Last week, Khalid Masood, a British-born Jihadist, ran over innocent people in London on the bridge close to Big Ben and then stabbed a police officer to death, before being killed by police. Where is Khalid Masood’s soul right now? Presumably, he thought he was taking a short-cut to Paradise.
The Pulitzer Prize-winning book, The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 by Lawrence Wright, observes, “Martyrdom promised such young men an ideal alternative to a life that was so sparing in its rewards. A glorious death beckoned to the sinner, who would be forgiven, it is said, with the first spurt of blood, and he would behold his place in Paradise even before his death….The martyr who is poor will be crowned in heaven with a jewel more valuable than the earth itself. And for those young men who came from cultures were women are shuttered away and rendered unattainable for someone without prospects, martyrdom offers the conjugal pleasures of seventy-two virgins.” (p. 123).
Wright quotes Osama bin Laden, who said, “This is jihad!…This is the way we want to go to heaven!” It’s important to know these things because this gets to the motivation of ISIS-type killers. They have a reason for doing what they are doing, even though we would argue they are wrong.
Several years ago I spoke with another Masood. This one is not a murderer. Steven Masood grew up as a sincere Muslim in Pakistan; he had even memorized the entire Qur’an by the age of 10. He inferred from something he read in the Qur’an that if he were a really good Muslim, he would know the Bible. So he got a copy and started reading it and ended up becoming a believer in Jesus. He said, “In the Gospels, I found Jesus said, ‘I am the way.’ So, here is a Muslim who was trying for many years, asking God, ‘Show me the way.’ So, I had to give in. I said, ‘Lord, thank You for showing me the way.’ And I accepted Him.” This caused a rift with his parents, and Steven had to escape Pakistan to stay alive.
Steven Masood believes in the promise given by the apostle John in the Bible: “And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.” How can we know this is correct? Because Jesus Christ actually rose from the dead in human history. Therefore, we have a reason to believe His promises, including the promise of eternal life.
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