Why are suicide bombers almost always Muslim?

[Spiderman]

Why is it so rare to hear of a suicide bombers that is doing it for another faith besides Islam?

Without trolling, please explain why you think this is?

It's just always interested me that someone could think they would have reward in heaven for committing suicide and taking out innocent people in the process. It's just mind-boggling to me that anyone can have such convictions!

Why do such convictions come from Muslims more than adherents of all other faith combined?

 

[Mister Silver]

It's just always interested me that someone could think they would have reward in heaven for committing suicide and taking out innocent people in the process.

Any statement attributed to a god who promises riches in the afterlife can become dangerous through the actions a believer deems morally acceptable despite the obvious harm done to others.

 

[Spiderman]

I don't think suicide is supported in the Koran

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

It's just always interested me that someone could think they would have reward in heaven for committing suicide and taking out innocent people in the process. It's just mind-boggling to me that anyone can have such convictions!

Christian terrorists tend to exercise a bit more self-preservation when they take out innocent people.

 

[Mister Silver]

I don't think suicide is supported in the Koran

I suppose that would depend on how one interprets scripture.

 

[Quintessence]

Why is it so rare to hear of a suicide bombers that is doing it for another faith besides Islam?

Without trolling, please explain why you think this is?

Factors that are important to consider:

• Show me the Statistics. This should be the first question on everyone's mind. Until we have actual data on the rates of suicide bombings worldwide combined with other demographic information about the bombers, I'm not sure we can fairly begin addressing the topic at all. Where and if such data exists, it is equally important to be mindful of biases in the data. Namely, it seems unlikely that all nations worldwide will be equally scrupulous with their record keeping on such matters.
• Media Bias. This is the major reason why seeing statistics is so important. Not only is the media itself biased - you will see more coverage of stories that match prevailing or popular cultural narratives - but our consumption of that media is biased. Put another way, our awareness of incidents is not statistically representative and should not be used to make fact-based conclusions about frequency of events.

With these two considerations, I can't even get to this kind of statement:

Why do such convictions come from Muslims more than adherents of all other faith combined?

I'd want to see statistical evidence verifying this is even the case first. Further, to make a better study of it, I don't see much reason to limit incidents of fanaticism to suicide bombings only, or even necessarily to religious identification. It makes more sense to me to examine a multitude of criminal activities worldwide along with demographic data and let the patterns speak for themselves. A priori assumptions that Muslims do this more than all other groups combined are not of interest to me. I'm not sure it's that interesting even with the right evidence, because then a question is begged:

What do you do with this information?

And I think some of the answers to that question are dangerous.

 

[idav]

It's the promise of many wives in heaven for sacrifice me thinks.

 

[LuisDantas]

Why do such convictions come from Muslims more than adherents of all other faith combined?

As one would expect, it comes mainly from the characteristics of Islaamic doctrine itself. Studies of the Qur'aan make it clear that a very large part of it is indeed encouragement of taking refuge on the presumed righteouness of the doctrine as contrasted to the untrustworthy kuffar.

Anyone with a modicum of background on social psychology can tell you how dangerous such encouragement of a "us vs them" mentality is. People all too easily become paranoid of not making it clear that they are "on the right side" even if it involves personal sacrifice and destructive behavior.

Quite simply, there is little comparable on other doctrines anywhere near as popular as Islaam. Which brings us to a second factor: Islaam encourages Muslims to keep to themselves and to insist on conversion before extending any significant amount of trust. While that directive is often violated, it is never seriously challenged, leading to various amounts of guilt and awkwardness that make dangerous radicalism that much more likely.

In essence, Islaam is a self-inflicted trap.

 

[Spiderman]

Factors that are important to consider:

• Show me the Statistics. This should be the first question on everyone's mind. Until we have actual data on the rates of suicide bombings worldwide combined with other demographic information about the bombers, I'm not sure we can fairly begin addressing the topic at all. Where and if such data exists, it is equally important to be mindful of biases in the data. Namely, it seems unlikely that all nations worldwide will be equally scrupulous with their record keeping on such matters.
• Media Bias. This is the major reason why seeing statistics is so important. Not only is the media itself biased - you will see more coverage of stories that match prevailing or popular cultural narratives - but our consumption of that media is biased. Put another way, our awareness of incidents is not statistically representative and should not be used to make fact-based conclusions about frequency of events.

With these two considerations, I can't even get to this kind of statement:



I'd want to see statistical evidence verifying this is even the case first. Further, to make a better study of it, I don't see much reason to limit incidents of fanaticism to suicide bombings only, or even necessarily to religious identification. It makes more sense to me to examine a multitude of criminal activities worldwide along with demographic data and let the patterns speak for themselves. A priori assumptions that Muslims do this more than all other groups combined are not of interest to me. I'm not sure it's that interesting even with the right evidence, because then a question is begged:

What do you do with this information?

And I think some of the answers to that question are dangerous.

You bring up good points. Wouldn't you agree that you hear about Muslim suicide bombers more than adherents of all other faith combined?

I can't remember the last time I heard of such behavior or convictions coming from an adherent of another faith.

I don't know what I do with the information. Maybe I should not ponder such things. I wish I knew the answer though.

 

[Sanzbir]

I don't think suicide is supported in the Koran

It's not. And you're casting your net too broadly. Perhaps ask why suicide bombers are almost always Wahhabi, the ideology invented and promoted by Saudi Arabia.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

Factors that are important to consider:

• Show me the Statistics. This should be the first question on everyone's mind. Until we have actual data on the rates of suicide bombings worldwide combined with other demographic information about the bombers, I'm not sure we can fairly begin addressing the topic at all. Where and if such data exists, it is equally important to be mindful of biases in the data. Namely, it seems unlikely that all nations worldwide will be equally scrupulous with their record keeping on such matters.
• Media Bias. This is the major reason why seeing statistics is so important. Not only is the media itself biased - you will see more coverage of stories that match prevailing or popular cultural narratives - but our consumption of that media is biased. Put another way, our awareness of incidents is not statistically representative and should not be used to make fact-based conclusions about frequency of events.

With these two considerations, I can't even get to this kind of statement:



I'd want to see statistical evidence verifying this is even the case first. Further, to make a better study of it, I don't see much reason to limit incidents of fanaticism to suicide bombings only, or even necessarily to religious identification. It makes more sense to me to examine a multitude of criminal activities worldwide along with demographic data and let the patterns speak for themselves. A priori assumptions that Muslims do this more than all other groups combined are not of interest to me. I'm not sure it's that interesting even with the right evidence, because then a question is begged:

What do you do with this information?

And I think some of the answers to that question are dangerous.

One source I found suggests that Islam is the leader, but others have a significant share:

The group that has carried out the most suicide attacks in the period 1980-2001 is the Tamil Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Sri Lanka. LTTE accounted for more than 40% of all suicide attacks during this period. While the LTTE is a secular movement, the LTTE soldiers were not Muslims, but Hindus and Catholics.

Suicide Bombing ≠ Religious Fervor – PRIO Blogs

The article also makes an interesting point: that Muslim suicide bombers tend to only be "moderately" religious.

 

[Nakosis]

Why is it so rare to hear of a suicide bombers that is doing it for another faith besides Islam?

Without trolling, please explain why you think this is?

It's just always interested me that someone could think they would have reward in heaven for committing suicide and taking out innocent people in the process. It's just mind-boggling to me that anyone can have such convictions!

Why do such convictions come from Muslims more than adherents of all other faith combined?

Seems the media provides a lot of the motivation for suicide bombers.

Instead, Professor Merari found that "national humiliation" ranked higher as a reason for an attack.
"This was by far the clearest, strongest motivation they expressed.
"It is not a matter of personal suffering; they tried to avenge their communities suffering. They mentioned events that they saw on television, not events that happened to them personally."

New study delves inside a suicide bomber's mind - BBC News

 

[BSM1]

It's the promise of many wives in heaven for sacrifice me thinks.

And a really good BLT sammich.

 

[Vee]

Why is it so rare to hear of a suicide bombers that is doing it for another faith besides Islam?

Without trolling, please explain why you think this is?

It's just always interested me that someone could think they would have reward in heaven for committing suicide and taking out innocent people in the process. It's just mind-boggling to me that anyone can have such convictions!

Why do such convictions come from Muslims more than adherents of all other faith combined?

Many, many pages can be written about this subject but I'll try to be brief. Here is France we have many muslims, most of which are perfectly normal people who wouldn't cause harm to anyone. But they are also a community who doesn't integrate, no matter what anyone says. They keep to themselves and try to live at the same time in both worlds, keeping traditions and views that have no place in a modern society, such as the way they view women, but at the same time wanting to exist in a capitalist, materialistic modern world.
Here in France after the second world war there was a huge need for workers to rebuild the country. Many of those workers came from Portugal, Spain and other european countries, and those were able to fit in just fine since they already had the same social values.
Many others came from the french colonies in Africa: countries like Algeria and Morocco, of muslim background. Those people were all piled up into ghettos, built outside France's biggest cities, where they've been living ever since, isolated in communities where nobody wants any contact with. The french didn't accept them because they couldn't relate to the muslim mentality and muslims didn't make any effort because in the muslim culture you don't change yourself, you force others to change in order to fit in your box, and I don't mean this in an offensive way, it's just what it is.
The children of those people were born in France and have french passports but they are not french since they don't share the culture. They try to fit into the culture of their ancestors and please their families and at the same time they have to live in a modern european country. They don't have an identity and they feel powerless. For many of them life is not what it was promised to them growing up. Suddenly they are young adults and they don't belong anywhere so they become easy targets to radicalism.
They become terrorists for the same reason elsewhere other young men join gangs. being part of a terrorist organization gives them a sense of identity and power, even if that power is to murder innocents.

 

[Spiderman]

Many, many pages can be written about this subject but I'll try to be brief. Here is France we have many muslims, most of which are perfectly normal people who wouldn't cause harm to anyone. But they are also a community who doesn't integrate, no matter what anyone says. They keep to themselves and try to live at the same time in both worlds, keeping traditions and views that have no place in a modern society, such as the way they view women, but at the same time wanting to exist in a capitalist, materialistic modern world.
Here in France after the second world war there was a huge need for workers to rebuild the country. Many of those workers came from Portugal, Spain and other european countries, and those were able to fit in just fine since they already had the same social values.
Many others came from the french colonies in Africa: countries like Algeria and Morocco, of muslim background. Those people were all piled up into ghettos, built outside France's biggest cities, where they've been living ever since, isolated in communities where nobody wants any contact with. The french didn't accept them because they couldn't relate to the muslim mentality and muslims didn't make any effort because in the muslim culture you don't change yourself, you force others to change in order to fit in your box, and I don't mean this in an offensive way, it's just what it is.
The children of those people were born in France and have french passports but they are not french since they don't share the culture. They try to fit into the culture of their ancestors and please their families and at the same time they have to live in a modern european country. They don't have an identity and they feel powerless. For many of them life is not what it was promised to them growing up. Suddenly they are young adults and they don't belong anywhere so they become easy targets to radicalism.
They become terrorists for the same reason elsewhere other young men join gangs. being part of a terrorist organization gives them a sense of identity and power, even if that power is to murder innocents.

That was very helpful. Thank you!

 

[Spiderman]

That was very helpful. Thank you!

Very sad as well.

 

[RoaringSilence]

It's the promise of many wives in heaven for sacrifice me thinks.

ask a real life husband most can't even handle one wife..if u get more in heaven its not really heaven then. if i ever convert to muslim i will choose divorce law as my subject in heaven.

 

[Kemosloby]

It's not for the virgins 'cause it's a lot of times women.

 

[columbus]

Why is it so rare to hear of a suicide bombers that is doing it for another faith besides Islam?

Because Muslim terrorists tend to have little to work with.
As opposed to Christians who have $3 million fighter/bombers from which they can drop bombs from 20000 feet.
Christian terrorists are just richer than Muslim terrorists. And possibly more cowardly, but I am not sure about that. Syrians used their fighter jets as well as the Usonian military.
Tom

 

[Muslim-UK]

In Islam, suicide killing is totally forbidden and the one who knows the ruling and goes ahead will spend eternity suffering the same form of suicide over and over again.

Do not take life, which Allah made sacred, other than in the course of justice. Qur'an 17:33

Allah decides how long each of us will live:
When their time comes they cannot delay it for a single hour nor can they bring it forward by a single hour. Qur'an 16:61

And no person can ever die except by Allah's leave and at an appointed term. Qur'an 3:145

Destroy not yourselves. Surely Allah is ever merciful to you. Qur'an 4:29

The Prophet said: "Amongst the nations before you there was a man who got a wound, and growing impatient (with its pain), he took a knife and cut his hand with it and the blood did not stop till he died. Allah said, 'My Slave hurried to bring death upon himself so I have forbidden him (to enter) Paradise.'" Sahih Bukhari 4.56.669