Suicide Bombers And Martyrdom

By

Adebisi I. Obafemi

Obafemius@yahoo.com

 

As expected in the intelligence circle but denied by the Blair government, home grown terrorists finally detonated their explosive on British soil in a fashion reminiscent of the Japanese Kamikaze pilot during the second world war.  Unfortunately many innocent lives were lost including Nigerians using the British public transportation system.    Four Muslim boys from Leeds travelled to London with backpacks full of explosives and blew themselves up as passengers in the famous London double-decker bus and underground rail systems at four different locations.  

 

A number of reasons have been suggested to explain why seemly innocent young boys and sometimes girls will deliberately blow themselves up with explosive strapped to their body or in a backpack?   One of the leading excuses popular among people who follow the Islamic faith is that suicide bomber as they are popularly called are Mujaheedins and Martyrs defending the cause of Islam against the aggression of the Crusaders and Zionist.   It is not uncommon for Muslims who opposed this culture of death by suicide bombing to support the motive behind the killings.  Sympathy for Osama Bin Laden is not in short supply in the Middle East.   Young would be suicide bombers and Jihadist are taught to believe that dying as a Martyr is the fastest route to getting to heaven and having the luxury of tens of virgins girls at their disposal in heaven for sexual pleasure.

 

This act of terrorism has prompted many European countries to renew the call for deportation and expulsion of preachers of hate and doom.  France, a country with the largest population of Muslim in Europe is in the forefront of persuading other European countries to adopt a though policy against terrorism including deportation of known clerics hiding under the teachings of Islam to propagate their own agenda.  Britain has been very slow in this regard but the recent London suicide bombing has brought the discussion to the forefront.  Young intelligent and impressionable Muslim minds are brainwashed into believing they will become martyrs if they become suicide bombers

 

Martyrdom is one of the frequently misused words in circulation today, particularly among religious fundamentalist and extremist.  The word is now more relevant than at other times because of the changing times in which we live.  Terrorists in religious garb are on covert patrol killing and maiming innocent people under the guise of martyrdom.   According to the Cambridge English dictionary a martyr is “somebody who suffers greatly or is killed because of their political or religious beliefs and is often admired because of it”.  

 

While dying for your passion or religion if necessary may be a desirable thing, a martyr is not someone who deliberately commits suicide as in the case of the London bombing and certainly a martyr will not kill innocent people.  It is sickening to hear on television religious scholars and teachers trying albeit unintelligently to explain the rationale behind the abundant supply of would be suicide bombers.  Most of the excuses are linked to America’s perceived support of Israel against the Palestinian, the ongoing war in Iraq and the willingness of a Muslim to die as a martyr.   There are instances of would be very young Palestinian suicide bombers caught in Israel before they were able to detonate their explosives.   These young lads have provided insight into how they were recruited by political thugs using perverse religious teachings (such as martyrdom) and money to seduce them into becoming a killer.

 

It is not always a case of disgruntled, young, uneducated, unemployed and unloved that are involved in suicide bombings but young men and women who were born with silver spoon in their mouth have been known to volunteer as suicide bomber under the influence of intense wrong Islamic teachings.  The role of unsupervised neighbourhood Koranic schools popularly known, as Madrassas in many countries grooming young mind and filling them with hate has to be scrutinised.   There has been instances in Nigeria and Pakistan where in a twinkle of an eye students from local Madrassas (Koranic school) have been mobilised to fight for Allah when the Koranic teachers felt there was a threat from a neighbourhood organisation.

 

 

There is no doubt that the image of Islam has been adversely affected at least in the eyes of Westerners.   I am aware of efforts by Muslims all over the world who are genuinely opposed to suicide bombing and wrong definition of Martyrdom to educate us on what Islam really means.  Their efforts however are been hampered by the silence of Islamic leaders in the Middle East.  It is so easy for an Islamic leader to issue a fatuah (a command to kill) against a perceived enemy of Islam and there will be thousands of faithfuls willing to carry out the order.   They are not afraid of been caught by the arm of the law because they hope to die as martyrs. 

 

Salman Rushdie is still in hiding today because of the fatuah issued by Grand Ayatollah Khomeine following the release of his book the Satanic Verse.  I recalled that the deputy governor of Niger State in Nigeria once issued a fatuah against a female journalist who wrote about Prophet Mohamed. She is also in hiding somewhere in Europe.  It is this type of utterances that fuel the negative perception on Islam and encourages charlatans to hide under the aegis of Islam and propagate hate and suicide bombing.   Suicide bombers need to be told the truth.   They are not martyrs but murderers.  No sexual pleasure from a virgin is waiting for a suicide bomber in heaven but a fearful unpleasurable judgement of Allah.

 

Adebisi I. Obafemi

Obafemius@yahoo.com