The Biggest Shooting Massacre in U.S. History

[coronax2]

<p>

As for the term’s meaning, one popular theory spreading across the web comes from a story in the Koran, the holy book of Islam, about Ibrahim and his son, Ismail.</p>

<p>In Islam, Ibrahim is known as the father of the prophets and, upset that people in his hometown still worshiped idols and not Allah, he smashed all but one statue in a local temple with an ax. Ibrahim’s son is Ismail, who also became a prophet. Ibrahim is Arabic for Abraham, who plays a significant role in Christianity, Judaism and Islam.</p>

<p>Two theories come from literature, where Ismail is spelled Ishmael.</p>

<p>In one, tied to James Fenimore Cooper’s novel “The Prairie,” Ishmael Bush is known as an outcast and outlawed warrior, according to an essay written in 1969 by William H. Goetzmann, a University of Texas History professor. In Cooper’s book, “Bush carries the prime symbol of evil - the spoiler’s axe,” the professor wrote.</p>

<p>Also, the narrator from Moby Dick, Ishmael, is considered an enigma who is well educated yet considers his time on a whaling ship worthy of time at Yale or Harvard, according to education site Sparknotes.com.</p>

<p>Other theories speculate that Ismail Ax could be a reference to Cho’s nickname on a video gaming site or that it is a misspelling of Turkish hip-hop artist Ismail YK.

</p>

<p><a href=“'Ismail Ax' sparks web frenzy”>'Ismail Ax' sparks web frenzy;