“One person’s terrorist is another’s freedom fighter (Barash 2014: 174).” This one statement explains every war to ever be fought and also the delicate subject of terrorism. The line between who is the bad guy and the good guy will always be difficult to draw because everyone fights for a different reason. In this same sense every “terrorist” has his or her own story. Rarely can one blaring reason can be found to explain why attacks happen. Every soldier has a different reason for fighting, no matter what side of the front they are on. The same is true of terrorists. People the Western world may hold up as a hero the Eastern may condemn as the worst kind of terrorist, we know the opposite is true. Many people the West proclaim to be terrorists
This word is one many, myself included have come to associate with terrorism, but it is not the correct connotation of the word. Jihad is a word encompassing many meanings, one of which leaders are able to construe to convince others to fight for their cause. “For Muslims, jihad is much more than armed struggle against an enemy from the outside, for it includes constant struggles within both oneself and one’s own society (Gomaa 2014: 197).” Only for the case of a just cause will Muslims take up arms in the name of jihad. Meanings of jihad include, but are not limited to “… spiritual exercise of opposing lower self… referring to the pilgrimage to Mecca… speaking truth to those in power… defense of a nation or a just cause (Gomaa 2014: 197).” No Muslim is going to start fighting according to jihad for anything short of a just cause. Does this mean leaders cannot make a cause sound just simply to get recruits fighting? No, they can do this, but both Western and Eastern leaders omit truths to their followers. If they did not lie at some point they would never have any followers. To blame jihad for terror is irresponsible, soldiers may be fighting under it to protect their nation, but they are not blindly
Western civilization has started to associate jihad with terrorism, even though this is not the meaning of the word. Jihad is simply a struggle. An armed struggle must be just in order for any Muslim to take up arms in the name of jihad. Secondly, suicide attacks cannot be looked at as singular people making a bold statement. In most cases suicide missions are part of a larger whole looking to free themselves from oppression. Finally, the way America reacts to terrorism is in its own way terrorism. Most of the United States’ responses to terrorism have led to more deaths than the terrorist groups themselves cause. In order to start to fix the mess terrorism has caused across the world we need to embrace our differences. Some states may not flourish under a democratic leader; the West needs to accept this. In the same way, Eastern leaders need to understand the West does flourish with democracy and will protect its right to that form of leadership. As with all conflicts, there will never be an answer to everyone will love, but there are fixes that we could all live with. It is time for world leaders to agree to disagree and stop punishing innocent civilians who live where fighting
The concept of Jihad was not widely known in the western world before the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001. Since then, the word has been woven into what our media and government feed us along with notions of Terrorism, Suicide Bombings, Hamas, Al-Qaeda, Osama Bin Laden, and now, Jihad. Our society hears exhortations resounding from the Middle East calling the people to rise up in Jihad and beat back the imperialist Americans. Yet, if we try to peel back all of these complex layers of information we can we attempt to find out what Jihad really means. Webster’s Dictionary defines Jihad as “a holy war waged on behalf of Islam as a religious duty or a crusade for a principle or belief” (1). Often, media depicts Jihad in the same manner—as a vicious clash between two very different peoples, each of whom believes that righteousness, and in many cases God, is on their side. From this interpretation and our daily media intake, one may reasonably assume that Jihad refers to nothing more than violent acts, or “holy wars.”
Many terrorists believe that their religion is the only true religion, and they use it to justify violence (“Islamic Terrorism”). Most Muslim terrorists follow Jihad. Jihad is an Islamic perception that the way to integrate their religion is by massive force (“Of True Muslims and Terrorists”). Jihad is considered the “sixth pillar” of faith in Islam because it is the constant fight towards good. It is the idea of focusing on God and turning away from those that oppose God (David E. Long, 91). The terrorists believe that their religion is what everyone should follow, so they would naturally require personnel in power in Muslim states to either convert to their religion or resign from their terms. They will first threaten a leader that if they do not change, the terrorists will use violence. Sometimes, violent acts come about without any warning or previous threats (“Of True Muslims and Terrorists”). Islam is a proselytizing religion, which means it uses violence to convert people to its faith. This is because, in the ...
One of the ten practical principles of Islam, Jihad, is literally defined as “hardship, endeavor, exaggeration in work, reaching the height of something and capability”, while in the Sharia of Islam Jihad is sacrificing one’s life and property primarily for the sake of Allah, elevating and sustaining Islamic beliefs and standpoints. In this sense, Jihad is the act of Defending the Islamic territory against the assaults and intrusions of outsiders and invaders. The essence of Jihad lies in Defense, thus any violence which is shown with the intention of invading a country or a nation’s lives, property, etc. and for manipulating their economic potentials or human resources, not only is not called Jihad but also considered as the overt manifestation of injustice and cruelty which is strongly rejected in Islam.
In trying to determine a reasonable working definition of terrorism and how the terrorist really are, we must recognize and deal with the idea that ' One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter'. From the book The Tyranny of Cliches by Jonah Goldberg, argues over who is or is not a terrorist that it is therefore impossible, to make meaningful distinctions between terrorist and freedom fighters. Jonah Goldberg qouted "As a descriptor, terrorist is almost never applied rigorously and consistently to describe the tactics a group is using. Rather it is invoked as a pejorative to vilify the actions only of groups one wishes to discredit. People who agree with the ends of the very same groups often don't think of them as terrorists, the
Finding a proper, well-accepted definition of what constitutes terror is extremely difficult. There are many challenges that confront scholars, experts, and everyday people when it comes to defining terrorism and terrorists. Differing backgrounds and cultures of those defining terror in addition to differing histories are just one of the many challenges facing those that wish to define terror. Furthermore, labeling a group or an individual as a terrorist could be considered offensive, especially in today’s politically correct environment, potentially damaging those in the political arena. However, on the flip side, labeling someone as a terrorist can also serve a political purpose as in the case of being propaganda towards a war effort, or to help define an enemy. Nevertheless, the main problem with not being able to have a widely accepted definition of terrorism is that “It is impossible to formulate or enforce international agreements against terrorism” (Ganor, 300).
231). Jihad is an ideology that consists of using violence whenever the religion of Islam is being threatened or targeted by others, and it proposes that it is the obligation of the followers of such religion to commit those violent acts (Locicero & Sinclair, 2008, pg. 231). Through the use of Jihad, Osama Bin Laden was able to use religion as his primary tool to not only convince others to be willing to risk their lives when conducting terrorists acts on behalf of Islam, but it also allowed the organization to inspire and recruit new members (Locicero & Sinclair, 2008, pg. 231).
Have you ever wondered how to stop Isis? Will Isis expand? Isis is a big problem and they need to be stopped. Some people like Donald Trump are willing to try to stop them, but may do crazy things to stop them. Isis may expand because people are willing to join and that wouldn't help us stop them at all. Isis may be harder to stop because they are expanding.
Terrorism is almost always viewed as one of the most deplorable offenses. The terrorists themselves have been labeled enemies of humanity, but are such accusations true? Are they really criminals committing immoral and unjust attacks, or are they just fighting a war the best way they can? Questions like this are difficult to answer impartially. The general population of the world has such negative views on terrorism because we are the victims, the targets. But to the people committing these acts they must be morally acceptable. To counter this situational bias I’ll use five of the most common ethical theories to analyze various terrorist attacks.
“Terrorism involves the use of violence by an organization other than a national government to cause intimidation or fear among a target audience;” at least, this is how Pape (2003) defines terrorism in his article “The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism” (343). The goal of this article by Pape is to discuss suicide terrorism and how it “follows a strategic logic, one specifically designed to coerce modern liberal democracies to make significant territorial concessions” (343). Similar to Pape, Bloom (2004) and Horowitz (2010) also delve into the exponential increase of suicide terrorism and why it occurs. Although Pape, Bloom, and Horowitz concur that suicide terrorism is increasing, they disagree why it is so prominent. While the arguments presented from each of these researchers is powerful and certainly plausible, suicide terrorism is in fact not irrational, but strategic and is most often caused by state occupation and, when organized, aimed specifically at democracies.
The threat of global terrorism continues to rise with the total number of deaths reaching 32,685 in 2015, which is an 80 percent increase from 2014 (Global Index). With this said, terrorism remains a growing, and violent phenomenon that has dominated global debates. However, ‘terrorism’ remains a highly contested term; there is no global agreement on exactly what constitutes a terror act. An even more contested concept is whether to broaden the scope of terrorism to include non-state and state actors.
Through the years the idea that Islam is an aggressive religion has been developed. This is mainly due to the fact that the word "jihad" -- a very important concept in Islamic faith -- is often misunderstood or its initial meaning is intentionally misrepresented. From the very beginning of Islamic invasion in Europe a sense of devotion to the religion was instilled in the Muslim soldiers and believers. Religion was a really important part of their lives. The soldiers were taught to die for Allah in their holy war against unbelievers -- this was the so-called jihad. However, if one examines thoroughly the Quran, the saint book for Muslims, he/she will find that jihad carries a completely different meaning -- this is an internal struggle with oneself for achievements in a certain filed or, simply, for self-improvement. Even though most Islamic believers know what jihad really is, there are zealots that still look for excuse for their appalling and inhumane deeds in the abovementioned word. Nowadays, this is still a major problem, especially concerning the...
Suicide bombing has been linked with Islamic religion over the years and is considered the act of terrorism in the world. The acts of violence are unfortunate. Whether they are done by Muslims or not is controversial. The link of the vice with religion has been a major talking point over the years because of the continual attacks by Islamic extremists. Islam is a religion, and Muslims represent a following of that religion. The act of following Islam by Muslims could be sometimes imperfect, but that does not mean that Islam itself is to be blamed for that. The noble Quran is the most important book of the Islam faith. It is considered as the very word of God. The Quran contains dozens of passages that preach peace and tolerance, so all the violent attacks happen all over the world are not always related to Islam.
The concept of terrorism is exceedingly difficult to define. Author Gerald Seymour first said in his book Harry’s Game that, “One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter”. Each individual may view terrorism in a different light. Because of this, there is currently no universal definition of terrorism. However in recent years, it has become increasingly more important to form a definition of terrorism, especially while working in the media.
A lot of people believe that Muslims, Islam, and/or the Holy Quran encourages killing, fighting, and terrorism. Events such as the 9/11 attack in the United States, the Boston Marathon Bombing, and conflicts in the Middle East causes the media to label Muslims as terrorists. When a specific group of people cause violence to another group it is categorized as ‘hate crime’, but if a Muslim does the same act, the media immediately labels it as ‘terrorism’ (Frater, 2009). As a matter of fact, regarding to the attacks of the mosques in Israel, the media did not use the acts to victimize or stereotype Judaism. Moreover, some extremist groups use Islam as a tactic to gain followers even though a lot of their practices go against the teachings of the Quran. A person would not be considered a Muslim if they spread fear or terrorize others. The Quran clearly states, “You shall not take life, which God has made sacred, except by way of justice and law.” (Quran, 6:151). Islam is against any force or violence towards another person. Often the word ‘Jihad’ is taken out of context by violent militants; it means to strive or struggle for the sake of ones’ self improvement with respect to their spirituality. Religious and political groups use Jihad to justify ...
Jihad means struggle, and is seen as the religious duty of all Muslims, it is used a lot in a military way and is seen a lot as a sixth pillar. Jihad appears in the Qur’an 41 times. There is even a sect of Islam named after the notion of jihad, the people that follow this sect are called jihadist, and their religious goal is world domination. Muslims believe that when you die in a state of jihad, you are guaranteed into paradise after you die, and this is why many...