TO THE EDITOR:
On March 16, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf (who has led an effort to build a controversial interfaith cultural center near the former World Trade Center site) will present the 2011 Weil Lecture on American citizenship. To prepare for this event, you may wish to examine Rauf’s remarks on similar occasions, such as his 2005 speech at the University of South Australia, available online.
Let’s look at just one of Rauf’s comments there. Having been asked if there is anything in Islamic religion or culture that predisposes individuals to become suicide bombers, Rauf replied that many people have suicidal thoughts (from being “jilted,” for example, or failing to “get tenure at the university”), and “if you can access those individuals and deploy them for your own worldly objectives, this is exactly what has happened in much of the Muslim world.”
This explanation seems to me grotesque. Would anyone try to explain the behavior of kamikaze pilots in World War II, for example, without citing prevailing attitudes toward the emperor and other aspects of Japanese culture? I would guess that the suicide bombers whom the questioner was asking about were homicidal before they were suicidal. Why do you suppose Rauf gave the kind of “explanation” he did?
Professor Marc Lange
Philosophy
