Does Islam Promote Violence?

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In many Muslim nations, children grow up learning to love death as much as we love life.  Psychologists have said that there currently exists a “cult or martyrdom” in parts of the Muslim world.  Anne Speckhard has written: “From a very young age children are socialized into a group consciousness that honors ‘martyrs,’ including human bombers who have given their lives for the fight against what is perceived by Palestinians to be the unjust occupation of their lands. Young children are told stories of ‘martyrs.’ Many young people wear necklaces venerating particular ‘martyrs,’ posters decorate the walls of towns and rock and music videos extol the virtues of bombers.”

This “cult of martyrdom” even infects children’s cartoons.  One popular weekly Hamas TV show called “Tomorrow’s Pioneers” is co-hosted by an 11-year-old girl who aspires to be a homicide bomber.  The show encourages children to call in and recite poems with images of hate and violence.  And a Mickey Mouse look-alike instructs young viewers to fight the “Zionist Occupation” and even instructs boys and girls how to slay non-Muslims.  But the giant mouse, called Farfour, has been written out of the script—killed off by Israeli interrogators.
 
Given the culture of terror and martyrdom that defines life for many Muslims, it is no wonder that Israeli military reports have detailed hundreds of cases of children involved in violent attacks on Israelis.

It’s the philosophy that causes a Palestinian mother to leap for joy upon hearing of her son or daughter’s death as a homicide bomber, as long as the child killed Jews in the process.  Some countries have even offered death benefits for the families of those who become homicide bombers.
 
Miriam Farahat, a Palestinian mother who has raised three sons to be homicide bombers for Hamas, exemplifies the culture of death in some Muslim nations.  Known throughout Gaza as Um Nidal, or “the mother of the struggle,” Farahat is featured in a Hamas recruitment video telling one 17-year-old son to attack Israelis and telling him not to return. And Farahat -- who is an elected member of the Hamas parliament -- says she is willing to sacrifice all her 10 sons to the war against Israel because “Israelis are not civilians and there are no prohibitions on killing them.”

For too many Muslims, Islam’s place in the world is a zero-sum affair:  they will impose Islam on the world or die trying.