Colorado Man Sets Fire to His Own House Because ‘Allah Told Him To’

My latest at PJ Media:

A nineteen-year-old in Aurora, Colo. faces charges of first-degree arson, as well as second-degree assault and obstructing a peace officer or firefighter, after he set a fire in his house. The circumstances are an indication of the new era in America that years of Leftist policies have brought us.

The young man’s name is Muhammed Ibraheem Afia. On Sunday morning, he seized his sister’s dolls and set them on top of a lit stove. Then, according to KDVR, he “sprayed lighter fluid around the house and lit 16 candles in another room because ‘God told him to.’”

Afia was more specific than the KDVR report about which God he had in mind (the KDVR report also gives his name as “Afie,” but the police report has “Afia”). The report indicates that what caused the entire incident was Afia’s anger over his sister’s “idols.” According to that report, “The idols were baby dolls in his sister’s room. He placed two of the baby dolls on a lit stove to burn them. He sprayed lighter fluid inside the residence, but did not directly light the lighter fluid on fire. He lit approximately 16 candles in an unoccupied, unsupervised room.”

It would be tempting to ascribe this behavior to the actions of a drug-addled mind, but Afia “denied using any narcotics prior to this incident. All of Afia’s actions were done because Allah told him to.”

The idea of Allah leaning down from his heavenly throne and whispering into Muhammed Afia’s ear that he had to set fire to his sister’s dolls because they were idols will probably get the charges against Afia dismissed on grounds of insanity. And he may well indeed not be of sound mind, but his idea that Allah would want “idols” to be burned, even if they were in the form of something as innocuous as a little girl’s dolls, has precedent in Islamic tradition. One hadith (traditions of the words and deeds of Muhammad and his immediate followers) states: “It was narrated from Anas that Ali came to some people of Az-Zutt, who worshipped idols, and burned them. Ibn Abbas said: ‘But the Messenger of Allah said: “Whoever changes his religion, kill him.”’” (an-Nasai, 5.37.4065)

When police and firefighters arrived, Afia was defiant and combative. He shoved one officer and fought those who were trying to get him into a patrol car; at that point, “his speech was rambling, referring to ‘Allah’ and burning idols.”

There is more. Read the rest here.