The Downward Evolution of Suicide Bombings

Talk about a warped quest for equal rights! American women fought for the right to vote, the right to enter the workforce, and considerations for competitive pay and promotion opportunities alongside their male counterparts. To be an American woman is a desired and sought after status for many women of the world residing in other nations. It seems that in the bizarre world of anti-Western jihad a few Islamic women are stirring up a ruckus for the right to blow themselves to smithereens.

One of the issues which I have presented when talking of these things with Islamic scholars is how ideology based on a false premise will eventually disrupt the natural order of things within the smallest of societal units, the family. So while the unnatural and ideologically displaced institution ofsuicide bombing initially began with male participation we are now seeing it move into the traditional family chain of command structure to include women. As talk precedes action, this chatter for Muslim women to join the ranks of suicide bombers should chill to the bone.

The slow trickle down effect of Al-Qaedah, Hezbollah and Hamas where every citizen is a sacrificial soldier is impacting family life in the Middle East. A brushstroke of the subtle effects of the paintbrush of jihad across the canvas of the Middle East can be seen by viewing the poster on this site for a Teacher’s Day celebration in Lebanon. (Scroll half-way down this site.) Shouldn’t these children be learning how to read and write? And when the Hamas Political Bureau Chief claimed recently that the spirit of martyrdom has been embraced by Palestinian youth, does he mean those having attained to an age of maturity based on Islamic belief, or are we talking twelve year old boys?

References to Jihad in the Qur’an during the Makki period provided the unfolding of Jihad as the internal struggle of man within himself. Jihad of the pen and the tongue are commended. During the Madani period comes the coupling of Jihad with the word Qitaal or “fight”. Referenced 26 times, the fight in the Way of Allah is not gender specific for women to engage the physical fight. Women fall in the category of being allowed to “spend in the Way of Allah”, providing financial support but not engaging active physical hostilities.

One of the famous stories within the annals of early Islamic warfare is that of “Hamza’s liver”. A woman of the Quraish tribe entered the battlefield after the Battle of Uhud to cannibalize the liver of Prophet Muhammad's uncle, Hamza. This woman, Hind, sought revenge for deaths in her family brought about by Hamza. This particular story has always been a hot topic in various Islamic chat rooms. Did she eat the liver raw or did she boil the liver? Completely missing within these discourses is the subject of women within the battlespace.

Jihad can mean to go forth, hence physical battle lines, as it is expressed in Qur’an 9:41. But there seems to be a lack of sorting it out within the Ummah as to whether this “fard” (obligation) is one of collective obligation (fard al-kifaya) to possibly include women, or one of individual obligation (fard ul-ayn) with exclusivity for the men of the community to move into protective or defensive function.

If the Islamic community continues to embrace an overarching mandate of Jihad extending to women and children, encased in a 21st century vision which believes suicide bombing to be a legitimized function of the Islamic Ummah, we ain’t seen nothing yet.

Tammy Swofford