NCJ Number
223591
Journal
Studies in Conflict and Terrorism Volume: 31 Issue: 6 Dated: June 2008 Pages: 553-571
Date Published
June 2008
Length
19 pages
Annotation
This article explores and deconstructs the standard reasoning justifying suicide bombings.
Abstract
Deconstructing the shariatic justification of suicide bombings serves to explain the Islamist subculture of martyrdom. It has been argued at the outset that the shariatic justification is significant for the suicide bomber’s progress toward liberating self-eradication. However, only Muslims themselves could have enough authority to credibly refute the shariatic arguments in order to invalidate and delegitimize the doctrines. If they cannot credibly invalidate shariatic arguments, they can deconstruct the doctrines to identify argumentative weaknesses. With that said, three potential weak points are identified. First could be the alleged equivalence of “killing by indirect cause” and “killing by direct cause.” They are simply declared equivalent. In the end it is inferred that the direct killing of oneself in a “martyrdom operation” is permissible. The second argumentative weak point could be the disputability inherent to any shariatic analogy. The third potential weakness lies in the original identity of the Youth and People of the Ditch (the story of how a tyrannical and infidel king maltreats a believing youth and his people so as to make them apostatize), who are depicted as exemplary proto-Muslims seeking martyrdom. Apart from identifying vulnerable arguments, deconstructing the doctrines can be of direct operational use to intelligence or security services that prevent or prosecute Islamist violence. 1 table, 1 figure, 92 notes, and 19 references