There is a lot of confusion about the nature of Islam, and the extent to which it is the religion itself, as opposed to an “extremist” wing of it, that breeds terrorism. President Bush believes that Islam has been “hijacked” by the terrorists for their own use, and that Islam itself is a peace-loving religion. Is that true? Or is there something about Islam that promotes, condones or ideologically endorses terrorism? Is it a fundamental aspect of Islam, or a perverted interpretation?
There is no question that all religions have different interpretations of their basic texts. The very fact that a religion is something accepted not by reason but by faith implies that there would be a dearth of clearly defined concepts and logical argument in the religion’s texts. The mysterious, analogy-dominated style of religious texts is destined (if not designed) to be open to interpretation.
There is also no question that Christianity, Hinduism and Judaism have all had their share of terrorists. The abortion-clinic bombers in the United States are just one example.
Similarity of All Religions
By studying various religions and looking at history, one is led to the conclusion that any number of religions could lead to terrorism. The tenets of religion that promote terrorism are:
- otherworldliness – The focus on an afterlife, and on the importance of another world over this one, denigrates this life, and life itself. On this view, this material world, the earth we live on, is viewed as a) temporary, b) unimportant, c) a passageway to another, better world, and d) even evil (due to its inferiority compared with the other world). On the premise of otherworldliness, it is of no importance to avoid killing – oneself or others. If there were any last compunction about being a terrorist or a suicide bomber, say at the point just before the horrible act is to be committed, the belief in this view would undercut that compunction.
The suicide instruction manual, recently published by the FBI, has any number of references to the other world. Number 7 in the itemized list published by the New York Times, urges the terrorist to “Purify your soul from all unclean things. Completely forget something called ‘this world’ [or ‘this life’]. The time for play is over and the serious time is upon us.” Number 8 says: “You should feel complete tranquility, because the time between you and your marriage [in heaven] is very short. Afterwards begins the happy life, where God is satisfied with you, and eternal bliss ‘in the company of the prophets, the companions, the martyrs and the good people, who are all good company.’ ”
Similar quotes can be found in the religious texts of all of the world’s major religions. Islam is not distinctive in this sense.
- determinism, or fatalism – The focus on the complete lack of choice of the individual actor. This goes hand-in-hand with the omnipotent power of God. God is viewed as having a complete plan for the world, and He has the power to implement this plan. Therefore, the individual has no power to alter the course of things. His sole purpose is to identify and carry out God’s plan. Some religions emphasize complete passivity and resignation to God’s plan. Others emphasize getting in sync with God’s plan and trying to take actions consistent with it. Whichever emphasis a particular religion has (and all religions have an ambiguous emphasis, switching back and forth between resignation and synchronous action), the belief in this tenet would completely thwart any last line of moral squeamishness on the part of a terrorist.
The recently published suicide instruction manual is imbued with determinism. Number 9 on the list of instructions says in part: “…remember that you will return to God and remember that anything that happens to you could never be avoided, and what did not happen to you could never have happened to you.” Number 14 says: “[…God decrees what will work and what won’t] and the rest is left to God, the best One to depend on.”
Again, similar quotes can be found in the religious texts of all of the world’s major religions. Islam is not distinctive in this sense.
- faith – “Faith” denotes acceptance of ideas blindly, with no proof, logic or reason. The acceptance of these ideas can be based on feeling or the word of others. It is distinguished from “reason,” which is a process of grasping and identifying evidence, forming concepts, and formulating ideas based on those concepts, using logic. The view that all knowledge comes from blind acceptance, whether it is acceptance of feelings or the dictates of religious spokesman, is the only way a terrorist could be induced to commit such horrible acts and kill himself. One thing is very clear: suicide bombers are not scholarly logicians who think for themselves. They take their orders from those who interpret God’s word, whether they are listening to the Imams in the Arab world or the preacher in the local Baptist Church. Thoroughly steeped in the idea that truth has already been interpreted for him, that he has been told by the “authorities” what God’s plan is, the terrorist doesn’t question his orders or the authority’s interpretation of God’s plan. He just does what he is told to do.
Number 4 in the instruction manual begins: “Remind your soul to listen and obey [all divine orders].” This section goes on to say “God said: ‘Obey God and His Messenger, and do not fight amongst yourselves or else you will fail. And be patient, for God is with the patient.’ ” Toward the end of the manual, in the “third phase” of the plan, the terrorists are instructed: “If God decrees that any of you are to slaughter, you should dedicate the slaughter to your fathers and [unclear], because you have obligations toward them. Do not disagree, and obey.” The emphasis on obedience to God’s word is not only explicit in those passages, but implicit in the entire manual, since it is written as a spiritual document, almost as a religious tract, in which the writer (supposed to be the terrorist ringleader, Mohamed Atta) tells all the other pious men what to do.
As with the two previous premises of religion, exhortations to have faith in “God and His Messenger” are to be found everywhere in the religious texts of other religions, even if the explicit urging to slaughter is absent.
- sacrifice – The focus on giving up, on self-denial, on living ascetically, would bolster a terrorist in his determination to carry out his deed. He is giving up his life, which to most is a precious value. But if he has spent his life believing that he should deny himself his highest value, and that it is important to give it up for God’s plan and to have everlasting joy in heaven, he won’t hesitate at the last moment. Nor will he hesitate to sacrifice others – if sacrifice is good it is good universally, not just for him. Also, his devotion to sacrifice and asceticism will cause him to despise anyone who loves this life and lives for happiness, enjoyment and the material pleasures in this world.
Sacrifice and otherworldliness are intimately related – one is sacrificing this life, but getting more in return in the other life.
Here the instruction manual can’t be too explicit about the sacrifice part – it emphasizes the other world. It has to sway the terrorist by convincing him that his hardship will be rewarded by joy in heaven. Pure sacrifice, with no possibility of joy, it seems, might present difficulty for the terrorist in maintaining his resolve. The instruction manual quotes a poem that says: “Smile in the face of hardship young man/For you are heading toward eternal paradise.” Many other times in the manual, there are references to being happy about the sacrifice: “Be happy, optimistic calm because you are heading for a deed that God loves and will accept [as a good deed]. It will be the day, God willing, you spend with the women of paradise.” (This reference is to sexual pleasure that martyrs enjoy in heaven.)
Sacrifice for a better life in heaven is, of course, a common thread among religions.
We see then, that all four of these fundamental views – otherworldliness, determinism, faith and sacrifice – are integral not only to Islam but to all the major religions. An understanding of these views can help one to explain how a person would kill 7000 people, himself included. Such views, seriously held and practiced as principles, without the pragmatic softening that has occurred by the influence of nonreligious, Western ideas, explain all the terrorism in all the religions, as well as all the examples of pure suicide of the Jim Jones type.
However, despite their similarities on these fundamentals, not all religions have the same emphasis, mythology or other specifics. What if a religion had all of the above tenets, and in addition had a series of subordinate views/traditions all leading toward a glorification of war and a fundamental hatred of any shred of rational values? Let us look now at some of the views of Islam that distinguish it from the other religions.
Distinctiveness of Islam
As opposed to at least Christianity and Judaism in the Western world, Islam is distinguished by the following six traits:
- thorough religiousness – Islam takes all the ideas very seriously. Muslims are called to prayer not just on Sunday, but five times a day. An entire month of every year is devoted to fasting. Focus on the other world, determinism, faith and sacrifice are not empty phrases but deeply held beliefs, practiced to the point where they are fundamentally indistinguishable from the culture of the Islamic countries. Regarding fatalism, for example, “En Sh’Allah” (“God willing”) is one of the most common expressions in the Islamic world. It justifies a passive acceptance of events, and an unwillingness to take action to achieve goals to an extent so unknown and so frustrating to Westerners that one colleague of mine characterized the phrase as the Arab equivalent of the Mexican “ma
