything, it is that as long as we do not have love firmly implanted in all our hearts, we will never succeed.

You see, when love truly exists, nothing else matters. Nothing matters at all. You don’t do something for another because you have to do it – you don’t even question it. You do it out of love; it comes from your heart, from your consciousness; a will so great, so beautiful, that it is overpowering. It naturally emanates from within. This is love.

We are a people that are inspired to love, sisters and brothers. Allah subhanahu wa ta`ala have such a spiritual state? We should want to please and obey Him, out of our immense love for Him. Do we love Him for all that He has given us? I find that gratefulness increases such love. As we bow down to the ground in prostration, it is Him that has enabled us to do so. It is Allah that wakes us in the morning. It is Allah that gives us the ability to read this. It is Allah that has given us the ability, the ability itself, to worship Him. How can you not love The One for all of this, The Giver of All who makes our hearts beat?