The Wisdom of the Elder

"An examination of [Ahmed] Merhi's past reveals the former Sydney labourer traded a life of drugs, petty crime and unemployment for the cult of militant Islam. His father, Faraj Merhi, said his son was wild, headstrong and frequently in trouble with the law before leaving Australia for the Syrian battlefield. 'He was going the wrong way when he was here, too,' Mr Merhi told The Australian. 'He was on drugs or something... We tried to help him a lot. Always, he do his own mind. He's got his own way.' Mr Merhi said his family was essentially unreligious. While his wife, who is Lebanese, prays, Mr Merhi says he foreswore religion after migrating to Australia from his home in Syria, where he still has family. 'I hate religion since the time they create Israel,' he said. 'That's when they start, when I was young. That's when they start religious hatred'." (Father slams 'stupid' terrorist son, Paul Maley/Mark Schliebs, The Australian, 4/4/16)