Author:
Publication: WorldNetDaily.com
Date: April 9, 2002
URL: http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=27149
What makes Palestinian suicide bombers
tick? Not the Koran, media pundits are quick to say.
They maintain they are martyrs for
a political, not religious, cause and are only resorting to such violent
extremes to defend against an oppressive Israeli military. The media romanticize
the heinous bombings as the desperate struggle of the downtrodden.
Given the alarming toll of innocent
Israelis (not to mention Americans) recently slaughtered by Islamic suicide
attacks, this is a particularly noxious batch of politically correct swill
to swallow.
And those in the media who know
better should be ashamed of themselves for peddling it. They are nothing
but professional liars. Others too lazy to read the Koran to independently
verify the spin of "moderate" Muslim scholars are guilty of intellectual
malpractice.
If you read the Koran (the Muslim-approved
Abdullah Yusuf Ali translation), you discover that martyrdom is the only
guaranteed ticket to Paradise for Muslims.
But don't take my word for it. Listen
to a former radical Shiite Muslim tell it.
"The only way Muslims can have assurance
of salvation and eternal life is by becoming a martyr for the cause of
Islam," said Reza F. Safa, author of "Inside Islam."
"To a Muslim," he added, "dying
and killing for the cause of Islam is not only an honor, but also a way
of pleasing Allah."
That explains how a Palestinian
grandmother could proudly pose with her beaming teen-age grandson for a
final photograph knowing that just hours later he would strap himself with
explosives and eviscerate Israeli "infidels" - and himself - in the name
of Allah. This adoring old woman was actually celebrating the boy's imminent
death, as if he were about to cross the stage at his high-school graduation
ceremony. But to her, a death certificate sealed by Allah meant more than
any diploma. She said she was happy - overjoyed that her grandson would
soon disembowel himself - because she knew he would be instantly transported
to a better place.
Where does she get such faith? From
the Koran.
Meanwhile, the pubescent grandson
dreamed of the carnal pleasures awaiting him in Paradise - "Companions
with beautiful, big and lustrous eyes ... virgin-pure and undefiled" -
just as the Muslim prophet Muhammad promised in the Koran (Surah 56:22,35-36).
And such Koranic promises explain
how the father of another young Palestinian, who set off a bomb on a crowded
commuter bus, could gush, "My son will go to heaven" - as if he had just
scored the winning touchdown at the homecoming game in front of Ivy League
scouts. Most fathers would be bawling their eyes out over such a senseless
loss.
Safa says local Muslim clerics recite
to such young men the verses from the Koran that promise the reward of
Paradise, and all its oddly non-spiritual perks, if they die while fighting
the "unbelievers" - Jews and Christians - in the name of Allah.
"'Are you ready for martyrdom?'"
the young man is asked. "'Yes, yes,' he repeats," Safa said, explaining
the ritual. "He is then given the oath on the Koran."
"These young men leave the meeting
with one determination: to kill," he said.
Of course, the same media pundits
who like to pretend Palestinians are fighting a political war for freedom
and are only using suicide as a "cheap defense weapon," argue that the
Koran forbids suicide. They claim clerics twist the meaning of the salient
passages in the Koran to imply martyrdom paves the way to Paradise.
But don't be fooled. Typical of
Islam's apologists, they are merely cherry picking verses to try to make
the Koran seem less violent than it is.
Yes, the Koran tells Muslims not
to "kill or destroy yourselves" (Surah 4:29) - but only when doing so is
outside the cause of Allah. Dying for Allah is not viewed as a waste of
life.
In fact, the Koran encourages it.
Consider these verses:
"When ye meet the unbelievers, smite
at their necks," Muhammad commands in Surah 47:4. "Those who are slain
in the way of Allah - he will never let their deeds be lost."
"Soon will he guide them and improve
their condition," he continues in Surah 47:5, "and admit them to the Garden
(of Paradise), which he has announced for them."
And look at Surah 4:74: "To him
who fighteth in the cause of Allah - whether he is slain or gets victory
- soon shall we give him a reward of great (value)."
And Surah 3:157: "If ye are slain,
or die, in the way of Allah, forgiveness and mercy from Allah are far better
than all they could amass."
Surah 3:140-143, moreover, glorifies
"martyrs" who "enter Heaven" and, at the same time, ribs those who "flinch"
from death. That's followed by Surah 3:170, which says "martyrs" -- suicidal
killers who "die in their cause" -- don't really die, nor should their
loved ones "grieve" for them.
Maybe I'm just an ignorant "kaffir"
who is misreading the Koran, which I've read cover to cover in two translations
now.
Or maybe not. Translator Yusuf Ali,
respected the world-over by Muslims, reads it the same way in his commentaries.
In footnote 469, he says: "Dying
in doing your duty is the best means of reaching Allah's mercy."
"Martyrdom is the sacrifice of life
in the service of Allah. Its reward is therefore even greater than that
of an ordinarily good life," Ali says in footnote 2839. "The martyr's sins
are forgiven by the very act of martyrdom."
So in the Muslim faith, the reward
for death in the cause of Allah is greater than good works or faith in
general. That's what the Koran teaches, the book that Ali says is "the
duty of every Muslim -- man, woman or child -- to read."
But what of the wives and children
left widowed and fatherless, or parents left sonless, by these men of fanatical
faith, these duty- bound suicide bombers, these glorified martyrs?
"The dear ones have no cause to
grieve at the death of the martyrs," Ali says in footnote 478. "Rather
have they cause to rejoice."
Like the Palestinian grandmother
and father mentioned above.
But cultural relativists among the
punditry, such as Boston Globe columnist Ellen Goodman, aren't convinced.
Goodman recently insisted that the
Palestinian suicide bombers are merely "desperate" to improve their lot,
deluded by the "despair" of their impoverished existence. Some politicians
call them "freedom fighters." Over the weekend, former Senate Majority
Leader George Mitchell even compared PLO leader Yasser Arafat to Nelson
Mandela.
But if Palestinians are deluded
into carrying out such wicked acts, it's not a function of their social
or economic condition. It's a function of their faith.
They are deluded, quite simply,
by their holy book, which teaches them to "fight unbelievers (Jews) who
are near to you" (Surah 9:123) for the cause of Allah.
You never hear of Jewish or Christian
suicide bombers for the simple reason the Bible does not encourage murder-suicide
in the name of God. The Koran does.
Still not convinced?
The Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt
and Syria, which according to Safa has helped the Palestinians against
the Israelis, has this as its slogan:
"The Koran is our constitution,
the prophet is our guide; Death for the glory of Allah is our greatest
ambition."
Greater than land or voting rights.
Greater than family or love. Above all, death. This is the enemy Ariel
Sharon faces. This, sadly, is now our enemy, too.
(Paul Sperry is Washington bureau
chief for WorldNetDaily.)
