{"id":88869,"date":"2019-05-15T16:05:33","date_gmt":"2019-05-15T23:05:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=88869"},"modified":"2019-05-15T16:05:33","modified_gmt":"2019-05-15T23:05:33","slug":"the-making-of-islamic-extremism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2019\/05\/15\/the-making-of-islamic-extremism\/","title":{"rendered":"The Making of Islamic Extremism-"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dr D. Chandraratna<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

We need to examine the making of Islamic extremism now\nso that precautionary measures can be taken to avert future catastrophe\/s.  Before you venture into rehabilitating the\nyesterday’s terrorist the government must start a conversation with those who\nhave studied the problem to identify well in advance before they strike in\norder to guarantee the security of citizens. Islamic terrorist is different\nfrom other terrorists like the LTTE suicide cadre where the lower rank recruit\nis brainwashed to become the martyr for a cause for which he even lacks first\nhand experience. The Islamic terrorist\/ suicide bomber is carrying out a\nprescribed Godly mission who is intent on falling into the lap of God at the\nflick of a detonator switch to enjoy carnal pleasures that are forbidden by the\nsame God in this world. Given the incompetence that the GCE (O) level\npoliticians have shown so far, this has to be entrusted to criminologists\/\npsychologists and other experts who explore the evolution of the criminal mind.\nThey are familiar with the notion of the alienated self and its possible nexus\nwith the family, school, environment, psychology, personality and many other\nunderlying causes. The suicidal terrorist is an unknown quantity but with the\ndanger of terrorism and the magnitude of its horror becoming the new normal\ngreater attention is paid to the would be terrorist. Even in terrorism the\npolitical terrorist is easy to understand but the religious terrorist who blows\nup people to appease a God is a difficult proposition. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A rational discussion cannot take place if we do not\ntalk openly which is specially thwarted in times of crises. Hence we sprout\nfeel good solutions, which last only until the embers are doused. That kind of\nSanwedi sanhindiyawa (empathic coexistence?) is ephemeral. We need to ask the serious\nquestion whether Muslim society in general has an existential problem.\nPractically in every continent the recent violence associated with terrorism\nhas links to Islam and Muslims. From the America’s to Europe, Australasia and\nAfrica this cancer is fast growing and as the years roll on it is increasing in\nits monstrosity. A Muslim scholar resident in Australia has argued that the\nMuslim society is having an image problem and a tendency to self alienate them\nfrom the mainstream. This self-alienation in societies where the Muslims live\nas a minority is talked about in the West in response to the radicalization of\nthe youth in Western society. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the Sri Lankan context it is pertinent to pose the\nquestion whether our Muslims are a fractured, ‘morally inconsistent’, confused\nsociety. There are varying conflictual moral authority systems at play. Within\na wider democratic framework Muslim society operates as a mini ‘theocratic’\nstate, controlled by a priestly class. Given the multiplicity of contradictory scriptural\ninterpretations there are warring sects and collectivities. From the cloistered\nreligious worldviews each one of these moral systems grasp the world in parts\nbut not the totality. Godly moral canons cannot relate to the totality of the human\nworld because modern society has gone past the boundaries of a God dictated\nworld. They cannot take a critical stance outside of their values. In a sense\nthey have moral specialists who are simultaneously a graduate of a university\nbut illiterate in liberal worldly matters. There are those who are retailers\nwho sell the Godly canon through motivational preaching\u2019s and there are also buyers.\nThose who are confused flock to them. In such a culturally disorganized society\nthe fanatic and the psychopath see a respectable niche opening to win his\ndesired accolades from God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From a sociological viewpoint this is the constitutional\nduality of human nature, the duality of the body and its needs in conflict with\nthe soul. The idea of the homo duplex that earlier philosophers spoke of is in\na state of antagonism instead of being in a balance. We cannot pursue moral\nends without contradicting each other (body and soul), causing a split between\nthe two, without offending the instincts and the penchant for the desires\ndeeply rooted in our bodies. For civilizational advance it is necessary to\nrepress the excessive individualism of the body because the failure to repress\nthis part of the constructional duality of the human being leads to an anomic,\n‘asocial’ situation of normlessness or at best confusion. If the moral\nauthority has no relevance to the men\u2019s real material situation in their\nperformance of the occupational and social roles concomitant with natural\ntalents, society tends to decompose itself into a multitude of incoherent\ncorporations with a pervasive guilt complex in the wider society. Subcultural\nnorms of conduct sprout and with their different scriptural interpretations of\nmorality a ‘split personality’ complex abounds. Some of the pathological minds\nlead the groups and espouse oppositional conduct norms. The highly motivated\nreligious fanatic will not hesitate to jump the bounds of reason. No better\npower than the Cod’s command will justify his actions. The use of violence and\nother forms of degeneration are not evil per se but an occasion for\nself-congratulation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the Muslim society there is a love-hate nexus\nbetween the priestly class and the bureaucrat, politician and the financier who\noperate in the wider democratic framework. They in general are sympathetic to\nthe priestly class although they may not openly profess complete allegiance to\nthe strict Godly interpretations and even abhor violence.  The priestly class cultivates them and the\nfanatic sees him as an ally of the violent subcultures and its conduct norms,\nwhich need political and financial resources to survive. The fanatical\nsubculture needs the blessings of political power and bureaucratic favor to\ndefuse the thereat to the their moral authority system. These contradictory\nmoral authority systems make it difficult for the ordinary people to follow behavioral\npatterns in a socially adaptive manner. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therefore alienation is rampant. Living according to\nGod’s command and abiding by the strict conduct norms the alienated self finds acceptance\nand even a sense of superiority. The subculture of religious chauvinism\nbelieves that the Muslim social world must be unquestioned and in its determinist\nway human behaviors must be controlled. Those who want to live in the modern\nworld may enjoy the forbidden fruit in secret and the vices may be practiced in\ncloistered quarters. But guilt abounds in this theocratic society. Creating\nArabia by reintroducing the Arabic language, the beard, the desert landscape,\nthe dress, headgear are all part of the self-infliction of alienation.  Their politician offers subcultural groups\nexclusive schools, churches, political parties, ethnic ghettoes, banks, legal\nsystems and communication systems without hindrance. This is given the name\npragmatic politics by all and sundry, which in the final analysis is, becomes a\nhuge social menace.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dr D. Chandraratna We need to examine the making of Islamic extremism now so that precautionary measures can be taken to avert future catastrophe\/s.  Before you venture into rehabilitating the yesterday’s terrorist the government must start a conversation with those who have studied the problem to identify well in advance before they strike in order […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-88869","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dr-donald-chandraratna"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88869","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88869"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88869\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}