The Concept of Martyrdom in The Religion of Islam and Suicide …€¦ · · 2017-11-07The...
Transcript of The Concept of Martyrdom in The Religion of Islam and Suicide …€¦ · · 2017-11-07The...
The Concept of Martyrdom
in The Religion of Islam and
Suicide Attacks
Atasay ÖZDEMİR, Ph.D. National Defense University
Air Force Academy
About Me…
• Completed B.A. in Industrial Engineering with success in 2000 and graduated as “2nd Lieutenant” from Turkish Air Force Academy. (AKA Millenium Falcons )
• Served as a military officer in personnel and intelligence branches under Turkish Air Force and Turkish General Staff.
• Received master’s degree on International Relations at Turkish War Colleges Strategic Researchs Institute (SAREN) in 2005.
• Continued academic studies between 2008 and 2013 and received doctorate’s degree on “National and International Security Strategies” at SAREN Strategy Department in 2013.
• Have some articles published in national journals. In addition, participated in national&international conferences and symposia as a speaker and delivered speeches, which are also published in activity books.
• Main areas of expertise are;
- Religiously motivated terrorism and radicalisation,
- Foreign Terrorist Fighters (FTFs),
- Disarmament,
- Nuclear Issues and Non Proliferation,
- Energy security and critical infrastructure protection.
• Have research interest in the geopolitical studies with the expertise on the Middle East and Western Asia regions (especially Iran). Also have some studies on Political History of the 20th Century.
• Served in NATO COE-DAT, as a Subject Matter Expert (SME) on Counterterrorism for 4 years (2013-2017).
• Continue to serve in the Turkish National Defence University as a Major and a Lecturer and giving lectures on International Relations, Political History, History of War, Military Operations Management, Strategy and Security Studies.
2
The Concept of Martyrdom in The Religion of Islam and Suicide Attacks
After 9/11 the most widely expressed term in the international academic community was “so called” Islamic Terrorism.
This term is firstly used by American and European scholars to describe terrorist attacks that were conducted in Israel and in countries supposed as Israel’s supporters.
3
These extremist organizations are;
Rooted in the Middle East region,
Claim affiliation with Islam,
Try to bring this religious aspect to the forefront.
4
The Concept of Martyrdom in The Religion of Islam and Suicide Attacks
5
The Concept of Martyrdom in The Religion of Islam and Suicide Attacks
The concept of jihad and martyrdom
in the religion of Islam
are playing a motivating role
on radical acts !
ARE THEY ?
6
The Concept of Martyrdom in The Religion of Islam and Suicide Attacks
When the religion of Islam with "peace" at its very essence,
is examined on the basis of objective sources,
it is clearly seen that;
there is no fact to trigger acts related to terrorism in any way.
7
The Concept of Martyrdom in The Religion of Islam and Suicide Attacks
The categorization of the "near-term" suicide attacks that took place from the last quarter of the 20th century;
Entering at any place designated as a target with a bomb-loaded vehicle (Vehicle Born Improvised Explosive Device-VBIED) and detonate the bomb,
Detonating the bomb in the targeted place by the one or ones who placed the bomb/bombs on him/her/them,
Using any vehicle “like a bomb” on a designated target by the one or ones riding that vehicle like we saw at 9/11.
s
8
The Concept of Martyrdom in The Religion of Islam and Suicide Attacks
“Do not say of those who are slain in the way of Allah that they are dead. Instead, they are alive, but you do not perceive.”
(154th verse of the Al-Baqara Sura)
9
The Concept of Martyrdom in The Religion of Islam and Suicide Attacks
“If you are killed in the way of Allah or die, the forgiveness from Allah and the mercy is far better than what they accumulate.”
(157th verse of the Al-E-Imran Sura)
10
The Concept of Martyrdom in The Religion of Islam and Suicide Attacks
“Never take those killed in the way of Allah as dead. Rather, they are alive with their Lord, well-provided.“
(169th verse of the Al-E-Imran Sura)
11
The Concept of Martyrdom in The Religion of Islam and Suicide Attacks
“Happy with what Allah has given them of His grace; and they feel pleased with the good news, about those left behind them who could not join them, that there shall be no fear for them nor shall they grieve.”
(170th verse of the Al-E-Imran Sura)
12
The Concept of Martyrdom in The Religion of Islam and Suicide Attacks
“They feel pleased with blessing from Allah, and grace, and with the fact that Allah would not let the reward of the believers be lost.”
(171th verse of the Al-E-Imran Sura)
13
The Concept of Martyrdom in The Religion of Islam and Suicide Attacks
“So, their Lord answered their prayer: “…So, those who emigrated, and were expelled from their homes, and were tortured in My way, and fought, and were killed, I shall certainly write off their evil deeds, and shall certainly admit them into gardens beneath which rivers flow, as a reward from Allah. It is Allah with Whom lies the beauty of the reward.”
(195th verse of the Al-E-Imran Sura)
14
The Concept of Martyrdom in The Religion of Islam and Suicide Attacks
“Those who obey Allah and the Messenger are with those whom Allah has blessed, namely, the prophets, the Siddiqin, the Shuhada’ and the righteous. And excellent are they as companions.”
(69th verse of the An-Nisa Sura)
15
The Concept of Martyrdom in The Religion of Islam and Suicide Attacks
“So, those who sell the worldly life for the Hereafter should fight in the way of Allah. Whoever fights in the way of Allah, then gets killed or prevails, We shall give a great reward to him.”
(74th verse of the An-Nisa Sura)
16
The Concept of Martyrdom in The Religion of Islam and Suicide Attacks
“Say, What you are expecting for us is nothing but one of the two good things (martyrdom or victory). And we are expecting for you that Allah sends to you a punishment from Himself or at our hands. So, wait. Of course, we are waiting with you.”
(52th verse of the Al-Tawba Sura)
17
The Concept of Martyrdom in The Religion of Islam and Suicide Attacks
“Those who left their homeland in the way of Allah, then were
slain or died, Allah will certainly give them a good provision, and
surely, Allah is the best provider.”
(58th verse of the Al-Hajj Sura)
18
The Concept of Martyrdom in The Religion of Islam and Suicide Attacks
“…And those who are killed in the way of Allah, He will never let their deeds go to waste.”
(4th verse of Muhammad Sura)
19
The Concept of Martyrdom in The Religion of Islam and Suicide Attacks
In the Qur’an, Muslim's death for faith in the way of Allah is shown as “the supreme form of the testimony to Allah” and these people are specified as “martyrs”.
The Islamic Confession of Faith;
“I bear witness that there is no God to be worshipped except Allah and I bear witness that Prophet Muhammad is his final Messenger”.
20
The Concept of Martyrdom in The Religion of Islam and Suicide Attacks
Hadith; collection of traditions containing sayings of the Prophet Muhammad which, with accounts of his daily practice, constitute the major source of guidance for Muslims apart from the Qur’an.
The science of Hadith is the discipline that studies the hadiths.
There are books that called “Kütüb-i Sitte” in Islamic religion and these books are the basic books on hadiths.
These books are written by Imam Bukhari, İmam Müslim, Ebu Davud, İmam Tirmizi, İmam Nesai and İbn Mace.
Among these İmam Bukhari and İmam Müslim are called “sahihayn”. This means that the hadiths they transmit are for real without any doubt.
21
The Concept of Martyrdom in The Religion of Islam and Suicide Attacks
“Within the ones who died and have reached a good rank in the sight of Allah the martyrs are the only ones that don’t want to return to world alive again even if they have given all the things they want. Martyr knows that being a martyr is the highest rank in the sight of Allah and for this reason martyr only wants to return to world alive to be a martyr again.”
22
The Concept of Martyrdom in The Religion of Islam and Suicide Attacks
By suggesting that the martyrdom is the highest spiritual value and
highly promoted, the Muslims are encouraged to fight in a bolder
manner.
According to the belief of martyrdom, it is believed that those who
die in the way of Allah will begin a new kind of life with all kinds of
blessings in heaven.
23
The Concept of Martyrdom in The Religion of Islam and Suicide Attacks
In Islam it is stated that the punishment and the reward of all the
actions taken in this world will be given in an eternal life in the
“other” world.
The people who deserve the best are those who sacrificed
themselves in the way of Allah and for the sake of Islam and
became martyrs.
The meaning of “sacrifice” here does not have any relation with
killing themselves while conducting a terrorist attack like suicide
attackers do according to their sick beliefs that they do this for the
sake of their religion.
24
The Concept of Martyrdom in The Religion of Islam and Suicide Attacks
Those who believe that they conduct suicide attacks for the sake of
their religion and faith are indeed the ones who were convinced
and fooled by the interest groups, which have the biggest vested
interests and gains from such attacks.
Such intimidating terrorist acts are murders and crimes against
humanity, and they do not comply with the appreciated values of
neither Islam nor the humanity.
25
The Concept of Martyrdom in The Religion of Islam and Suicide Attacks
“…whoever kills a person not in retaliation for a person killed, nor (as a punishment) for spreading disorder on the earth, is as if he has killed the whole of humankind, and whoever saves the life of a person is as if he has saved the life of the whole of humankind…” (32th verse of the Al-Maeda Sura)
26
The Concept of Martyrdom in The Religion of Islam and Suicide Attacks
“O you who believe! … do not kill yourselves (nor kill one another).
Surely, Allah is the most merciful to you.”
(58th verse of the Al-Hajj Sura)
27
The Concept of Martyrdom in The Religion of Islam and Suicide Attacks
“Whoever purposely throws himself from a mountain and kills
himself, will be in hellfire falling down into it and abiding therein
perpetually forever.
Whoever drinks poison and kills himself with it, will be carrying his
poison in his hand and drinking it in the hellfire wherein he will
abide eternally forever.
Whoever kills himself with an iron weapon, will be carrying that
weapon in his hand and stabbing his abdomen with it in the hellfire
wherein he will abide eternally forever.”
28
The Concept of Martyrdom in The Religion of Islam and Suicide Attacks
According to Lewis,
While the first interpreters of Islamic Law were discussing the laws of war they made a clear distinction between a soldier facing inevitable death as a result of the acts of the enemy and the one killing himself.
However, in the following years some interpreters by blurring this distinction put forward the idea that the suicide acts committed for the sake of a cause seen as holy by religion, make these acts religiously permissible.
By this way, they a kind of justified their attacks and claimed that people committing such attacks will go to heaven and benefit all the good things there.
29
The Concept of Martyrdom in The Religion of Islam and Suicide Attacks
According to Esposito,
Due to the chaotic environment from the 18th century onwards within the regions where Muslims live, a new understanding of martyrdom has been invented by some sections.
Especially by the end of the 20th century, martyrdom has been used as a common word to refer to those killed and died while defending territories and faith according to their ‘just’ causes in countries like Azerbaijan, Bosnia, Chechnya, Kashmir and South Philippines as well as Palestine, Iran, Egypt, and Lebanon.
30
The Concept of Martyrdom in The Religion of Islam and Suicide Attacks
Justifying acts committed by deceived people with a belief of doing
such attacks in the name of religion, in addition to defining such
attacks in the context of jihad and naming these people as martyrs
is the biggest mistake that can be done.
Such misinterpretations made by some specific groups in
accordance with their vested interests, gave way to the assessment
that these are the values that lie in Islam and those who wanted to
bring an initiative for the motivations of terrorist attacks over the
concept of jihad and martyrdom exploited this.
31
The Concept of Martyrdom in The Religion of Islam and Suicide Attacks
The Qur’an and the hadiths of the Prophet Muhammad explicitly
stresses that there is nothing like this in the religion of Islam and
these initiatives are the results of such biased and incorrect
interpretations.
32
The Concept of Martyrdom in The Religion of Islam and Suicide Attacks
The first reported suicide attack in the Middle East was the Vehicle
Born Improvised Explosive Device (VBIED) attack committed at the
Embassy of Iraq in Beirut by the Iraqi-originated group called
El-Dava on the 15th December 1981.
61 people were killed, including the Iraqi Ambassador to Lebanon,
while 110 were injured in this attack.
33
The Concept of Martyrdom in The Religion of Islam and Suicide Attacks
This attack was followed by
another VBIED attack at the US
Embassy in Beirut on the 18th
April 1983 by the Lebanese-
originated group, Hezbollah.
It resulted a death toll of 63 (32 Lebanese workers, 17 Americans,
and 14 other individuals) and around 120 found injured.
34
The Concept of Martyrdom in The Religion of Islam and Suicide Attacks
The Karbala Event is revived annually as a ritual within the Shi’ite
communities by visiting the graves of the martyrs, praying and
mourning and even torturing their own.
35
The Concept of Martyrdom in The Religion of Islam and Suicide Attacks
On 25th February 1994, a man named Baruh Goldstein (a member
of the far-right Israeli Kach movement) attacked the Mosque of
Prophet Ibrahim in Hebron on a Friday during a praying and
opened fire on Muslims.
Leaving 29 killed, the attack was named as Hebron Massacre or
Ibrahimi Mosque Massacre.
36
The Concept of Martyrdom in The Religion of Islam and Suicide Attacks
In 1980s, the suicide attacks conducted in the Middle East
(especially in Lebanon by Hezbollah) or similar groups targeted
generally foreign facilities and diplomatic corps as well as foreign
military personnel and facilities.
On the contrary, from 1990s onwards similar attacks perpetrated
by groups claiming themselves as belonging to Sunni sect, showed
that they did not differentiate their targets and even they tend to
move towards civilian targets which could cause more tremendous
impact.
37
The Concept of Martyrdom in The Religion of Islam and Suicide Attacks
According to Lewis;
The religious scholars discussed this issue several times.
Even so, not any positive progress could be reached out of these
discussions nor such attacks be halted completely.
The reason why the religious scholars discuss on the very issue is
the difference between their interpretations.
As a matter of fact, these differences in interpretations are
related to the level of responsibility of both military personnel and
unofficial civilian people harmed at the attacks.
38
The Concept of Martyrdom in The Religion of Islam and Suicide Attacks
Bin Laden’s “letter to America”
…
(3) You may then dispute that all the above does not justify aggression against
civilians, for crimes they did not commit and offenses in which they did not partake:
(a) This argument contradicts your continuous repetition that America is the land of
freedom, and its leaders in this world. Therefore, the American people are the ones
who choose their government by way of their own free will; a choice which stems
from their agreement to its policies. Thus the American people have chosen,
consented to, and affirmed their support for the Israeli oppression of the
Palestinians, the occupation and usurpation of their land, and its continuous killing,
torture, punishment and expulsion of the Palestinians. The American people have
the ability and choice to refuse the policies of their Government and even to change
it if they want.
39
The Concept of Martyrdom in The Religion of Islam and Suicide Attacks
Bin Laden’s “letter to America”
(b) The American people are the ones who pay the taxes which fund the planes
that bomb us in Afghanistan, the tanks that strike and destroy our homes in
Palestine, the armies which occupy our lands in the Arabian Gulf, and the fleets
which ensure the blockade of Iraq. These tax dollars are given to Israel for it to
continue to attack us and penetrate our lands. So the American people are the
ones who fund the attacks against us, and they are the ones who oversee the
expenditure of these monies in the way they wish, through their elected
candidates.
(c) Also the American army is part of the American people. It is this very same
people who are shamelessly helping the Jews fight against us.
40
The Concept of Martyrdom in The Religion of Islam and Suicide Attacks
Bin Laden’s “letter to America”
(d) The American people are the ones who employ both their men
and their women in the American Forces which attack us.
(e) This is why the American people cannot be not innocent of all
the crimes committed by the Americans and Jews against us…
Full text: bin Laden's 'letter to America', The Guardian Official Webpage, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/nov/24/theobserver, Date of Access: 04.10.2017.
41
The Concept of Martyrdom in The Religion of Islam and Suicide Attacks
The perpetrators are convinced by either Shi’ite or Sunni originated
radical organizations that they will go directly to Heaven due to the
evidence that shows their sincerity by giving up their own lives as
well as defending values seen as important by religion such as
homeland, fraternity, and liberty.
Moreover, they are told that after their death, their families will be
protected and their expenses will be covered by the concerned
organization.
42
The Concept of Martyrdom in The Religion of Islam and Suicide Attacks
Furthermore, as a starting point of the understanding that martyrs
never die these perpetrators believe that they will not actually die.
Besides, as a result of the public announcements of the previous
perpetrators as heroes and dreadful impacts of the successful
attacks created the idea of how to realize the most destroying
effects within the bounds of possibility.
Then, the answer appeared: suicide attacks.
43
The Concept of Martyrdom in The Religion of Islam and Suicide Attacks
Along with this, statements like the revenge of their total
casualties are taken with a vengeance both affect the potential
perpetrators excessively and lead them to take part in these
attacks.
What is more, instead of living as a loser in poverty on territories
under siege, the idea of getting rid of this situation immediately
and starting life in Heaven where they find eternal joy and
happiness, all their wishes coming true seems very appealing.
44
The Concept of Martyrdom in The Religion of Islam and Suicide Attacks
CONCLUSION
Either in the state of war or in the state of peace, killing innocents
and non-combatants are strictly forbidden in Islam.
Those seen as non-combatants even during the wartime are
women, children, elder people, farmers working on their fields,
religious men practicing their religions in either churches or
synagogues, and people who did not involve in war.
45
The Concept of Martyrdom in The Religion of Islam and Suicide Attacks
CONCLUSION
“Go to war with the name of Allah. Fight against the enemies of
Allah and your enemies in Damascus. Among them you will find
some estranged from other people at the abbey, do not touch
them. Never kill a woman, a child or an elder. Not even cut a tree.”
(Prophet Muhammad’s Adress to the Islamic Army for the Quest on Damascus)
THANK YOU
FOR YOUR ATTENTION
AND
PATIENCE