are suicide bombers motivated by religious conviction?

Question

The psychology behind suicide bombings.
By - Pierre Rehov, documentary filmmaker

On July 15, MSNBC's "Connected" program discussed the July 7th London attacks. One of the guests was Pierre Rehov, a French filmmaker who has filmed six documentaries on the intifada by going undercover in the Palestinian areas. Pierre's upcoming film, "Suicide Killers," is based on interviews that he conducted with the families of suicide bombers and would-be bombers in an attempt to find out why they do it. Pierre agreed to a request for a Q&A interview here about his work on the new film.

Q - What inspired you to produce "Suicide Killers," your seventh film?

A - I started working with victims of suicide attacks to make a film on PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) when I became fascinated with the personalities of those who had committed those crimes, as they were described again and again by their victims. Especially the fact that suicide bombers are all smiling one second before t

Answer 1

I am a Muslim and let me very clearly state that Islam does allow taking ones own life under any condition. Suicide bombing is not allowed.As far virgins are concerned lets keep them aside.It is not easy to blow up yourself. Their has to be a good reason for it(The reason may or may not be valid). Suicide bombing doesn't have anything to do with religion, it has every thing to do with injustice, oppression and will to succeed. After all kamikaze pilots or Sri Lankan Tamils are not Muslims who pioneered the suicide bombing concept. I am not at all defending suicide bombers all I am saying to all of you out there is to sit for a moment and contemplate over this issue. Thank You

Answer 2

Why have other oppressed people throughout history not resorted to suicide bombings and terrorism? The answer lies in differences among the elite leadership of various groups and causes. The leaders of Islamic radical causes, especially the Wahhabis, advocate and incite suicide terrorism, while the leaders of other causes advocate different means.
Recall Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr., whose people were truly oppressed but who advocated non-violent means of resistance. It is the leaders who send suicide bombers to blow themselves up. No suicide bomber ever sent himself to be blown up.
The bombers accept death because they have been incited into a frenzy of hatred by imams preaching "Kill the infidels." Sheikh Muhammad Sayed Tantawi, the leading Islamic scholar at the elite Al-Azhar University in Cairo (which is not occupied), has declared that martyrdom operations - which means suicide bombings -- are the highest form of jihad and an Islamic commandment.
Even more mainstream role models, such as Yasser Arafat's wife, who lives in a multimillion-dollar residence in Paris, has said that if she had a son, she would want him to become a suicide bomber because there is no greater honor than to become a martyr.
The time has come to address the real root cause of suicide bombing: elitist incitement by certain religious and political leaders who are creating a culture of death and exploiting the ambiguous teachings of an important religion.

Answer 3

No. it is inspired by desperation and despair. Many suiciders had lost family, friends, homes, towns, their entire life-structure to Zionist aggression.

They knew, just as the Zionists have killed their families, the Zionists would soon kill them. With nothing left to live for, the only power they have left in their lives is to decide when and how they will die. So they pick the time and place and take some of the enemy with them. Their smiles, as reported by you, I imagine are produced by the knowledge that the last act of their lives is their own and not decided by the enemy.

Answer 4

I even have a image of one of those bombers after the form. A boy nonetheless seems in his toddlers purely the top chest and palms neck and head stay. He blow himself up in a crowded mosque in Iraq. So his God is going to be extremely joyful at him for killing different Muslims, sure? Its an extraordinarily unhappy image of what previous adult men motivate youthful adult men to try this they wont do themselves

Answer 5

No they are not. They are only taught what the misguided religious teachers want them to know. If they were allowed to learn to read the book and study the book for themselves they would be able to decide for themselves if the information they were fed is true or if the information was twisted and turned into lies.

Answer 6

They must have to be. The only way you would give up your life willingly is if you think something worthwhile will be given to you in exchange after you are dead.

Also remember that the Japanese Kamikaze pilots in WWII believed that their emperor was directly descended from God.

Answer 7

They believe that if they sacrifice themselves in order to kill the "greatest Satan" (aka - The United States of America") that they will be given free passage into heavan. I feel sorry for them. The only way to heaven is through Jesus!

Answer 8

These have been sorely vexed by their old leaders , who are in no way concerned about them before or after they die, again this was one of Mohammad's great productions, if they keep it up maybe they can be extinct one day.

Answer 9

Religion? Nah!


Common sense tells a Moslem teenager that when he blows himself up he will get 72 virgins and 72 mother-in-laws as his reward!

Answer 10

They have been brainwashed by the terrorists. Also some of them have been assured that their family will be taken care of. Some do it for their family.