Jihad: Where religion and murder meet – opinion

JPOST

Since the war with Hamas started, I’ve been following the news – and its nonstop analysis – mainly through podcasts. If I had to choose just a single episode to recommend, one that expertly explains what’s going on in the region – and ultimately the world – episode 340 of Sam Harris’s Making Sense would be my choice.In 59 clear-eyed minutes, Harris explains what jihad is in Islam, what its goals are, and how to counter the inevitable horrific outcome. 

He may not change any minds – as if that’s possible in today’s polarized social media-fueled environment – but for those willing to listen, Harris’s sober elucidation provides a much-needed dose of reality.

In the episode titled “The bright line between good and evil,” Harris starts by bemoaning the fact that since October 7, “millions of people can’t do the moral arithmetic here or have confidently produced the wrong answer. [That’s] an enormous problem for open societies everywhere – because this should not have been confusing.”

Hamas’s October 7 massacre, Harris argues, “should have made it instantly clear, to everyone, certainly everyone on a college campus, that jihadist groups like Hamas are the permanent enemies of civilization.

”The opposite seems to have occurred.  

How did we get to this place of such moral confusion? 

Why do people not understand the murderous nature of jihad, Hamas?

It’s from a fundamental misconception where “we imagine that people everywhere want the same things: They want to live safe and prosperous lives. They want clean drinking water and good schools for their kids,” Harris says.

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So if a particular group starts “behaving in extraordinarily destructive ways – practicing suicidal terrorism against noncombatants, for instance – they must have been pushed into extremes by others.” 

You know, like Israel.

BUT IF it’s not Israel’s behavior that “explains the suicidal and genocidal inclinations of a group like Hamas,” Harris asks, then what motivates the terrorists? 

Harris refuses to pull any punches: It’s religion that’s the problem here. Put starkly, “When you believe that life in this world has no value, apart from deciding who goes to hell and who goes to paradise, it becomes possible to feel perfectly at ease killing noncombatants or even using your own women and children as human shields.”

Indeed, if you take martyrdom and paradise seriously, “it becomes impossible to make moral errors,” Harris says. “If you blow yourself up in a crowd, your fellow Muslims will go straight to paradise. You’ve actually done them a favor. Unbelievers will go to hell, where they belong. However many lives you destroy, it’s all good.”

Harris insists he isn’t trying to tar all Muslims as jihadists. But for the extremists, it’s critical to take them at their word when they cry “God is great” while raping, burning, and beheading. 

“For the jihadist, all of this sadism – the torture murder of helpless, terrified people – is an act of worship. This is the sacrament,” Harris continues. “This is what you do for the glory of God.”

Anshel Pfeffer, writing in Haaretz, has said pretty much the same thing…