Muslims should not play God

Farish A. Noor
03:40pm 22 Julai 2005

The greatest tragedy that has befallen the Muslim world over the past few years is the relentless manner in which Islam and 'Terrorism' have become conflated. Not only does this debase the good name of Islam and Muslims, it also does a terrible disservice to the history of Islamic civilisation that has done so much in the name of pluralism and tolerance – centuries before the trendy term 'multiculturalism' was even coined.

We do not wish to present an apologia on behalf of mass murderers and thugs here: Suffice to say that nothing exists in Islam that can possibly justify the acts of random bombings, attacks on civilians and the loss of lives of non-combatants. But what we wish to state once again is the simple and undisputable fact that Muslim history provides us with a model of how plural societies can live together in peace, and more importantly for Muslims to conduct themselves in the world at large.

The basis of Islamic culture and civilisation, however, is the central pillar of tauhidic thought that is the foundation to Islamic theology and praxis itself. More so than anything else, it is the principle of tauhid that underscores Islam's monotheism and which colours the living expression of normative Islam in all respects and areas: from Islamic art and culture to Islamic politics and diplomacy. Muslims are taught, from day one, that they are not God and should not play God. Period.

This brings us to the alleged suicide bombers whose actions have done so much damage to the image of Islam and Muslims and brought so much pain to the lives of so many people. When the term 'suicide bomber' became fashionable not too long ago - thanks in part to the attacks carried out against Western occupying troops in Iraq - there were many opinions on the matter.

Perhaps not surprisingly the different ways of looking at the phenomenon of suicide bombing reflected the vast and ever-growing political and cultural gulf between the Western world and the Muslim world. Western scholars, media practitioners and analysts sought to pathologise what they regarded as a fundamental psycho-cultural problem among Muslims. Their central thesis, to put it somewhat crudely, was that Islam was a religion that promoted violence and that Muslims who had been sufficiently indoctrinated were bound to commit acts of violence in the name of Islam.

In response to this tide of bile and venom against their religion, scores of Muslim leaders, scholars and ulama reacted by pointing out that suicide bombing had no place in Islam. They also noted that the primary victims of suicide attacks in the Muslim world – from the day of the infamous Assassin cult to the suicide bombers in Iraq today - were Muslims.

Then there were those who adopted a more nuanced theoretical analysis of the phenomenon itself. Falling back on an interpretation of Nietzsche that read nihilism as a facet of Modernity, these analysts argued that the suicide bomber was in fact a product of modernity gone wrong. Unlike 'normal' cases of suicide, the suicide bomber punishes not only himself but also society. The crux, however, was this: Some of these theory-bound analysts and commentators claimed that there was an obscure yet very real sense of justice to the suicide bomber's acts: For the suicide bomber doesnt just kill others, he also kills himself in the process. By doing so, he is his own judge, jury and executioner. He recognises that the act of wanton murder is wrong and in killing himself he pays the price for his crime, while fulfilling whatever political objective he may have at the same time.

But here lies the problem with this argument. If we accept this theory and take that to be the premise of the suicide bomber's logic, then the suicide bomber has committed an even greater sin in the eyes of Islam. For not only has he murdered innocent people, he has sought to upstage and usurp God by being his own judge, jury and executioner. Whoever gave him the right to judge himself?

We return to the principle of tauhid, the foundational idea of Islam that bridges the gulfs of race, ethnicity, class, gender and religion by reminding us that all human beings are the creatures of God. Tauhid's equalising force lies in its insistence that we are all equal as Gods creatures on this earth. No single Muslim has the right to place himself above others, and no Muslim has the right to assume God's place by giving judgement to himself.

In this respect, should the anonymous suicide bomber feel that he has escaped his burden of moral responsibility by taking his own life, he is wrong on three counts: firstly because his murder of innocents is not something that can be attoned for with his own life; secondly because the taking of his own life is simply suicide and thus an affront to God; and thirdly because by falling prey to this twisted calculation of his own invention he has tried to play games with God and take God's place in his own judgement. The suicide bomber is thus killed once by his own self-murder, but triply damned by his irreligious conceit.