Terrorists or martyrs?
Does Islam promote violence
with its teachings of jihad and
martyrdom? Many Muslims in Britain say that Islam is a peaceful religion.
They are horrified by how suicide bombings and terrorist acts carried
out in the name of Islam dominate the news. Nevertheless, jihad and martyrdom
do exist in the Qur’an.
So how can this be reconciled with the claim that Islam promotes peace?
Ruqaiyyah Waris Maqsood, author of Teach Yourself Islam, says that jihad means ‘a struggle or an effort that is exerted in order to attain some end or result’. This could be a personal struggle such as studying for exams or getting rid of a bad habit, campaigning for women’s equality or against drugs, poverty, greed and selfishness which are against the teaching of the Qur’an. This internal struggle is sometimes referred to as the ‘greater jihad’ – a lifelong duty for all Muslims.
Another interpretation is that jihad is a legitimate armed struggle in defence of Islam and Muslims. This is sometimes known as the lesser jihad. Radical Islamists translate this as their duty to eradicate evils in the world even if this means using violence. If they are in a state of siege, such as in Palestine, where they believe Islam is threatened, they argue that they must go to any extreme to defend it, including killing themselves in order to kill their enemies.
Is this suicide, which is against the teachings of the Qur’an, or martyrdom in defence of Islam, which is rewarded in paradise? The young people who blow themselves up in order to kill Israelis do not consider this to be suicide but a noble act of war.
Sheik Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah al Sheik, the supreme religious leader of Saudi Arabia, issued a fatwa in 2001 that equated suicide bombings with suicide, which therefore is not allowed in Islam.
In response, Mohammed Sayed Tantawi, a leading Sunni authority, wrote: ‘If a person blows himself up, as in operations that Palestinian youths carry out against those they are fighting, then he is a martyr. But if he explodes himself among babies or women or old people who are not fighting the war, then he is not considered a martyr.’
Most Muslims argue that Islam forbids harming innocent bystanders, even in times of war, and that for people to die in this way is not a defence of Islam but a political gesture born out of desperation and hopelessness.