Ignoring the role of ideology in the Ft. Hood massacre is disastrous
by Tawfik Hamid
www.TawfikHamid.com
After the heinous attack at Ft. Hood, many questions were raised about the underlying cause of the atrocity. Some pointed out that the Muslim background of the suspect, Mr. Hasan, was the motivating factor, while others presented the case suggesting that being 'teased' for being a Muslim and the US wars in Iraq & Afghanistan were trigger factors for the massacre.
This wide difference in opinions should lead us to analyze carefully the concept of the 'underlying cause' and the 'trigger' factors.
If an external factor provoked a different response in one group of people compared to others, then it is more likely that there is an underlying cause in the former that explains such a difference. For example, if two people ran 100 meters and one of them developed severe chest pain, then an underlying coronary heart disease in the one who developed the pain must be suspected. In this situation, running could be seen as the 'trigger' factor that provoked angina in a patient with underlying heart disease. Both the cause of the problem (the heart problem) and the trigger factor (running) must be addressed if we are to treat the patient effectively.
Similarly, if the external emotional or political factors were the true cause of the atrocity at Ft. Hood, we would expect that these factors will produce the same response in all humans irrespective of their faith.
Basic observations of the responses of Muslim populations to insults, critiques, and to political situations in the last few decades clearly demonstrate that there is an underlying factor in Muslim societies that predisposes many of them to react in a violent manner.
Let us just examine the difference in responses between many in the Muslim world and people of other faiths when both are exposed to trigger factors:
People identified as Muslims committed terrible atrocities that included killing innocents, burning places, and many other barbaric acts as a reaction to the following 'triggers':
· Publication of Danish cartoons of prophet Mohamed.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/islam/muhammad_cartoons_timeline.html
· Critique of Islam by Pope Benedict http://www.freedomszone.com/archives/2006/09/muslims_kill_nun_pope_apologiz.php
· Comment about prophet Mohamed by a journalist in a beauty queen event in Nigeria provoked extrme violence and a Fatwa to kill the journalist http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/2519595.stm
· Publishing a book that was perceived as critical of Islam by Salman Rushdie.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7889974.stm
· Rumors of US military personnel insulting the Quran http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,156468,00.html
On the contrary, many non-Muslims were exposed to much more distress yet they did not react in the same manner. The following are only few examples of many:
=The Jews were put into ovens during the Nazi era and are currently called "Pigs and Monkeys" in several parts of the Muslim world yet we have not seen the Jewish people beheading the Germans or exploding themselves to kill innocents all over the world.
= Some Christian minorities who live in some Muslim majority countries have their churches occasionally burnt, their priests killed, their religion insulted, and suffer from different forms of discrimination - yet they do not attack innocents as a result.
= Many Buddhists in Afghanistan and Bahia in Iran suffered from severe discrimination from the Islamic systems yet we have not seen any of them killing their fellow innocent human beings to revenge this discrimination.
The difference in response to the external triggers strongly supports the view that an underlying factor in Muslim societies is the main cause of such a violent reaction.
In other words, why does 'teasing' or 'insulting' or a 'political situation' provoke such barbaric responses in devout Muslims at a global level but do not provoke similar violent reactions in the followers of other faiths who are exposed to much more injustice and prejudice? Since humans are born equal, the difference in responses in these situations is likely to be caused by differences in their religious education or ideological factors. These educational or ideological factors must be addressed in an honest manner to avoid further calamities and to protect young Muslims from the damaging effects of these forms of teaching.
Some may argue that if religious education was the main cause behind these atrocities then why do some Muslims not react in a violent manner while other Muslims do? The answer to this question is that this difference in response within Muslim populations can be due to one or a combination of the following factors:
1- Lack of exposure to the same form of religious education.
2- Lack of exposure to the same trigger factor.
3- Lack of sufficient religious motivation or courage to perform an action that may threaten their personal life
4- Different ways for expressing violence such as a father killing his daughter because she was "too westernized", indiscriminate killing of non-Muslims, beheading innocent people, preparing a terror act, and suicide bombings.
In addition, if we accept the concept that 'teasing' and 'insults' can justify such a level of barbarism, then we should ask ourselves: will we also justify the situation if non-Muslims started burning mosques in the US and engaging in killing innocent Muslims as a response to the discrimination they have in some parts of the Muslim world?
by Tawfik Hamid
www.TawfikHamid.com
After the heinous attack at Ft. Hood, many questions were raised about the underlying cause of the atrocity. Some pointed out that the Muslim background of the suspect, Mr. Hasan, was the motivating factor, while others presented the case suggesting that being 'teased' for being a Muslim and the US wars in Iraq & Afghanistan were trigger factors for the massacre.
This wide difference in opinions should lead us to analyze carefully the concept of the 'underlying cause' and the 'trigger' factors.
If an external factor provoked a different response in one group of people compared to others, then it is more likely that there is an underlying cause in the former that explains such a difference. For example, if two people ran 100 meters and one of them developed severe chest pain, then an underlying coronary heart disease in the one who developed the pain must be suspected. In this situation, running could be seen as the 'trigger' factor that provoked angina in a patient with underlying heart disease. Both the cause of the problem (the heart problem) and the trigger factor (running) must be addressed if we are to treat the patient effectively.
Similarly, if the external emotional or political factors were the true cause of the atrocity at Ft. Hood, we would expect that these factors will produce the same response in all humans irrespective of their faith.
Basic observations of the responses of Muslim populations to insults, critiques, and to political situations in the last few decades clearly demonstrate that there is an underlying factor in Muslim societies that predisposes many of them to react in a violent manner.
Let us just examine the difference in responses between many in the Muslim world and people of other faiths when both are exposed to trigger factors:
People identified as Muslims committed terrible atrocities that included killing innocents, burning places, and many other barbaric acts as a reaction to the following 'triggers':
· Publication of Danish cartoons of prophet Mohamed.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/islam/muhammad_cartoons_timeline.html
· Critique of Islam by Pope Benedict http://www.freedomszone.com/archives/2006/09/muslims_kill_nun_pope_apologiz.php
· Comment about prophet Mohamed by a journalist in a beauty queen event in Nigeria provoked extrme violence and a Fatwa to kill the journalist http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/2519595.stm
· Publishing a book that was perceived as critical of Islam by Salman Rushdie.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7889974.stm
· Rumors of US military personnel insulting the Quran http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,156468,00.html
On the contrary, many non-Muslims were exposed to much more distress yet they did not react in the same manner. The following are only few examples of many:
=The Jews were put into ovens during the Nazi era and are currently called "Pigs and Monkeys" in several parts of the Muslim world yet we have not seen the Jewish people beheading the Germans or exploding themselves to kill innocents all over the world.
= Some Christian minorities who live in some Muslim majority countries have their churches occasionally burnt, their priests killed, their religion insulted, and suffer from different forms of discrimination - yet they do not attack innocents as a result.
= Many Buddhists in Afghanistan and Bahia in Iran suffered from severe discrimination from the Islamic systems yet we have not seen any of them killing their fellow innocent human beings to revenge this discrimination.
The difference in response to the external triggers strongly supports the view that an underlying factor in Muslim societies is the main cause of such a violent reaction.
In other words, why does 'teasing' or 'insulting' or a 'political situation' provoke such barbaric responses in devout Muslims at a global level but do not provoke similar violent reactions in the followers of other faiths who are exposed to much more injustice and prejudice? Since humans are born equal, the difference in responses in these situations is likely to be caused by differences in their religious education or ideological factors. These educational or ideological factors must be addressed in an honest manner to avoid further calamities and to protect young Muslims from the damaging effects of these forms of teaching.
Some may argue that if religious education was the main cause behind these atrocities then why do some Muslims not react in a violent manner while other Muslims do? The answer to this question is that this difference in response within Muslim populations can be due to one or a combination of the following factors:
1- Lack of exposure to the same form of religious education.
2- Lack of exposure to the same trigger factor.
3- Lack of sufficient religious motivation or courage to perform an action that may threaten their personal life
4- Different ways for expressing violence such as a father killing his daughter because she was "too westernized", indiscriminate killing of non-Muslims, beheading innocent people, preparing a terror act, and suicide bombings.
In addition, if we accept the concept that 'teasing' and 'insults' can justify such a level of barbarism, then we should ask ourselves: will we also justify the situation if non-Muslims started burning mosques in the US and engaging in killing innocent Muslims as a response to the discrimination they have in some parts of the Muslim world?
Since it is practically impossible to stop all possible 'trigger factors' it is extremely important to treat the underlying cause of the problem (or the form of religious education Muslims receive) that leads many of in the Muslim world to react in such a