Islamic Misinterpretations and Suicide Attacks

This action is one that could only come about in war. Due to the war people are more willing to act out of character and in some situations even forced to. This is best represented when Thucydides writes “Ill-considered boldness was counted as loyal manliness; prudent hesitation was held to be cowardice in disguise, and moderation merely the cloak of an unmanly nature” (3.82). The soldiers who are committing these atrocities are simply followers of a democratic regime. The leaders of this regime are in fact giving them the command to slaughter innocent people simply because they stand for an opposing cause. No leaders of good virtue, would command their followers to commit such acts, in modern society acts such as this would be considered war crimes.

what they do and to whom. Pape is trying to convey that "suicide terrorism is rising around the

Over the past decades suicide terrorism has confirmed its effective tactic and it is seem to be developing and growing movement. Terrorism is designed to cause panic within people, communities and countries but also to gain the publicity through media. Suicide terrorism, more than other forms of terrorist activities is presenting determination and dedication both of dying by individual terrorist as well as the desire to kill innocent people. Suicide terrorism is an attractive tool for terrorist activities with guarantee media publicity with the international dimension. The aim of the attacks is to draw attention of governments, international organisations and

In the case of military ethics, Killing is justifiable. “From a faithful perspective, while islam accepts war as a fact of life in this world, an armed conflict is also likely to result in human casualties” (Sekar). Therefore, war will have an outcome of death, but not exactly wanting death. “During war our moral duties do not disappear: Actions deliberately contrary

Islam extremists believe in "jihad" which is interpreted by traditional clerics and Muslim scholars, the word speaks of spiritual struggle against sin. This can include fighting an attacker, but when it does, it has specific rules that bar indiscriminate killing. The word can also refer to the believer's internal striving for self-improvement. But within the dictionary of Islamic extremists, it has connoted acts of exceptional violence against governments that are deemed as non-Muslim or inadequately Islamic. This has led to include the launching of deliberate attacks against innocent civilians, essentially, terrorism. From the perspective of totalitarian ideologues, societies that reject the call for total revolutionary transformation are

Extremist Muslims interpret jihad as war and believe they are obligated to install sharia, a form

Suicide terrorism is one of those acts of violence that is almost impossible to defend against. In his article, Atran (2003) explains suicide terrorism as “the targeted use of self-destructing humans against noncombatant-typically civilian-populations to effect political change” (pg. 1534). One of the most remembered dates is American history is September 11, 2001. This was a day in which suicide terrorism took the lives of nearly 3,000 Americans (History.com, 2010). This suicide attack is where 19 Al-Qaeda followers hi-jacked four airplanes and used them to crash them into the World Trade Center in New York and into the Pentagon in Washington D.C. This triggered the then President, George W. Bush to declare war to “destroy Osama bin Laden’s terrorist network based there” (History.com, 2010). Osama bin Laden was Al-Qaeda leader that claimed responsibility of the suicide attack on the United States. This type of use of suicide terrorism was not only used to kill many innocent people, but to be televised and reported on to put fear into the

After reading both Prothero and Smith’s views on the concept of Jihad, I do not believe Jihad is really about violence. I think that the concept of Jihad is quite vague and therefore it is easy for people to apply to extremist actions, like Smith stated, “Jihad literally means exertion, though because war requires exertion in exceptional degree the word is often, by extension, attached thereto” (257). It is not that the word is directly related with violence, but touches on topics that can easily be applied to violence, then along the way, people take out that interpretation and just apply it to violence all together. Prothero writes, “So while it is incorrect to translate jihad as ‘holy war,’ the plain sense of this struggle in both Quran

One can scarcely turn on the television, or the radio, or open up a web browser without the mention of Islamic terrorism or unrest around the world. Though the United States and the rest of the world may not be engaged in a protracted religious war, for radical Muslim fundamentalist they are. Bernard Lewis brings to light possible reasons for the issues facing the world dealing with Islamic terrorism. The Crisis of Islam: Holy War and Unholy Terror explains these issues in historical context as well as how some of the actions professed in the name of Islam and claim to

Jihad – a dispute or war between followers of Islam faith and those who do not follow the Islam faith; a struggle within a Muslim between good and evil (Dictionary)

Sharia is the Law of Islam. The law is cast from the words of the founder of the Muslim religion, known as Muhammad, who authored the Quran, the book in which the laws are written. Some scholars do not, however, identify Sharia as a law, but regard is as a code of conduct that defines how Muslims are supposed to live based on the opinions of the Muslim community. They regard the rules as informal guidelines that do not stand a chance to be called laws. The ISIS is a self-proclaimed Islamic state of a terrorist group that is using public brutality and indoctrination to ensure that the communities around it become under its control. The United Nations Security Council, under its resolution 2170 has described the group as extremely violent toward civilians and

The companion Abu Bakhr once state that, “Jihad is obligatory for the Muslims.” However, the meaning of the term Jihad has been interpreted differently in modern day in the Western societies compared to how Muslim Scholars and Muslim societies in general view it. Furthermore, in this paper, I am going to analyze what Western societies think about Jihad, how Muslim Scholars interpret what Jihad really is, and eventually why I think that there is a difference between how both sides, Western societies on one side and Muslim Scholars and Muslim societies in general, view Jihad.

In a religious sense, as described by the Quran and teachings of the Prophet Muhammad SAW, jihad has many meanings. It can refer to internal as well as external efforts to be a

However, Jihad’s age old association with violence was nearly unavoidable. Struggle can rather easily be translated into a call to conduct an external Jihad for the Islamic faith. For example, a verse in the Qu’ran states, “go forth, light armed and heavy armed, and strive with your wealth and your lives in the way of Allah” (Church 111). This verse clearly pairs Jihad (“strive”) with external violence (“go forth, light armed and heavy armed”) (Church 111). Indeed, violent Jihad was an obvious necessity because the Muslim community had always been a religious and political faction. Many lost their lives to spread and defend the newfound faith in Arabia and eventually to locations far beyond. Jihad’s association with violence and religious duty made it an ideal expression for Muslims to justify “lesser Jihad,” or the notion of external conflict, centered on the idea of spreading the faith (Church 112).

In light of recent events in the global community, one word that is used frequently but rarely truly understood is the Islamic word Jihad. Jihad has become a very volatile word, so it is necessary that those who use it should understand exactly what it means, what it entails, and what significance it has in current global events.