By Zainab Lokhandwala
We live in a time where our existing ideas of violence are changing so as to assume a whole new shape which may have been entirely unrecognizable in years of the past. The term ‘terrorism’ is understood by all to mean a form of heinous violence which is wholly illegitimate and never justifiable. Yet, this term remains undefined under international law probably because, the methods employed by terrorists are often punishable as criminal offences as murder, assault or arson under the laws in various national jurisdictions. Another reason could be that is hard to pinpoint the exact motivating factor behind terrorism, and terrorism always has a motivating factor. Is it religion, or economic progress, or is it simply baseless hate? It is hard to empirically define.
Then, when we ask ourselves what is terrorism, what answer does our mind give? Will terrorism always remain a concept which is only well understood yet will never be clearly defined? Why is terrorism so intricately linked with religion? Why is terrorism associated with Islam? Can terrorism ever be moral or legitimate? Can there be a divine terrorist? Is every action that is aimed at curbing terrorism legitimate? Can one safely take for granted such legitimacy? Do we need to make more efforts to understand terrorism, as those who claim to have understood it a long time ago have only ended up withdrawing from 2 wars leaving terrorism on the rise in the very countries that they waged a war in and in the world at large? And most importantly, how do we stop it?
The flaw that we have often made in the past is that we have demonized terrorists as simple evildoers and demonic agents to such an extent that we fail to notice any legitimate political grievance they may possibly have. Religiously motivated terrorists comprise a marginal section in relation to larger religious communities and traditions from which they come. They often seek to articulate the widespread grievances and feelings present within their communities. Yes, their means to do so are absolutely fallacious and unacceptable; however a clear dismissal of their claims may be no solution at all. As, embarking upon a journey to find a solution will entail first and foremost the acceptance of the following: understanding an action in no way means excusing it, and explaining an action in no way means condoning it. With this in mind, we proceed.
Religion and terrorism:
A religion, among other things is a complex of relationships, with a divine figure, with a teacher or a leader, with a sacred text or a set of symbols, with a set of ideas and with a community of co-religionists. Such relationships embody certain patterns, which reflect in the other areas of a devotee’s life. May it be dogmas to be adhered to, speculations to be pondered upon, disciplines to be practiced, philosophies to be read or standpoints to be reflected upon, all these are contributing factors to a pattern of cognition. Hence, the influence of religion is so much more preponderant and weightier than we may even know. Religion is not, nor has ever been merely restricted to going to a religious establishment, or praying to a supernatural being, or reading religious texts; it is in fact the way we do everything in our lives: what we eat, what we drink, what we think, what we speak, the way we act, the way we react, who we marry, how we bring up our children, what we wear, what we want and the way in which we seek it; religion is the way we live or at least the way we ought to.
Religion can hence mean, the search for an authoritative figure or the rejection of all authority, a deep longing or attachment or the drive to stay aloof from all others in the world, a need for absolute certainty or mistrust in all commitments, a love for all fellow humans or a love only for fellow devotees.
In order to understand the relationship between terrorism and religion we need to examine two ideas:
One, religious terrorism cannot exist but for the mingling of religion and politics. As Robert Pape writes in his book, ‘Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism’ that political religiosity reveals that a large number of people around the world are convinced that God has given them the single master plan for how societies should be organised and governed. Since these blueprints come from God, it is the true believer’s sacred duty to follow them to the letter and even impose them on societies in which they live.
Pape’s proposition seems sound when we look into the ideologies and objectives of various organisations, some of which have carried out their so-called mandate by means of terrorism. Bin Laden has been quoted as under, “The time has come when all the Muslims of the world, especially the youth, should unite and soar against the kufr (nonbeliever) and continue jihad till those forces are crushed to naught, all the anti-Islamic forces are wiped off the face of the earth and Islam takes over the whole world and all other false religions.” As Mark Juergensmeyer in his book, ‘Terror in the Mind of God’ writes that ultra-orthodox communities in Israel seek to remove the current secular establishment in Israel and replace it with a government which implements strict Judaist orthodox law. Further, James Jones in his book, ‘Blood That Cries Out From the Earth: The Psychology of Religious Terrorism’ writes that the goal of the Christian Reconstructionist Movement in the United States is to create a state where strict ‘biblical law’ is implemented in order to transform society into the ‘Kingdom of God on Earth’.
Hence, many terrorists see their societies ruled by anti-religionist leaders who claim to be Muslim, Christian or Jewish but are really not. When religion is interpreted in the legal sense, it is nothing but ‘divine law’ or ‘natural law’; hence, it is a divine mission for terrorists to impose this law on all societies and remove the secular hypocritical leaders with devout leaders. This is why religious terrorists are against the idea of separation of the mosque, church, synagogue, temple and the state.
Second, religious terrorism is a multidimensional concept. It is a myth to say that religion alone provokes a person to commit an act of terror. Terrorism involves a basic motivation which may have a psychological, political, cultural, social, religious or economic trigger or a combination of some or all of them. Terrorism is thus, both fanatic as well as rational. Here is how: say in the case of the Palestinian Movement, suicide bombings would not have been possible if reason and faith would not have been sewn together into a logic of liberation and a sanity of personal redemption. Rationality alone cannot inspire people to make the eventual leap towards a ‘heroic’ end; the same way religion alone cannot inspire people to plan, prepare and execute suicide attacks and other acts of terror. Hence, religious terrorism is not blind and random (except for some stray psychotic imbeciles).
Thus, there is no one-size-fits-it-all explanation of terrorism in the world. Muslim fundamentalists in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and China have shown differences in their ideologies and objectives such that it is evident that when we try to compartmentalize terrorists into different religious factions, we would end up with contradictions in terms of scheme, intent, direction and desire among the very same religious factions.
Hence, religion and terrorism are indubitably linked; however, as commonly misunderstood it is not the only thing that drives people to do what they do.
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