Internet abuzz over shooter's mysterious markings

CHICAGO — All at once, the world went searching for the meaning of "Ismail Ax."

Those two words, written in red ink on one arm of Cho Seung-Hui, the 23-year-old Virginia Tech student suspected of the campus shooting spree, set off a massive Internet hunt by the public Tuesday for clues to what might have motivated the nation's worst mass killings.

Almost as soon as the Chicago Tribune's Web site reported that detail, which then was picked up by news organizations around the world, the blogosphere filled with theories about the possible meaning of "Ismail Ax." Hundreds of bloggers speculated on a link to Islam or to literature; thousands offered their opinions and millions read the commentaries, according to Technorati.com.

Technorati.com, a Web site that tracks the blogosphere, said that by late afternoon Tuesday, there were nearly 300 blog posts regarding Ismail Ax. There were other reactions. A TV repair-shop owner in Corpus Christi, Texas, registered the domain name www.ismailax.com Tuesday morning.

"When I hear a name, I register it. I have about 200 names right now," said Raymond Patterson, who registered the site five minutes after he heard the phrase "Ismail Ax" mentioned on a Fox News broadcast. He said he had no intention of making "blood money" from the site.

As for the term's meaning, one popular theory comes from a story in the Quran, the holy book of Islam, about Ibrahim and his son, Ismail. This theory picked up speed because many bloggers wondered if the shootings could be related to terrorism.

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.

Two theories come from literature, where Ismail is spelled Ishmael.

In one, tied to James Fenimore Cooper's novel "The Prairie," Ishmael Bush is known as an outlawed warrior, according to an essay written in 1969 by William 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.

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.

Cho was an English major at Virginia Tech.

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.