What Is Jihad?

A recent article in The New York Times, Sunday, December 20, 2015 was written by the director of terrorism research at the Norwegian Defense Research Establishment. According to the writer, he researched autobiographies, videos, blog posts, tweets and defectors accounts of what radical Muslims or jihadists do when they’re not fighting. This is what he reported. Mr. Hegghammer painted the following picture. He pointed out that Abu Musab al-Zarquari, a leader of Al Qaeda, was known as “The Slaughterer” as well as” He Who Weeps A Lot” because of his weeping during prayer, as well as when speaking about Muslims women suffering under occupation. Another jihadists wrote in a blog post “brothers were crying with him, some audible, and others would have their tears fall silently.” This director also wrote that some jihadist also weep when listening to religious hymns, watching propaganda videos, discussing the plight of Sunni Muslims and when talking about the afterlife. There are many explanations for why we cry. Accordingly, Mohammed viewed crying during worship as something positive. So, it’s not surprising that al-Zarquari has a long history of tears as that culture reinforces that behavior. I would just raise the question, did he start off with alligator tears? And does he also cry about how his primitive culture treats women? We know they are treated as second-class citizens. Hegghammer discovered that when the jihadist’s are not cutting off heads, they engage in art, storytelling, watching films, listening to hymns known as anashid, composing ideological songs, reading and writing poetry. Does violent aberrant behavior or storytelling and the like negate a mental illness diagnosis or hateful, prejudice and a destructive sadomasochistic character orientation? I think not. Outstanding literary giants Jack Kerouac, Ernest Hemingway, Ezra Pound, to name a few , had a mental illness diagnosis, but did not spend their spare time, cutting off people’s heads, writing about hate and killing others of a different religion. Poets of the ages John Keats, and Sylvia Plath also did not join a gang that killed people from other groups or ethnic tribes. These individuals were productive, and contributed by giving to the world and not about dominating helpless others. The jihadists are not productive neither are they giving life to their own nor to the non-Arab world. The New York Times writer also talked about the jihadist belief in dreams. They believe a dream contains instructions from God, as well as giving premonitions of the future. The foretelling certainly fits with Old Testament beliefs regarding the purpose of dreams. However, today we know that that explanation is not only simply hogwash but archaic thinking. These jihadist also dress alike in their gown and combat jacket on the top, avoid wearing gold jewelry and carry a tooth cleaning twig known as a miswak. All right, they look alike, belong to a gang of want to bees and are dressed similarly. To me, that sounds that they are conforming to group mores and clearly exhibit a lack of individualism. Their deadly conforming unfortunately is equated with death, destruction and suicidal behavior. To want to become part of this group, to get the thrill of combat, at the expense of weak resistance civilians is simply cowardice and sadomasochism as its worst. I differ from the writer of the article. I do not see this culture as highly seductive in a positive light. I see it as a magnet of hate that draws on poorly educated individuals, easily manipulated, having low self-esteem, having a fragile ego, feelings of powerlessness, alienated and not adjusting to main stream Muslim culture. All mentally ill people are not violent or jihadist, but all violent destructive, hateful, racist, jihadists are mentally ill. They belong to a sick society that does not draw or recruit the best from the Muslim culture .Just ask Shaquille O’Neal.