Farhana Ali’s research while affiliated with George Washington University and other places

This paper reviews current understandings of the psychology of suicide terrorism for psychiatrists and other mental health professionals to help them better understand this terrifying phenomenon. After discussing key concepts and definitions, the paper reviews both group and individual models for explaining the development of suicide terrorists, with an emphasis on "collective identity." Stressing the importance of social psychology, it emphasizes the "normality" and absence of individual psychopathology of the suicide bombers. It will discuss the broad range of terrorisms, but will particularly emphasize terrorism associated with militant Islam. The article emphasizes that comprehending suicide terrorism requires a multidisciplinary approach that includes anthropological, economic, historical, and political factors as well as psychological ones. The paper concludes with a discussion of implications for research, policy, and prevention, reviewing the manner in which social psychiatric knowledge and understandings applied to this phenomenon in an interdisciplinary framework can assist in developing approaches to counter this deadly strategy.

1. Fitna has been translated as chaos, “time of temptation,” war, and anarchy. The word originated from the early struggles Muslims faced after the Prophet Muhammad died in 680 AD, leaving a political vacuum for the newly established Muslim community. After his death, four caliphs were selected to lead the Islamic community, which then soon spread across different countries to include Iraq, Egypt, and Syria. 2. Murder by a band of soldiers is an event of great magnitude, for the death leaves the fourth and last caliph in Islam, Ali ibn Talib, with the burden of rooting out dissenters among the Islamic caliphate. Not knowing the identities of the killers and their supporters, Ali opted to maintain order by not seeking vengeance. But his efforts failed, and his five years in power were defined by internal strife within the Muslim community. Ali’s supporters in Kufa, however, continued to seek retribution for his murder and remain opposed to the newly declared Caliph Muawwiya, who moved his kingdom to Damascus, Syria, which further removed the Muslim community from Mecca, the birthplace of the Prophet and home to Islam’s early adherents. 3. Former theorists of Muslim law authorized the rights and duties of the Muslim scholar to declare war against a kuffar (infidel) ruler/people. Former Indian scholar Maulavi Chiragh Ali asserts that it is the absolute right of the Muslims to fight in defense of Islam when it is attacked; similar arguments have been circulated and repackaged in the works of Abdallah Azzam, the former veteran mujahideen coordinator of the Afghan jihad, and the writings of Yousef al-Ayiri, a key ideologue of the Al Qaeda network in Saudi Arabia who was killed by Saudi security forces in June 2004. For background texts on jihad, see Jalal (2002) and Peters (1996). 4. This concept is known as jihad fard ‘ayn. In the contemporary period, Abdullah Azzam, who was the mentor of Osama bin Laden, highlighted this concept in his major work, “In Defense of Muslim Lands.” A myriad of other Islamic scholars and terrorists alike support the concept, including Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi’s work, From the Fruits of Jihad, and former Saudi Al Qaeda ideologue, Yusuf al-Ayyiri. See Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi, “Between the Permissible and What is Better, and Between the Legislated and What is More Beneficial”; al-Ayyiri’s work “The way to Jihad, How the Nation can Reach it, and What is the Understanding of the Way.” Doha-based cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi’s work can be found at the Middle East Research Institute (MEMRI) or www.islamonline.net. 5. The golden era of the caliphate refers to the rule of a democratically chosen caliph until the fall of the Ottomans in 1924. 6. As in Christianity, Muslims in general have nothing more in common with each other than the fact that they share a “Muslim” identity, albeit one that this enormously diverse and complex. 7. A reference to civilizations that had forgotten the teachings of the previous messengers, including Christ, until the advent of Islam. 8. Also stated in a separate fatwa published in 1984. 9. A large number of authors, both classical and contemporary, have written on this subject. For background, see Ahmad (2001 and 2000). Also see A’la Mawdudi (2000 and 1991); Qutb (1993); ‘Abduh (2004); and Ahmed (1990). 10. A faltwa is a published opinion or decision regarding religious doctrine or law made by a recognized authority, often called a mufti. From Glasse (1989: 125). 11. Literature on the meaning of myths can be useful. According to philosopher Alisdair MacIntyre (1970), myths are neither true nor false, but living or dead. So long as myths give meaning to life, it becomes significant. See MacIntyre (1970), Anderson (1991), and Levi-Strauss (1987). 12. See Paz (2006), who states that between 2000 and 2003, al-Ayiri authored about 40 books and long articles in Arabic on the doctrine of jihad. Published on the Internet, al-Ayiri became known to most of the world after his death in June 2003 by the Saudi police. 13. Published as a series of 11 articles on the website of the Center for Islamic Studies and...