That’s the more-than-wrong label for attacks on innocent civilians.
Don’t blame the media for shorthand. They’ve used the code word we’d recognize quickly, but it’s time for a change. Just like toddlers on the playground or drunks in a bar fight, using violence to drive home an opinion proves the weakness of the argument… and of the perpetrator.
We see it all over the news, sadly, more and more often. Cowardly copycats lashing out at people who have nothing to do with their religion or their objections, offended about some belief held by distant people he doesn’t even know, and imagining they gain power by causing pain and fear and loss to random strangers. This couldn’t be more wrong-headed. Luckily, you’re smarter than their manipulations.
Attacks on innocent civilians are, more accurately, stupid, self-defeating, and a sin against Islamic doctrine. Stupid, because the lasting effect is to inflame the world’s opinion of Moslems, and create anger and enemies. Every father and son and brother and daughter, every friend and child and neighbor who is frightened or killed, increases the world’s fury and hatred. The attackers do even greater harm to Islam than they do to their innocent victims: Mohammed — peace and the blessings of Allah be upon him — founded a doctrine of submission and kindness. These selfish destructive acts are exactly the opposite of what Mohammed — peace be upon him — instructs.
Additionally, religious doctrine teaches that the killing of innocents incurs a blood-debt on the killer; for an observant Moslem educated in his religion, this is a terrible sin with terrible penalties. The victims have no power to change national policies — other than possibly with their one vote, and that doesn’t even apply to the children who are maimed and killed.
In secular consequences, attacks are just plain stupid. There’s no personal aggrandizement of the attackers. Their names often aren’t known until the victims’ identities are confirmed, and the attacks are usually referred to by the location, like “the London Bridge truck attack” or “the Paris Bataclan concert hall suicide bombing.”
When attackers shout “Allahu Akhbar” they shame themselves, their co-religionists and their spiritual leader. How can they imagine Allah is pleased or made greater by self-indulgent idiots killing innocents in his name? These attackers are not religious zealots, they’re self-justifying toddlers with weapons.
The terms “terrorism” or “terrorists” are 180 degrees wrong. The perpetrators of these shootings and bombings and truck attacks are cowards who justify their actions by their emotions — not by their religious doctrines. The cowardice is obvious because they kill random strangers who can’t affect government actions or opinions — unless of course, the victims were to be as wrong as the attackers, using violence to cause pain but not a positive change.
Suicide bombers show their lack of manhood, setting up situations where events or law enforcement officials will kill them because they don’t have the courage or decency to simply kill themselves. If the attackers are trying for immortality, they might achieve being remembered beyond their earthly lives, but those remembrances will be curses. Using terms connected to “terror” grants the perpetrators power they haven’t earned. It speaks to the effects of the attackers’ actions and only makes the world’s populations nervous.
You’ve heard that “the devil is in the details.” This time, the devil is in the verbiage. Don’t empower the enemies of peace and Islam. It’s not “terrorism,” it’s “violently selfish stupidity.”
By April Hannah
