Belief is one of the most strongest and abstract tool of the human mind. It can give rise to customs, culture and religion. In fact, our very existence can be a product of belief, who knows? Many existentialists believe that we have existential needs like need to be loved, a chance to be forgiven, unbiased justice and fairness- which leads to faith in God, a sanctuary of the ever curious and unsatisfied human mind. However, what we see is not all that exists; it’s not very long that we discovered that human eyes can perceive a very tiny slot of the electromagnetic spectrum, much of the phenomenon that exists beyond human physical capability is left to the mind. I mean I cannot even see my eyelids with my own eyes! The concept of solipsism from an epistemological view suggests anything perceived by human is an illusion. This makes belief our only option to understand reality and beyond. Death and afterlife are a very clever choice of events to lead people to believe in God: it’s impossible to take an account of a dead person, it’s the greatest enigma.
In the minds of the wrong person, belief can be the tool of destruction and devastation- it can be religious like suicide bombings or ideological like anti-Semitism- the holocaust. I believe religion is an attempt, going on for millennia, to harness this power of belief to do what is righteous. Now what is righteous needs justification which needs further justification and leads to infinite regression and infinite conflict. Most Islamic researchers agree that suicide bombing is haram (forbidden) in Islam, in fact suicide is one the most sinful crimes anyone can commit. However some “scholars” argue that the semantics of the word suicide in suicide bombing is a misnomer. Whichever way you put it, it’s someone bombing himself up killing himself and many others to achieve, what he believe was the only option for justice, hoping his deed would undoubtedly land him in heaven. But it’s tragic, that nowadays many of the bombings are merely part of an elaborate political scheme, to strike fear and terror about certain groups who in the name of religion are actually seeking political power. Innocent people are being killed in large numbers. These conversions into brainwashed weapons of mass destruction, is the best way to spread their “message”. In Islam it’s a ubiquitous proverb that “killing a single innocent human is like killing the whole of humanity, saving an innocent being is like saving the whole of humanity”. Suicide bombing has become a major issue trending in Muslim dominated countries, there are tons of news articles out there, matter of fact in the time of my writing there was a suicide attack “Ottawa man killed in Somalia suicide bombing, attack blamed on Al-Qaeda affiliated Al-Shabaab” 10 others were also killed.(Refer:2) I for one am pretty sure this is not what “God” intended. It’s a tragedy because nothing good is ever going to come out of it, it is neither a Holy nor a just war. Most of these bombings are based on political grounds while those poor souls, unbeknownst of the real intentions of their “masters”, bomb their life away believing there is heaven waiting. (Refer: 3) Many of these bombers are children. It horrifies me and disgusts me, to know how the human mind can be molded and belief be exploited to satisfy the lustful needs of the “leaders”. The term jihad which is now synonymous with the word “murder” actually means ones battle with his/her nafs (lust, immoral desires and ego). Islam means attaining peace by submitting your will to God, taking away innocent lives is not what the religion preaches.
In Peshawar Pakistan, 9 people were killed in a restaurant; it is believed that the suicide bomber primarily targeted the shitte Muslim minority just as the government and Islamist militants prepared to meet for peace talks. Among the 30-40 injured were a number of very young children.(Refer:1) It sickens me, how Islam is misinterpreted, twisted and shaped to brainwash victims to the point of killing themselves just to get their unjust claims across. A tool as powerful as religion, to infiltrate into the very depths of a person’s moral, in the wrong hands is very dangerous. The holy books are to people as a constitution is to a state. It requires proper interpretation to discern what is moral and just to humanity. People should use their head and heart before the act of believing. Because believing in humanity is what keeps it alive.
(1)http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2551712/Suicide-bomb-tears-Pakistani-city-Peshawar-just-hours-peace-talks-Taliban-delayed.html
(2)http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/ottawa-man-killed-in-somalia-suicide-bombing-1.2547082
(3)http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/10/20121014102539659862.html
F.A#205
Understanding World Religions 
Dear author,
The section of this article that addresses the meaning of jihad leaves a tremendous amount to be desired.
You wrote:
“The term jihad which is now synonymous with the word “murder” actually means ones battle with his/her nafs (lust, immoral desires and ego).”
While I understand that this assignment does not offer sufficient space to discuss such an issue satisfactorily, there are a few glaring problems in your article that I am compelled to mention.
1. Your definition of jihad can only plausibly apply to the “greater jihad”; the inner struggle of believers to fulfill their religious duties. However, focussing on the “greater jihad” in an effort to show the incoherence of suicide bombing vis-a-vis Islamic doctrine is problematic for the following important reason: it is the “lesser jihad”, being the physical struggle against the enemies of Islam, that is used to justify the atrocities you so detest.
2.There is a consensus among Islamic scholars that the concept of jihad must always include armed struggle on behalf of the faith. (Ghamidi, Javed (2001). “The Islamic Law of Jihad”. Mizan. Dar ul-Ishraq. OCLC 52901690). And while some argue that this physical and armed struggle can be non-violent (i.e. “Jihad of the pen”), there exists a very heavily populated camp within Islamic scholarship that argues for the definition of jihad as “holy war”, entailing a violent and militaristic struggle for the purposes of establishing a global caliphate.
3. In pouring over the Quran, one quickly notes that these violent and militaristic preachments have ample canonical support, and are not merely the result of those in power, as you claim, twisting the truths of Islam for their power-political purposes. What I consider to be good examples of this assessment can be found at: (2:190-193), (2:216), (3:140), perhaps (4:55-56), (5:57), and on and on. After an honest reading of the text, one can understand how Sayyid Qutb, the father of modern Islam among the Sunni, would be led to marvel over how, not exactly in the spirit of humanitarianism, “The Koran points to another contemptible characteristic of the Jews: their craven desire to live, no matter at what price and regardless of quality, honour, and dignity.” It has to be said that such a distillation would meld quite nicely with those found in Mein Kampf.
4. Moving beyond scholarship, what do the Muslim people believe? Upwards of 38,000 individuals participated in a global survey conducted by the Pew Research Centre for the People and the Press. The results constitute the first publication of its Global Attitudes Project entitled “What the World Thinks in 2002”. The survey included the following question, posed only to Muslims:
“Some people think that suicide bombing and other forms of violence against CIVILIAN targets are justified in order to defend Islam from its enemies. Other people believe that, no matter what the reason, this kind of violence is never justified. Do you personally feel that this kind of violence is often justified to defend Islam, sometimes justified, rarely justified, or never justified.”
Justifiable? Lebanon 73%-YES 21%-NO, Ivory Coast 56%-YES 44%-NO, Nigeria 47%-YES 45%-NO, Bangladesh 44%-YES 37%-NO, Jordan 43%-YES 48%-NO, and so on down the line. Moreover, it should be noted that states from which we could expect the worst results (Yemen, Egypt, Iran, Sudan, Iraq, the Palestinian territories, etc.) were not included in the survey. Additionally, the numbers are even more troubling than they appear; “rarely justified” was counted as a NO along with “never justified” in the PEW survey. If we move the “rarely justified” responses over to the YES count, where they seemingly belong, countries like Jordan would slide from the percentages given above to 65%-YES and 26%-NO. Also, to make matters even worse, suicide bombing of course entails suicide, which most Muslims believe is expressly forbidden by Allah. Therefore, it is not a stretch to imagine that if this survey was conducted in regards to killing civilians while preserving your own life, the YES responses to the modified question would be much higher.
While I understand that blogs are supposed to allow writers to express their opinion on a subject, in light of what is presented above I believe your purported statement of fact regarding jihad is at best reckless and unacceptably incomplete, and at worst completely wrong.
Clearly, your kind interpretation of jihad is the preferable one, and the world would be better off if it was the one held by all, or even the majority of, Muslims. Unfortunately, despite our wishes to the contrary, this is not the present reality of Islamic doctrine or the beliefs of vast segments of the global Muslim population. Osama Bin Laden expounded a very plausible reading of the Quran, and one that would find much agreement within current Islamic scholarship. This is cause for concern, and honesty and plain speaking are necessary ingredients in finding the recipe to deal with this problem.
All of the best.