Dying with the enemy: Interrogating the roles of religion in social support for suicide terrorism

Abstract

Suicide terrorism seemingly employed to settled conflicts between the Shiite and the Sunnis, mixed with the Salafis ideology of violence is also seen used for demand for State of Islam, national liberation, and propagation against democracies, mis-governance, and secularism amongst others. Terror cells groups could be seen aggravating suicide terrorism by substituting suicide for martyrdom. It was against this background that this study engage religious belief hypothesis to interrogate the roles of religion in garnering social support for suicide terrorism. The study decomposes roles of religion in suicide terrorism into crises between the Shiites and the Sunnis, substitution of suicide with martyrdom. The study employed desktop research design with reliance historical and secondary data from extant literature. The study concludes that the manipulation of the religious injunctions, extremist interpretation of religious teachings, as well as advancement of religion facade for economic gains stronger motivation for people who support suicide terrorism. Finding from the study showed that there would be no successful suicide terror campaign without the support of the society where the suicide terrorists reside and whose interest they claim to be defending. The study recommends that distorted ideology driven by religion can only be countered by respected Islamic clerics and leaders, especially from the Arab world with covert Western support to circumvent the perverted narrative of martyrdom as sacrifice for the good of the land, people or God, and rather brand it as common suicide and an honourless venture.