The official word is that this act of Islamic terror had nothing to do with Islam. And yet it's hard to see how it could have any more to do with Islam.
Hours earlier, one of the gunmen, who'd been unleashing hell on the floor below, had walked up to the door...
"If you're Muslims, come out," they heard. They didn't answer.
Why would he ask that? Because it was all about Islam.
The six men, dressed in jeans and T-shirts, burst through the door. Armed with bags full of weapons, they fired indiscriminately as they shouted "Allahu Akbar!" or "Allah is great."
Allah is of course the famous patron saint of Nothing To Do With Islam.
In a perverse gesture, the gunmen separated the Muslims from the non-Muslims. The Muslims were given food and water. As dawn approached, the attackers ordered the remaining staff to prepare a meal so the Muslims could eat before beginning their Ramadan fast.
The non-Muslims didn't fare as well.
Images posted on an ISIS-affiliated media site and purported to be from the cafe attack showed bloody victims lying amid overturned tables and chairs, next to meals half eaten. One young woman's white dinner napkin still covered her chest. CNN could not independently verify the authenticity of the photos.
The attackers told Hossain, the American college student, that he could leave along with some hijab-wearing women -- but his two female friends couldn't. Hossain decided to stay behind to be with them, survivors later told his family.
Hossain was a bad Muslim, but a good man. Much like the Nazis who saved Jews were bad Nazis, but good human beings. This is what the good Muslims did.
In the predawn hours, the militants lectured their captives on religious practices, instructing the kitchen staff to say regular prayers and study the Quran.