Würzburg is in shock, the whole of Germany is mourning the loss of three people after the knife attack of a Somali (24) and fears for the lives of two seriously injured people.
According to information from the newspaper BILD, the police found ISIS propaganda in a dustbin in the home of the knife attacker, which the 24-year-old had apparently disposed of before the murders. According to the magazine “Der Spiegel”, the perpetrator said after his arrest that he had carried out his “jihad” by committing the crime. Witnesses reported that the Somali shouted “Allahu Akbar” in a bloodlust.
Despite these clear indications, government spokesman Steffen Seibert speaks of a “spree killer” whose “horrific act” was directed against “every humanity and every religion”, Seibert writes on Twitter, saying that thoughts and prayers are with the seriously injured and families of the victims.
“A final assessment of the motive for the crime is not yet possible, so we cannot rule out anything at the moment,” Federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer (71, CSU) told the newspaper BILD am SONNTAG – as did Bavaria’s Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann: “The motive for the crime must now be clarified. The question, what was the perpetrator’s psyche like and above all, how strong are Islamist backgrounds, which were evident yesterday.”
The security authorities are also investigating the possibility of Islamist motives, but without any firm findings, they have not yet confirmed the case. The Chancellery, however, excludes Islamist-motivated terrorism with its choice of words and conceals the clues.
THOUGH: The word “amok” used does not imply any political or religious motivation. The word comes from the Malay language and means “rage” – this is how attackers are described who indiscriminately kill other people in a bloodlust.
The fact is: According to the police, the Somali had already been violent in the past months and had attracted attention psychologically – but not by committing crimes that “so far point in the direction of Islamism”, the police told BILD.
Even if the phenomenon of “terrorism” is always disputed, it is generally agreed that terrorists want to spread fear and terror beyond the immediate victims of their crimes – with the aim of promoting a political view.
It is true that the borderline is not always clear, because some perpetrators have only very rudimentary political or religious views.
In the case of the Würzburg attacker, however, an Islamist influence was already known, at least in rudimentary form, when Seibert spoke of an “amok runner” – thereby depoliticising the crime and concealing the Islamist influence.
As the “Spiegel” quotes from an internal note by the authorities, the Somali is said to have said after his arrest that he had carried out his “jihad” with the crime.
The murder of infidels with the aim of “making Allah’s word supreme” is one of the basic methods of all jihadists: these define jihad as the individual duty (Fard al-Ayn) of every single Muslim.
Admittedly, other Muslims who do not agree with the jihadist interpretation of the religion are also regarded by jihadists as hypocrites or enemies. Nevertheless, “the jihad”, as the perpetrator himself had called his deeds, is by no means directed against “all religions”, as Seibert claims.
After all, jihadists justify their deeds in Islamic terms: with the Koran and the Hadith. The battle waged by attackers like the one in Würzburg can affect anyone regardless of their religious affiliation: as an individual victim to whom the jihadist feels superior. It is not, however, directed decidedly “against every religion”, but against everyone who adheres to a “false” religion in the jihadists’ world view or who interprets Islam “incorrectly”.