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| In search for meaning, they succumb to jihad | | | Kishwar Desai | 5/26/2013 10:03:01 PM |
| Young men fill up the emptiness of their lives by attaching themselves to false gods — expecting to attain immortality —because they are deluded into thinking that killing for a so-called 'just' cause is not murder.
THERE was some
thing really very
bizarre and ghastly about the hacking of a soldier by civilians armed with knives and meat cleavers in broad daylight in London last week; especially because it was done on a busy street by two young men who had been brainwashed into thinking that this is a form of 'jihad'. So, absolute was this mental manipulation that they showed no empathy for their victim, and actually believed that by brutally assaulting another human being the message could be sent out to the wider community that they should reject the British policy of 'intervention' in Afghanistan and elsewhere. Their act of brutality was, thus, (for them) not only justified, but also the proposed catalyst for a changed global environment. If only things were so simple.
Self-made jihadists swallow everything they find on the Net.
Undoubtedly, and frighteningly, present-day self-made jihadists swallow everything they find on the Internet, perhaps because through Google they are also searching for a meaning to their existence. They fill up the emptiness of their lives by attaching themselves to false gods — expecting to attain immortality — because they are deluded into thinking that killing for a so-called 'just' cause is not murder.
There are also some reports that one of the two terrorists might have been suffering from mental health problems.
Nonetheless, this week's macabre death of drummer Lee Rigby, a young 25-year-old soldier, who had his whole career in front of him, can never be condoned. There are some in the UK who have tried to equate the killing with the trauma of the daily body count inflicted by the war in Afghanistan and elsewhere. They are unwittingly siding with those who would prefer to use violent means and resist democratic dialogue.
What is worse is that those who 'convert' boys like this to violence by telling them they are fighting a 'holy war' probably will get away without any punishment — even though it is their fingerprints, in many ways, which were on the machete and the knives that were driven into the soldier's body.
Sadly, much of this hatred is taught by those who pretend to be 'religious'. Studies and undercover reports have also shown for a long time that apart from some mosques, a few British universities are also becoming hubs for recruiting those ready to indulge in acts of terror. In fact, some newspapers tried to look at the university career of Michael Adebolajo to find a link between his radicalisation and the time he spent there. Unsurprisingly they discovered a strong possibility that some of his ideas might have begun to take shape during this period.
He converted to Islam from Christianity after he began attending Greenwich University, and may have come under some Islamist influences, subsequently.
Though he apparently had no previous records of the extreme violence which he demonstrated this week (apart from a stray incident), there are some Muslim leaders who, in the past few days, have been rather swift to claim he had been 'around' a few of the more militant organisations. They said it not with sorrow, but almost it seems with a sense of pride. The founder of one such banned Islamist organisation Al Mahajroun, Sheikh Omar Bakri Mohammad, even admitted that Michael Adebolajo was already being hailed as a hero in other parts of the world, especially the Middle East. He said in an interview to a newspaper: "He was being very courageous. Under Islam this can be justified. He was not targeting civilians. He was taking on a military man in an operation". To indicate that this was an 'operation' is worrying as there are far too many deluded people who believe that political, ideological or religious murders are justified. Can murder for a questionable 'higher cause' be forgiven? What about the anguish it leaves behind, especially for those who lose a beloved family member? These kinds of incidents will actually make life for the Muslim community much more difficult in the UK in the long run. Already, according to some reports, nine mosques have been attacked and there is little doubt that racist attacks on the community will probably increase, even though the government is already taking the utmost precaution. The fact that this barbaric act was perpetrated by two men of Nigerian descent can be no consolation either because, thanks to the Internet, the jihadis can now belong to any country in the world, and yet claim allegiance to a particular community.
Undoubtedly, there will be renewed pressure on the Muslim community to mind their flock better. There will also be demands to shut down websites which are contributing towards radicalisation.
But Britain had received a body blow with the death of Lee Rigby. And one worries that there might be, sadly, yet again a backlash. The only plus point coming out of this tragedy is that the country has come together to support its soldiers, and the charity for wounded soldiers, Help for Heroes, has seen an enormous surge in donations. There is a poignant symbolism behind it because the victim was wearing a Help for Heroes T-shirt when he was murdered. |
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