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

[email protected]

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.

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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.

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These extremist organizations are;

Rooted in the Middle East region,

Claim affiliation with Islam,

Try to bring this religious aspect to the forefront.

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5


The concept of jihad and martyrdom

in the religion of Islam

are playing a motivating role

on radical acts !

ARE THEY ?

6


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.

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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

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“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)

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“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)

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“Never take those killed in the way of Allah as dead. Rather, they are alive with their Lord, well-provided.“


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“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.”


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“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.”


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“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.”


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“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)

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“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)

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“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)

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“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)

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“…And those who are killed in the way of Allah, He will never let their deeds go to waste.”

(4th verse of Muhammad Sura)

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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”.

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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.

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“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.”

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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.

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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.

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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.

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“…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)

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“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)

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“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.”

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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(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.

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(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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

the concept of martyrdom in the religion of islam and suicide …€¦ · · 2017-11-07the...

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