Suicide Terrorism and Islam

Abstract

Suicidal killing was not seen in the first 1,360 years of Islam. It is a recent phenomenon that has provoked doubt, questioning, and revulsion. This analysis argues that such killings will end when Muslim religious and political leaders, as well as survivors of the innocent killed in deadly assaults simply because they were unfortunate enough to be nearby, react to attacks meant to kill indiscriminately in order to fan terror. It urges them to speak out for the innocent and persuade the United Nations to outlaw suicide terrorism as a crime against humanity.

Notes

See columnist Hassan Haydar: “Iran Spreads a Culture of Death,” in Al-Hayat (English edition), February 1, 2007, in Memri, Special Dispatch Series no. 1455, February 8, 2007.

Antidefamation League, “Sheik Yusuf al-Qaradawi: Theologican of Terror,” August 1, 2005; see: www.adl.org

MEMRI Special Dispatch Series, no. 542, July 24, 2003.

Scott Atran, “Who Wants to Be a Martyr,” in The New York Times, May 5, 2003.

Waliullah Rahmani, “Combating the Ideology of Suicide Terrorism in Afghanistan,” Terrorism Monitor, vol. IV, no. 21 (November 2, 2006). According to Rahmani, the first suicide attack in Afghanistan was in 1992 when an Egyptian fighter for Gulbuddin Hekmatyar in Kunar killed Maulvi Jamil Rahman, a Salafi leader who was against Hekmatyar.

The murders perpetrated by the Shia sect of the Assassins in the eleventh century were exclusively directed at individuals of the ruling elite.

Cited in Daniel Brumberg, “Khomeini's Legacy. Islamic Rule and Islamic Social Justice,” in R. Scott Appleby, ed. Spokesmen for the Despised. Fundamental Leaders of the Middle East (Chicago and London, 1997), 56.

Cited in Christiane Hoffmann, “Vom elften Jahrhundert zum 11. September. Märtyrertum und Opferkultur sollen Iran als Staat festigen,” Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, May 4, 2002.

See the Basij report in Freidune Sehebjam, “Ich habe keine Tränen mehr,” Iran: Die Geschichte des Kindersoldaten Reza Behrouzi, Reinbek: Rowohlt, 1988.

Cited in Erich Wiedemann, “Mit dem Paradies-Schlüssel in die Schlacht, ” Der Spiegel, no. 31 (1982): 93.

Cited in Dawud Gholamasad and Arian Sepideh, Iran: Von der Kriegsbegeisterung zur Kriegsmüdigkeit (Hannover: Internationalismus Verlag, 1988), 15.

Joseph Croitoru, Der Märtyrer als Waffe. Die historischen Wurzeln des Selbstmordattentats (München: Hanser), 132.

Asaf Maliach, “Saudi Religious Scholars Come Out against Al-Qaeda's Use of Religious Edicts Permitting Suicide Attacks against Muslims,” International Institute for Counter-terrorism, July 8, 2007.

Cited in: Ali Alfoneh, “Iran's Suicide Brigades Terrorism Resurgent,” Middle East Quarterly (winter 2007).

MEMRI, Special Dispatch no. 945, July 29, 2005.

The Pew Global Attitudes Project, Support for Terror Wanes Among Muslim Publics. A 17-Nation Pew Global Attitudes Survey, July 14, 2005.

Thomas Friedman, “At a Theater Near You, …” The New York Times, July 3, 2007.