Abdo Khal

Okaz

Last Thursday was a disastrous day in the life of a Saudi family because one of their members killed his uncle and then blew himself up near a checkpoint close to Al-Ha'er Prison in Riyadh. Everyone who read the news was literally shocked over it because it was a horrendous act. Still, we cannot feel with the same intensity as the family of the victim. How did the family spend Eid Al-Fitr Holidays? They must have felt great sorrow and sadness over the murder of the victim, who was one of the defenders of this country and the protectors of its national security. The victim was killed by his nephew, the terrorist.



This murder could have been avoided or thwarted before it could take place because the terrorist must have shown some signs of hatred to the beliefs of this country. Experience and experiments prove that a terrorist usually displays signs and engage in acts indicative of his future intention. Therefore, the terrorist took the wrong path and did not care about his life or the lives of others. He did not even care about blowing himself up. He was ready to kill anyone, including his father, uncle, or a security officer, who would stand in his way to achieving his goals.



Recently, a father was killed by his terrorist son because he reported him to authorities. The father noticed a sharp change in his son's behavior and decided not to stay silent and reported him to the authorities. We need to understand that a terrorist no longer cares about others or their lives. His beliefs have been distorted and he thinks strongly that he is fighting everyone around him for the sake of Allah the Almighty and His Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). We should be more careful and alert as parents to avert and thwart any terrorist attempt to wreak havoc in society.



The above two incidents (the murders of the uncle and the father) should be a painful lesson to us and should encourage us to keep a close eye on our sons' behavior and activities and help them if we think they are going astray.



If some parents encourage their children to go astray, then those parents need someone to guide them and put them back on the right path and dispel the wrong ideologies they have embraced. I will never stop calling upon the state institutions to dispel such wrong ideas and ideologies from some families. The institutions should run continuous programs with this purpose in mind. We should not wait until something disastrous happens and then take action. Perhaps there are some families outside there who have a potential terrorist son and they do not know about him.