Religious Suicide in Islamic Asia

Abstract

Most modern studies of terrorism have been synchronic or ahistorical, focusing on immediate problems and ignoring the more profound conflicts that give rise to terrorist attacks. This failure to take into account long-term conflicts that give rise to terrorist attacks is especially noticeable in the research on Middle Eastern terrorism, for most published studies ignore the shared historical experience of Muslims, especially their cultural memory of their centuries-long confrontation with the West. This article demonstrates that even the most intimidating form of modern terrorism, the suicidal attack, such as that which destroyed the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, has been used repeatedly over several centuries by Muslims in three Asian Muslim communities as a means of attacking militarily superior European and American colonial powers. A study of such incidents in Islamic Asia establishes a basis for understanding the attitudes of Middle Eastern Muslims, provides insights into the dynamics of terrorist attacks, and illustrates the necessity of political solutions to the problems of terrorism in both Asia and the Middle East.