Motivation of the Islamic Terrorists

Therefore, from those terrorists' viewpoints, they are DEFINITELY not committing suicide!

It is necessary to now look at a small portion of their Holy Book, the Koran (Qur'an). In Sura (Chapter) 47, paragraph 4 and 5 are:

And when ye meet those who misbelieve - then striking off heads until ye have massacred them, and bind fast the bonds!

Then either a free grant (of liberty) or a ransom until the war shall have laid down its burdens. That! - but if God please He would conquer them - but (it is) that He may try some of you by the others. And those who are slain in God's cause, their works shall not go wrong; He will guide them and set right their mind; and will make them enter into Paradise which He has told them of.

These two paragraphs seem to be the source of the problem. (Actually, there are some similar passages in the Koran, such as Suras 2.159 and 3.169 which indicate that those holy warriors who died fighting in God's cause are alive and in His Presence now.)

The many thousands of words in the rest of the Koran are generally very peace-filled, probably far more so than the extensive violence in the Old Testament of the Bible. Muhammad virtually always taught his followers to be peaceful (except when either threatened or attacked, or when the "Taurah" [the first five Books of the Bible] were un-believed or mis-believed) (particularly in Suras that were composed when he was still in Mecca). Nearly all Muslims properly understand that and are extremely peaceful people, with impressive behavior and sound morals and ethics.

The context of the Koran makes clear that Muhammad expressed these specific comments in reference to defending "the Book" (actually meaning the first five Books of the Jewish Bible, what we call the Torah or Pentateuch, beginning with Genesis) from un-believers. He was explaining the importance of the Faith and that it deserved the maximum defense that could be provided for it.

Specifically, in hundreds of places, the Koran clearly states that ALL "believers of the Book" (referring to the first five Books of the Bible) ARE believers and that they should be treated respectfully and honorably. That is clear instruction to all Muslims to respect and be peaceful to both Christians and Jews, as long as those individuals are Devout believers in those five Books of the Bible. Again, virtually all Muslims properly understand this and behave as Muhammad instructed them.

NOTE: Muhammad also regularly referred to the many Jews and Christians who did a very POOR job of Faith, and he referred to such people as misbelievers. His standard was regarding how well an individual followed the Teachings of the first five Books of the Bible, the Pentateuch or the Torah, and when Jews or Christians did not carefully follow their Faiths, Muhammad soundly criticized them. His severe anger toward them were really because they had not done a proper job of being a Jew or Christian (in his opinion).

Now, since they then understood such violence to be "God's cause", then the (highlighted) guarantee of paragraph 5 would seem to apply. In the event that they "are slain" in the process of such efforts, they are guaranteed of going immediately to Paradise (Heaven).

The daily life of many Muslims is barely above mere existence. Prosperity, wealth, success and happiness are not common in many communities. Life is very difficult for many people, including large numbers of Muslims.

Normal Muslim life involves massive religious activities, including their five Prayers every day (often totaling over an hour of commitment every day) plus their weekly fasts plus many more requirements. Muslims do all these things specifically to avoid going immediately to Hell, although relatively few expect to directly go to Heaven. They believe in a "waiting room", al Aaraf, (something like the Catholic Purgatory) where their final disposition is eventually determined. The point is, for a normal Muslim, extensive and continuous religious effort is involved, just for the CHANCE of getting into Heaven. Imagine the motivation for a suffering Muslim to find some way to be killed in the process of doing God's cause! An automatic entry into Paradise (Heaven)!

Normal Muslims do not have much opportunity there, as the Koran does not allow them to be the aggressor in most situations. They would have to await some enemy aggressor who they could then retaliate against, either to win (and protect Islam) or die (and go directly to Heaven). In both possibilities, they saw the result as desirable.

The aberrant Muslims that studied those two paragraphs developed a concept. They (incorrectly) determined that Israelis and Americans and their other enemies HAD PREVIOUSLY initiated a threat to Islam, which permitted them to "counter-attack" even though their actions were clearly just unprovoked initial attacks. Very quickly, a preferred method developed in what are commonly called suicide-bombings, particularly in Israel, and in America on 9/11/01.

On top of believing they are justified (by the Koran) in their attack (counter-attack) actions, and that their targets are non-believers or misbelievers, they believe that by dying in such an act, there is a bonus of being absolutely guaranteed immediate entrance into Paradise (Heaven). Collectively, these are tremendous incentives in their minds.

Islamic beliefs add even more incentives, particularly for young men. There is a Hadith that informs them that 70 virgin maidens await each of them in Paradise (Heaven) It is NOT in the Koran itself. The Koran has some non-specific references to rewards awaiting Muslim (men) in Heaven, which were expanded in the later Hadiths.

These observations should also make it clear why so many people want to volunteer to die in such acts. THEY don't see it as suicide at all, but as their ONLY absolutely guaranteed way of entry into Paradise. As a suicide, they would know it to be sinful, and banned by the Koran, so there is no chance whatever that they have that perception. So each person who is to be talked into being a terrorist, is always instead convinced that as long as "an enemy of Islam" is the target, then the terrorist can think of himself as a loyal martyr for Islam. The people who present this reasoning have become very convincing, for the listeners who are usually illiterate.

Consider the many people crowded into the slums of cities in the Palestinian (and southern Lebanese) regions. Many people struggle to survive. There is little happiness. Life is very tough. For such a person to jump up to volunteer to strap a bomb to themselves, given these specific ideas, seems nearly obvious. With this insight, it becomes rather clear why militant terrorism has grown so rapidly within Islam.

There is one other important aspect of this activity. The person's INTENT absolutely MUST BE to kill or injure "non-believers". (It can NEVER be directed toward Muslims or "believers".) That ensures (in their minds) that they are doing God's cause, so the Paradise reward would apply. In their minds, it is not actually that necessary to actually kill any Israelis or other enemies, but only to intend to accomplish that. So, in their minds, even an incompetent bomber who blows himself up at home while trying to make a bomb, would still immediately go to Paradise.

As to the 9/11 pilots, many Americans seem to have the impression that they probably had grim looks of contemplating their imminent suicides. That was almost certainly not the case. It seems extremely like that they were smiling as they died, believing that they would be in Paradise a moment later. Rather than dreading the impact, they almost certainly were looking forward to it as the crowning achievement of their lives.

The ONLY possibility is for Muslim leaders to begin to consistent teach the correct (Koran) meaning of "believer" to such people (and to all their children) and to teach them that suicide is still suicide, no matter how one tries to rationalize it, and suicide will NOT get them into Paradise. Only if they understand those two important concepts will they see cause to stop the suicide-bombing terrorism.

Diplomacy might seem like an attractive possibility, especially for bureaucratic government officials, but it will have no more success there than it does in the 600-year religious wars in the Balkans, or in Northern Ireland, or in countless other long-term religious confrontations. And even any educational initiative is likely to take several decades to have significant results. So, Israel and the world can figure to be the targets of aberrant Muslim terrorists for many years to come.

This is SO sad! The vast majority of Muslims are VERY peace-loving. It is terrible that their collective reputation is tarnished by a small number of motivated but mis-informed extremists.

Early in the war, the American military leaders seriously expected to capture the leaders alive. They clearly are unfamiliar with any of the above observations. Separate from building reputations as martyrs, the leaders would certainly insist on making sure they died during the conflict. If they already have died, they have accomplished that personal goal. If any of them are still alive, they certainly would have made provisions that they could not be taken alive. I would think that an obvious option is that all those leaders continuously have bombs attached to their bodies, so if they are ever surprised and captured, they could kill themselves and the nearby Americans in the explosions. If you notice, that would fulfill all the conditions that they think are necessary to ensure their immediately going to Paradise.

"For any world leaders out there who are contemplating training, supporting, or supplying future terrorists, I suggest giving reflection on what has occurred in Afghanistan. The previous government there had directly participated regarding the terrorist acts on the United States on 9/11/01. As an immediate and direct response to those attacks on American citizens, we have acted to eliminate them as a political force.

"So, should your government consider participating in some future terrorist act on the United States or against American citizens, give some thought about what our reaction would be. You should clearly realize that it would be an absolute certainty that your government would be removed and destroyed, and that, at best, you might wind up living in a cave somewhere until we found you.

"Therefore, before you decide to train, equip, or support ANY terrorist activity, it seems prudent for you to consider these matters."

Such a statement might not be able to dissuade individual aberrant individuals or groups, but it certainly should minimize any large-scale organized support for future terrorism. If Secretary Rumsfeld would make such a statement, I think all Americans would become FAR safer.

Until and unless this happens some day, countless suicide attacks will continue by the many millions of very poor Islamic young men. Their personal perspectives are that they have no possible chance of succeeding in this life in any traditional ways (of working hard, of operating a business, etc). And, with food and money being in short supply for them, what future do they have to look forward to? They see countless older men in abject poverty, and they see that that is their future, too.

In this situation, with no hope whatever in this world, they have quickly bought into the premise that has been promoted by a few Islamic extremist leaders, of using a very distorted interpretation of their Holy Koran to justify killing Christians and Jews, and in doing so by suicide attacks. They have absolutely no reason to doubt such aberrant leaders, until and unless some even more respected leader explains to them the errors in those distorted interpretation.

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C Johnson, Theoretical Physicist, Physics Degree from Univ of Chicago