Beyond Fundamentalism: Confronting Religious Extremism in the Age of Globalization

by Reza Aslan

It seems not to matter that, on the topic of suicide, the Qur’an is absolutely clear: “Do not kill yourself; if someone does so [God] shall cast him into Hell” (4:29–30). Nor does it seem important that countless sayings (Hadith) of the Prophet Muhammad refer to the gruesome punishment that awaits those who take their own lives: “Whoever purposely throws himself from a mountain and kills himself, he will forever be falling into the fire of Hell, wherein he will abide eternally; whoever drinks poison and kills himself with it, he will forever be carrying his poison in his hand and drinking it in the fire of Hell, wherein he will abide eternally; whoever kills himself with an iron weapon, will forever be carrying that weapon in his hand and stabbing his abdomen with it in the fire of Hell, wherein he will abide eternally.” The Qur’an is equally unambiguous in its injunction against killing women, children, the elderly, protected minorities, and, most significantly, other Muslims. Some Jihadist ideologues go to great lengths to try to justify both suicide terrorism and attacks against fellow Muslims or civilian targets (“If the unbelievers kill young and old,” argues Yusuf al-Ayiri, the Saudi Jihadist who was once bin Laden’s bodyguard, “then Muslims should be permitted to do the same”). Yet even bin Laden has stated that “the one issue on which all people are agreed, even if they themselves have been the victims of oppression and hostility, is that you cannot kill innocent c...