Ismail ax

Ismail Ax is the mysterious note left by Cho Seung-hui when he committed the 2007 Virginia Tech Massacre. It was written on his left arm in red ink when police SWAT teams found his body inside the Virginia Tech Engineering Building. Interestingly enough, in Korean and Japanese culture it's considered very bad luck to write anyone’s name in red. For whatever reason, the words "Ismail Ax" were not written by accident.

Possible Theories

There are several possible theories of the meaning of the message. Because police have found no concrete evidence supporting his motive, it is possible that the jargon will never be deciphered the way the author intended it to be. However, several possible theories are being deliberated on and are an attempt to understand the thoughts and practices of Cho Seung-hui before the shootings at Virginia Tech actually took place.

Abraham & Ishmael

The reference may be to the Biblical sacrifice of Abraham, in which God commands the patriarch to sacrifice his own son. Abraham begins to comply, but God intervenes at the last moment to save the boy.

In the Jewish and Christian traditions, the son is Isaac, father of the Jewish people; in Islam, it is his older half-brother, Ismail (Ishmael in Hebrew). Abraham uses a knife in most versions of the story, but some accounts have him wielding an axe.

Ismail is the Arabic form of Ishmael that translates as “God will hear”.

In Islam, the Prophet Ismail was the eldest son of Prophet Ibrahim by his second wife Hajira. As he had no off-spring from his first wife Sarah, he entered into matrimonial allegiance with Hajira, a devoted lady. He did so with the consent of his first wife. The Prophet Ibrahim prayed to his Lord to bless him with a son. The Prophet Isma’il was born to him in response to his prayers. The Qur’an makes mention of it in these words: “Ibrahim said: My Lord! Grant me of the doers of good deeds. So We gave him the good news of a boy possessing forbearance.” (37: 100, 101)

Connection to Islam

Cho’s messages have a tendency to spark curiousity in relation to certain passages from the Qu’ran.

Perhaps an affiliation or maybe a sarcastic comment on society's predilection to blame Islamists for acts of terror. Perhaps the shooter felt an affinity with the haters of Western culture. But to ignore the name's relationship with its history is ridiculous; the question is, what did the shooter mean by using an Islamic-centric name?

Note: His use of that name does not necessarily mean he was Islamic.

Isma’il bin Jafar

If Cho had some knowledge of Islam, it is peculiar that he would find a connection of himself in the image of Isma’il bin Jafar. In Islam, it is stated that:

Isma'il bin Jafar was the eldest son of the sixth Shia Imam, Jafar as-Sadiq. To protect him from persecution, his father sent him into hiding and publicly declared him deceased.

As-Sadiq had, at one time, designated his son Isma’il as his successor, but Isma’il died before his father. Most Shi’i followers turned to the eldest surviving son of al-Sadiq, Abd-Allah, who claimed a second designation. When Abd-Allah died within weeks without an heir, many turned again to another son of as-Sadiq, Musa al-Kazim. This crisis of succession led to doubts about the true designation of Jafar as-Sadiq and many clung to the original designation of Isma’il and proclaimed the son of Isma’il.

Prophet Ibrahim: The Father of the Prophets

It is also possible that Cho had confused the Prophet Ibrahim to Ismail (Ishmael). His reference to the 'ax' probably reflected the axe that he used to destroy the idols being made. If Cho had chosen the Prophet Ibrahim to represent him in the shooting, then this would suggest that Cho’s psychological level was extremely erratic.

In the prophecy, it is said that Ibrahim destroyed all the statues and idols inside the temple worshipping false idols to give order to the confused. If Cho believed that rich kids and deceitful charlatans we were the ones carrying out false beliefs, then Cho’s actions would possibly be justifiable as a matter of 'cleansing.'

He left his father after he lost hope to convert him to the right path, and directed his efforts towards the people of the town, but they rejected his call and threatened him. By Allah, he said, I shall plot a plan to destroy their idols. He knew that a big celebration was coming soon, where everybody would leave town for a big feast on the riverbank. After making sure that nobody was left in town, Ibrahim went towards the temple armed with an axe. Statues of all shapes and sizes were sitting there adorned with decorations. Plates of food were offered to them, but the food was untouched. “Well, why don’t you eat? The food is getting cold.” He said to the statues, joking; then with his axe he destroyed all the statues except one, the biggest of them. He hung the axe around its neck and left.

How big was the shock when the people entered the temple! They gathered inside watching in awe their gods broken in pieces. They wondered who might have done this? Then they all remembered that the young Ibrahim was talking evil of their idols. They brought him to the temple and asked him: "Are you the one who has done this to our gods?" Ibrahim said: "No, this statue, the biggest of them has done it. Ask them if they can speak." "You know well that these idols don't speak!" They said impatiently. "Then how come you worship things that can neither speak nor see, nor even fend for themselves? Have you lost your minds?"

They kept silent for a while, for he got a point there. Their minds and their senses were telling them that the Truth is with Ibrahim, but their pride prevented them to accept it, and reject the idols they were worshipping for generations. This they thought would be total defeat. They started yelling at him and shouting: "Burn him! Burn him! Take revenge for your gods!"

Web Results

As of April 18, 2007, two days after the shootings, various search engines such as Google and Yahoo reported that the words Ismail Ax have been posted in their top #20-30 search range at an average search of 130,000 searches per day. As a result, several curious web posters and bloggers have unified to decipher the mysterious death note left behind in the worst U.S. mass-shooting of all time.

References

External Links

- Alpha Chi Omega (Branch) Website
Southworth, Emma Dorothy (2004). Ishmael. Avon Books. ISBN 1-040-69157-42.