WhatFinger


Terrorists are driven by an irrational fear

Fear and the Future of Islam



Fear is a primal human emotion. It is also a tool of the weak, the impatient, and those who having sensed a deficit of power, feel that they have no other recourse than to use it to subdue their presumed enemies. These people are called terrorists.

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But the terrorist does not seek to merely inspire fear for its own sake. He seeks to bring about change. He hopes that those whom he terrorizes will be persuaded to reconsider their positions. Hence the terrorist is not only the weakest but also the least imaginative of all change agents. And he is also the most cowardly, because terrorists themselves are also primarily motivated by fear. Terrorists live in a constant state of fear. This is the reason why upon his capture, the young terrorist in the Mumbai massacre pleaded that his life be spared. These were not the words of a courageous would-be martyr, but of a man seized by great fear. Terrorists are driven by an irrational fear of those who represent the irreversible loss of that which they hold most dear. This is also why Islamic terrorists single out Jews and Americans for sacrifice whenever they go on their rampages. To them, the latter represent a great evil, which they fear someday, may consume their whole way of life. In their desperation at what seems an unstoppable force they call the Great Satan or the evil Zionist empire, they strike out in fear. But their accomplishments are short-lived, since fear has a relatively short life span in those who are initially intimidated by it. Those who have been changed by fear will eventually reevaluate their positions when the fear has subsided, unless there are diligent and recurrent efforts on the part of the fear mongers to keep fear aflame. Fear is also at the root of Islam, which incidentally, a good portion of today’s terrorist organizations claim as their religion. And for centuries, Muslim terrorists have also used fear as a tool for indoctrination. There is the fear that if any of the religion’s dictates are violated lives will be lost. If someone steals, Islamic religion prescribes that the thief’s hand be severed. If a woman breaks her marriage vows through adultery she must be executed. If one chooses to remain an infidel he must also be killed. These are not ancient doctrines that have relapsed due to cultural exigencies in our modern world, but current tenets still respected by many countries where Islam reigns supreme. In such countries, merely pointing out these facts in an unfavorable light would place one’s life in jeopardy. This is the milieu in which the Muslim religion thrives. It is the soil on which it nourishes itself. It simply can not survive without fear. When we turn on the news and we hear of a terrorist attack, or that Christians have been killed in any given Middle Eastern country, or that people rioting on the streets and threatening death and destruction because their religion has been blasphemed and its prophet mocked, few if any are shocked to hear that it is those of the Muslim faith that have been offended or have perpetrated the crimes. But it is an affront in today’s civilized discourse, which prides itself on the virtue of tolerance, to brand any religion as one that breeds the terrorist element. We seek not to offend in this our diverse world where every religion should be given the opportunity to flourish in peace. There’s no reasonable disagreement on that claim, but the fact is that many who advocate for the inclusiveness of all creeds also have one singular motivating factor for their refusal to openly point out the obvious. They are also besieged by a fear that precludes them from admitting they have suppressed the unpleasant facts of a certain creed under the pretence of civility. Thus they have purchased a fragile tranquility at the exorbitant price of truth. Their primary motivation is not that they wish not to offend, but that doing so may further incite a potentially deadly response from a significantly large portion of those who hold this religion sacred. And that is what they most fear. Thus Islam will endure only as long as it employs fear to silence those who will slander it and eventually those who will not surrender to it. But no true religion can long survive that claims to love peace, but seeks to teach such values by threatening its potential converts into submission. And that which seeks to be inculcated primarily through fear of losing one’s life and limb does not inspire genuine love and sincere devotion from its subjects. And herein lies a terrorist’s greatest fear. When the day comes that people are willing to speak the truth about Islam without fear, Islam will eventually vanish, or worse, it will be gradually consigned to the decrepit pantheon of castrated, secularized religions. And ironically, it will be the terrorists themselves who will facilitate the demise of their own creed, because from the beginning, it has been built upon foundations of fear rather than love. For in all of history, fear has never been known to engender genuine love and lasting devotion. It is rather love which has always vanquished even the greatest of fears.


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Miguel A. Guanipa -- Bio and Archives

Miguel Guanipa is a freelance journalist.


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