Those Damned Idiots!

I came to work this morning and found the office abuzz with the news of the suicide bombing that occurred in Jakarta, Indonesia yesterday. Everyone was talking about it because it seemed that it was figured prominently on the news yesterday which of course I missed. In between the work I had to do today, I decided to logon to the Net to check out the recent news about what had actually happened. Internet news reporting has been a bit sketchy at the time I was browsing the Net but from what I gather, it was committed by members from JI as a warning to the Indonesian president not to execute their leader who is currently on trial for the Bali bombings. This latest attack at the Jakarta J.W. Marriot Hotel seem to bear very close resemblance the Bali bombing in terms of MO and execution with the exception that the person behind the wheel of the van which carried the destructive explosion was on a suicide run.

I find it very hard to reconcile the desire for martyrdom by suicide in this instance with what I know about the teaching of Islam. As a Muslim, I have been taught that self-slaughter is a major sin and yet there are those who see themselves as jihad fighters upholding the tenets of Islam believe that suicide runs are an acceptable recourse in their so-called struggle. From what little I understand of the Quran, one is said to be guaranteed a place in heaven in the event of death in the battlefield against an opponent in a holy war defending the religion. As such, how would anyone twist the meaning and intent to rationalize suicide actions that accompanied these destructions of property and innocence? How did they rationalize the innocent people in that hotel as enemy combatant worthy of elimination? What would push a person to willfully agree to participate in such extreme call to action?

A lot of people, particularly those in the West, would point out the fact that being a Muslim has been the underlying pattern that link the suicide “martyrs’ together. By their logic, it is assumed that there must be something in the religion that incites acts of violence against others. The way I see it, their logic is unfailingly flawed and their assumption discriminatory against those who do not prescribe to their own beliefs. It is not the religion that is at fault but truly those who manipulate religious fervor of the ignorant and dispossessed who must answer for the acts of violence. This is evident when we see instances of similar violence happening around the world without any connection to religion so why are they so quick to jump to the conclusion that the religion was at fault? I guess that the fact that humans fear what he does not understand or able to control does come into play in their assessment. I have to also acknowledge that a certain feeling of moral superiority above the rest of the world would also contribute to the erroneous conclusion.

I hold on to the belief that this war on terrorism will never end unless the causes that becomes the rallying points for individuals who manipulate religion for their own agenda has been eliminated. Issues like the welfare of the Palestinian state, continued occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq and the US’s continued irrational support to the Israeli regime have long been the point of contention of this clash of cultures. I would doubt that those who use these issues to stroke religious fervor would be able to find their audience once these wrongs have been righted. In an ideal world, this simple fact should be obvious to all but it is a pity that we don’t live in an ideal world. Until the powers that be realize this simple fact and act accordingly, future occurrence of the acts of destructions like yesterday’s Jakarta’s bombing are bound to continue. I just hope that those similarly inclined fanatics in Malaysia will realize that there are no reasons for them to follow in the footsteps of these misguided souls and decide to resort to such unnecessary actions to prove their devotion to Islam.