The background of suicide bombers who claim to act in the name of Islam

Following the World War II, the the psyche and minds of the people living in Islamic countries in the the Middle East were affected by the post war era and introduction of Communism. This new outlook, which was in no way compatible with the tenets of Islam, was stealthily changing the mindset of people on these lands that were once shaped with the beautiful values of the Qur'an for centuries. This also had its impact on the nascent political structures gradually forming in the region.

Given this history, the dreadful state of Syria in our modern day cannot be attributed to Islam. It is surely a legacy of the communist ideology that was planted in those lands whose borders were artificially created following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. In the absence of a ruling system predicated on Islamic tenets like that of the Ottoman Empire, the countries that emerged became vulnerable to ideologies that were either Western or Eastern, (Communist Soviet Union and China), and did not value or give importance to the ideas of love, brotherhood, and compassion, or simply humane ideas.

Syria is just one example. When Hafez Assad came to power with the Ba’ath Party in the 1960s, the state started to exert violence over its own people. This type of harsh and cold rule by the Ba’ath party became widely known in the world as the news of the horrible Hama massacre dominated the international headlines of the press.  

Syria was not the only country in the Middle East that was subjected to the inhuman practices of the Ba’ath Party. The Party also became influential in Egypt and Iraq. Meanwhile other Arab countries including Iran silently came under the sway of communist China. Another part of the Middle East whose roots were detached from Islam and surrendered itself to communism was Palestine. The al-Fatah movement that had grown in this country was not hiding the ideology by which it was acting upon.

The conflicts and bloodshed that raged throughout the Middle East were a result of communism coupled with Arab nationalism that steadily intensified. Withn the regimes that identified with communism and socialism, it is then not surprising that such violent developments would take place, it is actually a part of the normal course of events.

These countries - as systems and individuals – having gone through a transformation to communism and socialism, and departed Islam still kept their names as “Islamic Republics”, and were thus always identified with Islam. This being the case, all the crimes, murders, mass killings perpetrated by these regimes and individuals were always incorrectly attributed to Islam and Muslims.

A suicide bomber is a typical example. A suicide attack happening in any corner of the world today is being identified incorrectly with Islam and it is perceived by the West, especially those who are unfamiliar with the tenets of Islam, as a practice encouraged by the religion of Islam.

Islam, however, is a religion that gives the utmost value to human life. It is a religion based upon humanity, love, compassion, brotherhood, tolerance, justice, and peace.  It treats the “human being” as a very precious being. Communism, on the other hand, is a savage system that in no way appreciates an individual as a human being. It is founded on the tenets of Darwinism and the theory of evolution, which incorrectly expounds social darwinism, namely that the strong are eligible to survive while the weak are doomed to perish. Thus one should not be surprised by the actions of communists, since it is a system based on a cruel set of ideas. Therefore communist regimes do not hesitate to kill people, even if they are of their own nation, race or ethnicity.  Indeed, killing people is such an indispensable and inherent part of this system that, committing suicide or taking part in suicide bombings, becomes acceptable, while it is openly an outrageous act condemned by God in the Qur'an.

According to Islam, suicide is an unlawful act no different from killing another person. In other words, committing suicide equates to murder. It is God Who gives life to a person and it is only He Who can take back that life. A person does not have the right to kill himself thinking that it is his own life and thus he can decide when to put an end to that life. Therefore a person who is ready to kill innocent children, women, that is anyone, together with himself, openly acts against the provisions of the Qur'an and thus can by no means be a Muslim. Such a person’s mind and soul is totally divorced from Islam and thus Islam cannot be held accountable for such crimes.

As we have seen, individuals, communities and systems in the Middle East of today have gone through a grand transformation. The norms that shaped the behavior of the citizents of the Middle Eastern countries aare no longer purely based on Islam. Communism, socialism and other ideologies that are completely against Islam have entered the equation and have been influencing them for a quite long time.  Since this is the root cause of radical and extremist mindsets, one has to reflect and think deeply about the underlying motivations for the behavior of radicals and extremists in order to make a correct judgment, otherwise we would attribute a false label on an entire religion.