ISLAMIC PSYCHOTHERAPY ONLINE

(Revised Edition)

Volume 7, July 2009

St. Louis, Missouri

Editor: Hajji Mohamed Ziauddin

IN THE NAME OF ALLAH, THE MOST BENEFICENT AND THE MOST MERCIFUL

Focus of the Week: ANALYSIS OF THE SUICIDE BOMBER – Part III

In Part I of this E-Zine's focus, we highlighted verses from the Holy Quran to support our perspective that SUICIDE BOMBING is wrong. In Part II of this E-Zine ,we highlighted teachings of Prophet Mohamed (SAW) that supported above perspective. In this issue of Part III, we are highlighting the same from a Social perspective, which includes ideas from Islamic thinkers.

Islam is a beautiful religion advocating universal brotherhood, peace and love among mankind. In the past two issues, the virtues of peace, patience and perseverance were highlighted. Muslims in some parts of the globe perceived themselves victimized as a national group who were going through severe injustice and oppression. They became increasingly desperate, felt helpless & knew fully well that they were no match to fight face to face against their enemies who were loaded with very effective hi-tech weapons.

Ummah – especially the Religious Leaders and Intellectuals were unable to offer such a desperate, vulnerable and helpless group of Muslims, ALTERNATIVE PEACEFUL WAYS TO DEAL WITH SUCH INJUSTICE.

There was absolutely no co-ordination between the Imams, Psychotherapists and other professionals from Behavioral Medicine, Communication experts and the Govt to work on a concrete plan to come up with ALTERNATIVE PEACEFUL MEANS OF RESPONDING TO INJUSTICE.

A vacuum in above made it easier for a minority of misguided religious leaders to win the following of a very small but dangerous group of Muslims and mislead such a vulnerable and desperate group to resort to the worst possible violence currently seen on the face of the earth by essentially blowing themselves and others around them into pieces of flesh and bones. They not only focused on the enemies but on their own members of Ummah as well, with total disregard to the loss of innocent lives including women and children. It is an issue not only of loss of lives, but also being responsible for making many innocents who survived such violence by becoming permanently disabled with loss of vision, limbs et.c.

Such Muslims unfortunately were misguided and deviated away from the mainstream religion of peace – Islam by resorting to violence, bloodshed and mayhem.

From a clinical perspective, most behaviors emerge from mind of the individual. If the mind is corrupted or misguided then its implementation in behavior would be misguided too and in the case of the suicide bomber, it would be destructive.

The above Editor argues that this is not only a issue of Muslims who were religiously misguided but it is also a CLINICAL issue that needs to be addressed by both Muslim Professionals from Behavioral Medicine and Islamic leaders, especially when it comes to developing alternative peaceful strategies that could be positively utilized by individuals and groups.

In general, when an individual talks about suicide or homicide, he gets evaluated by a mental health professional and if needed involuntarily hospitalized against his or her own will. ISN’T IT STRANGE, THAT WHEN A MISGUIDED MUSLIM TALKS ABOUT POSSIBLE PLANS OF SUICIDE AND (MULTIPLE HOMICIDES) BY INTENT TO BE A SUICIDE BOMBER, THE CLINICAL ASPECT IS COMPLETELY IGNORED AND ONLY THE LEGAL, RELIGIOUS and POLITICAL ASPECTS BECOME THE FOCUS? WHY?

In the process of such a response, two mistakes are being committed. (1) There is an assumption that he is mentally sane. (2) There is an assumption that he is following the teachings of Islam.

We never hear the fact that he is a wrongly misguided Muslim who misinterpreted the teachings of Islam. Why? Could it be because of lack of proper understanding of Islam?

Br. Jamaal al-Din Zarabozo in his book PURIFICATION OF THE SOUL had one of his topics titled as: “Jihad in All of Its Other Forms” he quoted the Quranic verse: “And those who strive for Our (Cause), We will certainly guide them to Our Paths, for verily Allah is with those who do right” (al-Ankaboot 69).

Commenting on this verse, Ibn Al-Qayyim wrote: “Allah has connected guidance with jihad….The forms of jihad which are most obligatory upon a person are the jihad against the soul, jihad against desires, jihad against Satan and jihad against (being overcome by this) worldly life. …ONE CANNOT FIGHT THE EXTERNAL ENEMY UNLESS ONE FIGHTS THESE INTERNAL ENEMIES. WHOEVER IS GIVEN VICTORY OVER THEM WILL BE GIVEN VICTORY OVER HIS (EXTERNAL) ENEMY”.

Hence, this makes it clear that jihad in all of its various forms is actually part and parcel of the process of purification of the soul as it is one of the means of success and prosperity which can only be achieved through the purification of the soul. (Karzoon, Vol 1, p.285).

As indicated above, a true jihad primarily focuses its energy within one’s self and not projected violently outwards and not for worldly life issues. One could argue “for and against” that occupation of land is a materialistic worldly issue and by default whether such worldly issue is worth not only dying for in terms of voluntarily blowing oneself to pieces but also committing double sins in Islam - suicide and multiple homicides? This by no means is indicative that one should be passive when attacked or occupied. Instead the focus is on exploring alternative means of resistance or opposition to such oppression and injustice.

Ibraaheem bin Abdullaah al-Haazimee in his Compiler’s Foreword in the book: “Diseases of the Hearts and their Cures” stated:

“The heart forms the foundation, it is the owner of the limbs, and the limbs are its soldiers, so when the owner becomes purified its soldiers become purified, and when the owner becomes sullied then its soldiers become sullied”.

Al-Haafidh ibn Hajr al-Asqalaanee, May Allah have mercy upon him and provide us with his knowledge, said:

“The heart has been singled out for this because it is the leader of the body, and through the purification of the leader the subjects become purified, and with its corruption they become corrupted. So if you, O servant of Allah, wish to cure your heart then it is upon you to be truthful with regards to seeking refuge with Allah and putting your trust in Him, to pray a great deal of supererogatory prayers, to perform the actions of obedience to Allah frequently, to pray the night prayers while the people are sleeping, and to treat your heart by making it continuously stick to the remembrances and by befriending only the righteous…and to frequently recite the Quran. And Allah will indeed allow all of this to be preserved by him”.

Compared above gems with our misguided Muslims who put explosives right in front and around the “HEART” to blow it up.

Such a barbaric act of suicide bombing by being blown to pieces is one of the worst ways for a person to abruptly die and here we have in the 21^st century a group of misguided Muslims VOLUNTARILY SIGNING UP TO BE BLOWN TO PIECES in such a manner.

Dealing with a potential suicide bomber is not to RESPOND VIOLENCE WITH VIOLENCE because two wrongs don’t make it right. To truly understand a suicide bomber’s motives, we need to understand his psyche and the perspective he is coming from.

From a psychological perspective, the “fight OR flight” response does not apply to the suicide bomber since he does both. Through his self-destructive act, he FIGHTS the enemy head-on and kills those around him and in the process he also takes a permanent one way “FLIGHT” away from this world to the next. Can anyone guess what would be the stress level of a suicide bomber?

POINTS TO REFLECT:

How many times have you heard Islamic peaceful alternatives offered in terms of expressing anger or holding it in? Is a Muslim responsible for his own emotions and acts or are other people, be it oppressors or any body else, responsible for his emotions? How can a Muslim more effectively deal with anger, resentment and frustration, no matter what the reason may be (including occupation)? Do Muslims feel stressed out by problems that others place on them or by problems that they place on themselves? How best can we integrate the contemporary psychological knowledge dealing with CONFLICT RESOLUTION with the gems of Holy Quran and Hadith to deal with current group or organizational stressors faced by the global Ummah?

As usual, feel free to send your comments to info@mehrunyusuficds.com