Major Nidal M. Hasan’s Jihad Seminar Explained by Mark Durie is a thorough and fair analsis of Major Hasan’s thinking. The conclusion in part,

It is essential to grasp that the views which Major Hasan describes in his seminar are not obscure, extreme or marginal.  They are integral to Islamic tradition and the Koran’s teachings on warfare and justice.  These views can also be corroborated from the great Koranic commentaries of the past 14 centuries.  The presentation is also informed and judicious in its use of sources: Major Hasan cites all the right verses for the points he makes.  Moreover his presentation is transparent and truthful.

All in all these powerpoint slides suggest a heart-felt plea, in which Major Hasan requests, with clarity and consistency, that a Muslim in the military not be asked to serve in a context where he or she will have to fight against ‘fellow Muslims’, particularly if the war is regarded by Muslims as an unjust one.  To do this is to force them to choose between hell and mutiny.

This is not the voice of someone consumed by hatred or malice.  It does however speak of someone who has become trapped by their worldview, and is, with terrifying conviction and clarity of mind, contemplating what it would mean to take the lives of his fellow soldiers, driven on by the inescapable logic of deeply held religious beliefs.

It is high time that the US Military paid adequate attention to such beliefs, resisting the temptation to ignore them in the name of political correctness.

 See my earlier post referring to Mark Durie’s research re Major Hasan’s Islamic dilemma.