Does Islam have a Death Wish?

We've all seen it -- some place, blown to pieces. And the cause these days, almost without exception, is Muslim terrorists. Nowadays these bombings are often the end of a terrorist's life too, as a man (usually it's a man) blows himself up with his bomb.

Aside from the damage and disturbance to the lives of people who survive these events -- what can be said about those who die except their lives all ended prematurely and tragically? -- one has to ask what these terrorists are trying to accomplish. While everyone knows the arguments about resisting occupation and other issues that remain poignant and compelling in the Israeli/Palestinian dispute, it now seems this means of Islamic expression has spread around the world. Are Muslims "occupied" all over the world?

Perhaps Muslim people truly think so. Certainly there is evidence to suggest their economic plight, aside from those who are fortunate enough to be floating on immense oil wealth, is often below that of the societies in which they live. Perhaps too there is some unalloyed prejudice against Muslims in some places.

But it seems perhaps there is something else going on...

It seems a certain segment of Muslims want to be liberated from their religion. Until that happens, they want the rest of the world to suffer as much as they do. This is why they prefer death to life Or to be accurate, this is why they say they prefer death to life.

Do Muslims want to be liberated from their religion? Such an idea is supported by their depiction of the afterlife: a heaven in which they get all that they are not permitted to have while alive. Many other religious people want to be liberated from their religions as well, but it seems Islam resides at the top of that list by a wide margin.

It is naive to imagine that Muslims wish they had a different religion, something to replace Islam. Their God will not tolerate it. The precepts of their faith will not tolerate it. Their practices will not tolerate it. These people would be perfectly capable of liberating themselves if this were not the case.

This is why also democracy is not accepted in the Muslim world. It quite precisely violates features of their religion. Or it violates what some Muslims view as fundamental precepts of their religion. This is also why theocracy is accepted, even desired, in the Muslim world. And finally this is why there will never be a Muslim writer declaring that Muslims want to be liberated from their religion. Even to speak such ideas is blasphemous.

Yet Islam exists in a world where individual freedoms are increasing. Even in China, where the collective has for generations superceded the individual, individual freedoms have grown. Perhaps nowhere other than China is the problem Muslims face more uncomplicated: in China Muslims struggle against the larger community and the state in which they exist.

Muslims have split into two "schools". One apparently follows the absolute authority of Koranic teaching, jihad, and sacrifice of the individual life in service to Allah. It is in many ways the violent equivalent to monastic life.

The other "school" of Islam is moderate and modern Islam, where people follow a ceremonial obeisance to the precepts of the Koran while living a life shaped by personal concerns of well-being, family and happiness. To the first school, these second school members have betrayed the essence of Islam in exchange for comfort, even indulgence. It is no surprise the jihadists have so little concern about their more moderate brethren (and sisters too) when they assault social institutions and societies they believe threaten Islam.

So it is strange to consider that these vigorous defenders of Islam are the ones who actually wish to be liberated from their faith! The moderates have already managed to achieve a degree of liberation by a more casual interpretation of Koranic teachings.

But few if any of the Muslims of the first school will likely admit having a wish to be liberated from Islam. Nevertheless, they do not ever even vaguely suggest that the afterlife to which they so strongly strive contains any of the hallmarks of their current faith and practice. It seems the heaven toward which these devoted ones all aim is the most un-Islamic place possible. Rather it is a place of great indulgence, even debauchery. Further, its depiction of women in this heaven certainly indicates no devout Muslim women ever reach there.

Islamic institutions fail to point out these features of their faith. To do so would reveal its absurdity. Just as Christianity achieved a reformation centuries ago, so also someday perhaps will Islam reform. Perhaps some of these issues will participate in that transformation.