Is Islam the root cause of Terrorism?
September 13th 2007 04:14
In May 30, 1972, an attack on an Israeli airport killed 24 people and injured 80. Two of the three attackers then killed themselves with grenades, said to have inspired future suicide attacks in the region.
It was the first known case of its kind in Israel and it was committed by Japanese communists.
Neither Arab nor Muslim.
The point?
Anyone who tells you that terrorism is intrinsically linked to Islam is either
a) Pulling your leg
b) A fool
c) Brainwashed
I don't need to go into a history of documented terrorism but it's common knowledge that it exists outside of Islam and outside the parameters of recent attacks. It has a long and bloody history, with some of the most horrific examples being from Western countries.
An attack in September, nearly 6 years ago, suddenly changes the nature of a religion that casts its shadow back since 600 AD.
Nowhere in the Qur'an does it condone, provoke or justify terrorism (or violence for that matter)
Provocation is an interesting word.
If you provoke someone into doing something, are you ultimately part of the problem? Are you partially to blame?
What about if you provoke them by doing something equal to, or worse in response? (an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind, said our good friend Gandhi)
In the case of every day suicide bombings, an Israeli man who lost his 8 year old daughter in a suicide bombing attack on a bus in Tel Aviv, says that if people don't stop to ask why these attacks are occuring, instead putting it down to religious beliefs and ignoring the greater social context and the greater social situation that forces people to commit such desperate acts, then yes they are partially to blame.
If this man who has suffered a tragic loss, who lives in the war zone and who sees first hand the unthinkable atrocities that provoke such attacks, can still come out with such a powerful statement, than I don't understand why people continue to equate Islam with terrorism.
As if one religion could be the reason for the world's problems today.
It's not even about the blame game anymore. It's about looking to find a solution. A real solution, not a quick fix that sees random, isolated countries with no connection to anything other than their wealthy oil deposits being invaded mercilessly.
This merely adds to the death count and to the animosity which breeds like wildfire and spreads to the wrong people with the wrong ideas, equipped with the power to convert that anger into fear and terror.
This is not about religion at all.
The sooner people realise this, the better.
It was the first known case of its kind in Israel and it was committed by Japanese communists.
The point?
Anyone who tells you that terrorism is intrinsically linked to Islam is either
a) Pulling your leg
b) A fool
c) Brainwashed
I don't need to go into a history of documented terrorism but it's common knowledge that it exists outside of Islam and outside the parameters of recent attacks. It has a long and bloody history, with some of the most horrific examples being from Western countries.
An attack in September, nearly 6 years ago, suddenly changes the nature of a religion that casts its shadow back since 600 AD.
Nowhere in the Qur'an does it condone, provoke or justify terrorism (or violence for that matter)
Provocation is an interesting word.
If you provoke someone into doing something, are you ultimately part of the problem? Are you partially to blame?
What about if you provoke them by doing something equal to, or worse in response? (an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind, said our good friend Gandhi)
In the case of every day suicide bombings, an Israeli man who lost his 8 year old daughter in a suicide bombing attack on a bus in Tel Aviv, says that if people don't stop to ask why these attacks are occuring, instead putting it down to religious beliefs and ignoring the greater social context and the greater social situation that forces people to commit such desperate acts, then yes they are partially to blame.
If this man who has suffered a tragic loss, who lives in the war zone and who sees first hand the unthinkable atrocities that provoke such attacks, can still come out with such a powerful statement, than I don't understand why people continue to equate Islam with terrorism.
As if one religion could be the reason for the world's problems today.
It's not even about the blame game anymore. It's about looking to find a solution. A real solution, not a quick fix that sees random, isolated countries with no connection to anything other than their wealthy oil deposits being invaded mercilessly.
This merely adds to the death count and to the animosity which breeds like wildfire and spreads to the wrong people with the wrong ideas, equipped with the power to convert that anger into fear and terror.
This is not about religion at all.
The sooner people realise this, the better.
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Comment by Damo
For the Sake of Argument
My Apologetics
This post is correct in many ways and I am glad that you wrote it.
My wife come from from Sri Lanka and we still have ongoing connections to that nation.
It is the home of the modern suicide bomber. More suicide bomber have come from the LTTE (Tamil Tigers) than the rest of the world combined. These are not even remotely Muslim. So definitively the case for linking suicide bombers with Islam is blow out of the water. (Pardon the pun)
People keep forgetting that Terrorism is not an ideology but a tactic.
Just if I may add one extra point to your reason why people try to link Islam and Terrorism together:
Blind Prejudice.
Damo
Comment by Sheree
Cliche Murder
Exactly. There are so many terrorists groups who don't even make the news half the time. Then there are the Christian terrorists in Lebanon who are hailed by many as heroes. It's ridiculous, but it's even more ridiculous that people are so blissfully unaware of the history and the politics that has led us to where we are now.
Hence why it's frustrating when the usual racists are just sprouting their usual hatred and using this as an excuse to justify it.
The last thing we need is to fuel that particular fire.
Comment by Damo
For the Sake of Argument
My Apologetics
Having seen the way politician, their cronies and even the small armchair generals have ruined my wifes country I can say that people often have vested interests in promoting racism and bigotry.
The bottom end of the line are the grunts who spew the bile that they are feed from above. Never once do they even ask why they are been fed hate and bille that can only end in violence. They just act like the loyal soldiers for a cause and wrapping them selves in the cloak of the martyr if anything goes wrong.
The politicians are much easier to understand they just want money or power. Getting loyal grunts to spew their bile is the ultimate success. There is nothing like having a minority to hate and occupy everyones mind.
Comment by Nina
TV Babble
And therein lies the problem - anyone willing to sacrifice the lives of innocent people is not reasonable by any stretch of the imagination.
Comment by Norm
Consumption Malfunction
Equal and Opposite
Arses and Elbows
Footy Power
The Yellow Peril Red under your bed.
I'd say the solution is dialogue.
But I hardly believe in it.
It doesn't exist, I don't think.
There is only monologue, I think.
Maybe the sides could exchange monologues.
Norm
Comment by Sheree
Cliche Murder
Yes you raise a valid point. Although we have come to associate religion with terrorism today, it hasn't always been the case. Rarely are the IRA taken up on the basis of their catholicism nor is it implied that the entire Catholic population (all 1.2 billion of them) are potential terrorists.
In the case of Islam, it appears as though people (perhaps those on the less intelligent specturm) have no problem vilifying all one billion of them about an issue they honestly know nothing about.
I agree that anyone willing to sacrifice the lives of innocent people are evil but clearly the people willing to die for a cause they believe to be more important than life and death itself are victims also.
Religion can only go so far in all of this. In the end there are greater factors at work, factors primarily concerned with the political oppression so rife in the region.
Comment by Sheree
Cliche Murder
I'm afraid dialogue would be impossible given that Bush and his Cronies don't speak the language of terrorists.
That language is Bushism.
Which is why they have so much trouble writing speeches and pronouncing 'APEC' as 'OPEC'.
etc.