A small step for a Muslim ...

Why do Islamist terrorists carry out these atrocities? That's the question we all want answered - and I provide some answers based on psychology and sociology here.

The Islamist attacks on the West, such as the recent ones in Paris (13 Nov 2015), Charlie Hebdo, the London bus and tube attacks (2005), the Madrid train bombing (2004), 9/11 (2001) get our attention here in the West, even in New Zealand. But similar attacks are carried out hourly elsewhere against other Muslim sects, Christians, Hindus, Yazidis ... on and on; although the attacks in the MENA region get little attention in the West.

So why do they do it then? Browsing in our local bookshop recently I saw several books on the Islamic State (ISIL / ISIS) phenomenon. They get decent reviews on Amazon, but in my opinion they do not answer the 'why' question because they focus on the wrong thing. They focus exclusively on the political aspects, which while they have some relevance and provide some justification, does not give the whole picture.

The other part of the picture is somewhat taboo and few people seem to have identified it. Hence doesn't it get much airtime. That's the sociological and psychological side. Here I'll try to present a rational and logical view of this - but it assumes the reader has a bit of background in these areas.

Each attack is different, each attacker is different, they have different histories and backgrounds, different levels of education, different countries of origin, yet they strike with one purpose. 

It is well known that a common factor is the attackers' Muslim faith. But world leaders including Barack Obama, David Cameron, Angela Merkel, Francois Hollande and even our own John Key here in NZ have said that these attacks are 'nothing to do with Islam'. Muslim leaders have expressed similar sentiments. So what's the deal then?

Let's look at this another way. 

It is well known that Tribal culture is essentially anti self-esteem* by definition. The Tribe is everything; the individual is nothing without the Tribe. 

Islam is in essence a Tribal culture - there are strong rewards for joining and remaining within the 'group' (including those in afterlife) and strong threats and punishments for leaving or apostasy - death (and everlasting punishment in hell). The five pillars of Islam, while they are personal (ie things you do personally) are things that are done as a group. They are designed to strengthen in-group bonding, suppress individuality, give life meaning and diminish the terror of the grave for you.

• The declaration of faith (Shahada) is clearly little more than a pledge of allegiance to the group. It could literally save your life. At the time of the formation of Islam in 7th century tribal Arabia, with various forms of polytheism prevalent, the Shahada was a renunciation of your previous tribal gods and acknowledgement of the Prophet Mohammed as Allah's messenger - his representative on Earth and therefore your new leader.
• Prayer (Salat), always includes multiple iterations of the Shahada, and a curse on the Jews and the Christians (last verse of Al Fatiha). Across the five daily prayer times the Shahada is repeated a minimum of 17 times per day and could easily be up to 44 times per day. Prayers take a total of 45-90 minutes per day (excluding ablution time). In summertime the first may be at 03:00 AM and the last at 23:00. This regime both requires and instils a high-level of  suppression of ones own mental, emotional and bodily desires and needs. The 'rewards' for praying as a group grow exponentially as more people take part. This is aimed at coercing all to participate and eliminating individuality. Group prayers are done in regimented straight lines facing Mecca, emphasising equality before Allah.
• Charity (Zakat), is a form of mandatory taxation for Sunnis (optional for Shia) but must be distributed in the community from which it was taken (ie local Muslims).
• Fasting (Sawm) is a self-imposed shared hardship which strengthens group bonding and cohesion. Done amongst the heathen in the West it strengthens self-control. Done en-mass in Muslim majority nations it encourages individuals to spy on and coerce others to toe the line.
• The pilgrimage to Mecca (Hajj) should be done at least once in your lifetime and is a very public acknowledgement of your being part of the in-group (and possibly your submission to Allah). The mandatory garb worn is specifically intended to remove personal identity and show equality.

The rituals of ablution, prayer, fasting and Hajj are obviously rituals - even to Muslims performing them. With the exception of Zakat (Charity) they provide no real benefit to anyone on earth - although Muslims always hasten to rationalise them. 

These five pillars are just the basics - there are literally thousands of other minor Islamic rituals that can (and should) be incorporated into your daily life as a Muslim.

Now Muslims are not alone in having elaborate religious rituals. Most (all?) religions have these - that's what makes them a religion. But what makes Islam different is the level of commitment needed to carry them out day after day. It is intended to result in identity fusion with the group. The surrender of one's mind, body and 'soul' to the group.

Islam means 'submission' to Allah - submission to Islamic religious authority. And unsurprisingly when you look at the rituals, Muslims see themselves first and foremost as Muslims rather than as citizens of any country (esp the West). They tend to distrust or despise Western forms of authority. The submission (blind faith) in the Quran, the religion and the traditions leads to a kind of moral bewilderment where doing what is 'right' quite obviously goes against any kind of rationality or humanity - yet these are the things you have been taught to value. It is a fact that the average person tends to judge themselves by the values prevalent around them, although those values may not be rational and may not answer to the needs of the individual.

So you have a bunch of individuals with low self-esteem (having inherited values, incapable and unwilling to think for themselves), who distrust authorities (esp Western) which predisposes individuals to believe in conspiracy theories. Then you throw in the fact that the Quran and Hadith are predominantly critical of unbelievers and condone violence against them. For Muslims the Quran is the literal word of God, and the Hadith are highly revered.  The Sirat ul Nabi by early writers such as Ibn Ishaq are filled with vast amounts of violence - not merely isolated incidents.

Any culture, including Islam, at any given time is a group of individuals. Because Islam embodies a tribal culture, individuals (in many respects) have low self-esteem and their identity is fused with the group. It is not therefore entirely surprising that minor 'insults' to the group are seen as major affronts to what is effectively a fragile self-esteem held by the group. If the tribe itself has low self-esteem then other groups are seen as sources of external approval or disapproval. Sources of disapproval should be eliminated.

Then you could look at it from the Transactional Analysis viewpoint put forward by Eric Berne. Human individuals of all cultures have Parent, Adult and Child characteristics or states. Regrettably the vast majority of Muslims through their upbringing (culture) have strong Parent and Child characteristics but very weak Adult characteristics. Muslims are not taught critical thinking - in fact quite the reverse. Learning is done by rote; individual thought and reasoning simply does not generally occur (in any field of education). For this reason, in my experience, Muslim students from Muslim majority countries who come to NZ or the UK to study at university, often have great difficulty adjusting to the idea that they are expected to come up with original work, because they are simply not taught how to think back 'home'. Rote learning and recitation of Quranic verses in Arabic (which they probably do not understand) is expected and asking questions quickly gets you into trouble - so they learn not to ask questions (esp. regarding Islam).

Finally returning to the simplistic political justifications; There is envy and jealousy of the wealth and freedoms enjoyed in the West. There are feelings of inadequacy when Muslims see that God's chosen people are largely left behind in the progress stakes. There is an obvious discrepancy between the prosperity of the infidel West vs. the Islamic world which is largely poor and must therefore be the victim of Western exploitation (as Muslims see it). There will be deep-seated personal frustrations with the worldwide dominance and interference by the West in Muslim nations. So there are wrongs to be righted and a balance to be restored. 

Then ISIL comes along and provides you with a clear direction, with Quranic authority and opportunities for concrete engagement in the cosmic battle for what is 'right' (and perhaps funding). In my opinion, It really wouldn’t take much to tip the balance and turn a semi-rational Muslim into a terrorist, based on their personality traits and upbringing. Progressing from the Major Jihad (struggle to suppress the self) to the Minor Jihad (suppression of others by military means) becomes a necessity.

Note however, that the vast majority of the victims of Islamist violence are in fact other Muslim sects or local (out) groups. This is largely because of their accessibility - it is easier to attack your neighbours than someone on another continent. But it also demonstrates that Western foreign policy is not the key driver of Islamist activities.

If you'll excuse the pun - radicalisation is a small step for a Muslim but a giant regression for mankind. Islamic rituals, traditions, scriptures and faith are the key foundations for this step.

For the sake of brevity I've had to generalise a bit here. Individuals are unique, but there are patterns of behaviour that can be observed. Let me also be clear that most Muslims are not violent radicals, but the potential is there. Most Muslims have not read their holy scriptures in their own language - the danger is that if / when this occurs they might feel obliged to act on them...

Let me be clear that I am not anti-Muslim, but I do think that in general Muslims need to think a little more critically, broaden their viewpoint, read a little more widely.

*Note also that 'self-esteem' is a very much misunderstood term. Please read some extensive documentation from someone such as Nathaniel Branden before leaping to conclusions about use of term here.

Only Connect

E.M. Forster, Howards End, 1910.

...Only connect! That was the whole of her sermon. Only connect the prose and the passion, and both will be exalted, and human love will be seen at its height. Live in fragments no longer. Only connect, and the beast and the monk, robbed of the isolation that is life to either, will die.

This is a plea to Kiwis and to people the world over. Make connections. Make personal connections. Get to know your neighbours, colleagues, workmates, classmates, inmates and especially those from other cultures. So often there is beauty and treasure right in front of us, yet we frequently make no effort to discover it. Perhaps you know someone who seems a bit withdrawn or doesn’t engage with the crowd; an 'outsider'? Don't just make assumptions based on what you see or what you've heard; don’t simply talk about them; talk to them. Break the ice. Ask questions, respond. Discover what makes them tick. Discover their background. We are all haunted by our past to a greater or lesser extent. Take a little time to get to know them. Their history, their aspirations. They will have much to share. New Zealand has a great diversity of cultures - we need to break down the barriers between them. It is sometimes difficult for us, but try to put our prejudices, assumptions, guesswork and fears aside and engage directly. 

As NZ begrudgingly takes in a small number of Syrian refugees, it becomes increasingly important to ensure that our Muslim community here does not become isolated from the rest of the population. In my experience, Muslims as yet have no serious political aspirations in NZ beyond a genuine willingness to engage across communities and see improvements for all. There is little or no Muslim-specific political agenda, militancy, wish for separatism or special treatment. The vast majority of Muslims in NZ follow what you might call the 'fluffy personal version' of Islam. This provides them with a set of rules and regulations about how they should behave, and by-and-large they don't want to control the behaviour of others.

In my view this is because, at the moment, the Muslims here (like most migrants of any race or creed here) are consciously or unconsciously trying to get away from something. People don't choose to come to this tiny set of islands in the middle of nowhere unless you're escaping from something - whether that be the restrictions of your culture, society, family, your past life, yourself. They are mavericks. So it is unlikely that the current set of Muslims would want to impose strict Sharia (law) on themselves or anyone else.

This escapism or maverick nature of the current set of Muslims here is partly a function of the tiny percentage (1%) of the NZ population that they represent. However, as that percentage grows over time, the dynamics are likely to change. It would no longer be possible for incoming Muslims to seek refuge from the world here. The community would start 'policing' itself and the new Muslim migrants would be those who want to join a Muslim community, not those who are prepared to go-it-alone. It would become increasingly difficult for members of that community to express their own opinions; they would have to toe the line.

Toeing the line, Islamic style. (Grand Mosque of Nishapur 27/9/2013)

Slavery, Terrorism and Islam (Hammond P, 2010) provides examples of the typical behaviour of Muslim communities as they grow and the percentage increases relative to non-Muslims. This is summarised in a blog here, which obviously has a very negative bias, but that doesn’t necessarily make it incorrect.

Islam indoctrinates its followers with a sense of supremacy: Islam is the only true faith and will eventually conquer the whole world. Muslims don't do humility very well. 

I'm asking Kiwis to build close relationships, bridges, with their Muslim community to help them integrate, build understanding and trust, help them to see that there is value in other cultures and that the 'infidels' are not all bad. Act as ambassadors. You will be representing your country, your culture, your kin.

This wont be any easy battle. Muslims are extraordinarily prone to  conspiracy theories and have a very deep distrust of the West (esp. the US, Britain and Israel). This mistrust at a very general level is based on decades of official foreign policy, implementation of that policy on the ground and activities of global corporations. There is a real sense of victimisation (IMHO based on the aforementioned indoctrinated self-esteem deficit). The recent opinion poll conducted within Iraq and Syria by ORB shows that over 80% believe that ISIL is an US/foreign made group. There is actually much evidence to support that view. It didn't appear to be a planned outcome, and it wasn't directly controlled, but the outcome was ISIL. Muslims I have spoken to in NZ and globally believe that the outcome was planned - to create an an ongoing state of war in the MENA region; providing wealth for the Western arms and oil industries and keeping the Muslim world in subjugation to the West. Opinions are not the same as facts, but perceptions control our thoughts and actions.

At an interpersonal level things are better. Muslims are unlikely to reject an honest friendly approach. An issue however. is that while individuals can develop good working relationships across cultural divides, these will be seen by Muslims as a 'special case'. This belief would allow Muslims to reconcile their prejudices about the great Satan (the US and Western civilisation) with their own experience. Nevertheless it is a small but necessary step along the road to integration.

The Expendables relinquish their rights to self-expression and thought

The Arabic word 'Islam' literally translates to English as 'submission' - to surrender or resign oneself – and in the context of the religion specifically; submission to the will of Allah.

I would suggest that this in itself is at the root of all the problems faced by the Muslim world today.

Let me explain myself a little. We see a number of significant issues. Political instability – frequently under the rule of a dictator who himself is part of a dynasty that has been in place for decades. Where public feeling has eventually managed to organise itself and overthrow the dictator, he has simply been replaced with another authoritarian regime, or general chaos has ensued.

The political instability feeds, and is fuelled by, a cycle of corruption at all levels of society with personal and organisational ethics driven by the lowest common denominator; with few prepared to suffer the economic disadvantage of unilaterally playing fairly. The ubiquitous corruption makes these societies open to abuse by individuals or organisations (e.g. petrochemical or weapons companies) who see opportunities for personal gain, with little or no regulation. Deep mistrust going back centuries is enshrined in every transaction of all kinds, even marriage proposals, leading to an unhealthy rate of consanguineous marriage with its consequent genetic disorders.

Education and literacy in the Islamic world is woefully inadequate, and an oft-quoted insularity indicator is that “the whole Arab world translates about 300 books annually, one fifth of the number that Greece translates. The cumulative total of translated books since the Caliph Mamoun [d. 833 AD], is about 100,000 - just about the number that Spain translates in one year” (UNAHDR).

Following on from my recent post (below), the World Values Survey maps traditional / religious values against secular / rational values and self-expression. Some aspects of why self-expression should be antithetical to religious values, and the deeper significance of this were not immediately apparent to me.

In the western world since the 20th century there have been philosophers and psychotherapists such as Sigmund Freud, Nathaniel Branden and more lately Steven C Hayes, Russ Harris, who have developed the earlier work of others (including Buddhism, Hinduism) and make it accessible to the West. One of the key elements of their message, is that self-esteem is dependent on high levels of personal integrity, and sources of approval being internal, not external to oneself.

In other words, a key underlying issue in the Muslim world is the subjugation of one's reason to external validation and approval. Society determines what is acceptable behaviour; how you dress, where you go and with who, what you eat and drink, what one can say or even feel or think. The will of Allah is all pervasive, with the phrase “insha'Allah” (God willing) as a caveat tacked onto every planned action. But who interprets the will of Allah? Given that Allah is supposed to control everything – weather, wars, traffic jams, intestinal movements, chemical reactions and the movement of electrons – Allah's will is a self-fulfilling prophesy revealed moment by moment, and nobody can gainsay it. Humans are powerless to predict or change the outcome of anything at all. Anything that happens is God's will and everything and everyone inevitably has to submit to it.

This leaves the Muslim individual with a deep sense of powerlessness. Of being expendable, helpless and adrift in a world that is totally outside their control – even down to their own behaviours and life. Everything is predestined.

In my view, it is that loss of self, that submission to some essentially arbitrary set of rules interpreted via a social hierarchy, that undermines all attempts at rational thought and provides the basis for a strong predisposition towards acceptance of tyrannical leadership. External sources of validation and approval ... always external. Islam literally means submission to external authority.

However, human nature being what it is, there is always a certain amount of double-think going on. And that 'predestination' can be subverted to ones own ends. You can justify your tyrannical control of your citizens, staff, family, wife, children by appealing to the relevant external authorities (Qur'an, Hadith, Shariah, clerics) and choosing a suitable interpretation favourable to yourself. And of course there are masses of suitably oppressive and tyrannical Islamic sources to quote from.

Combine that suppression of rational thought with indoctrination that your religion, holy book, beliefs are God-given and superior to all others, and you have a poisonous situation that can spill over into all manner of evil activity at any moment. That deficit of self-esteem leads to suspicion, paranoia, and conspiracy theories  ... and we see this in the Muslim world all the time.

This really is a recipe for a hellish nightmare with reason, rationality and the right to self-expression lost. Abandon all hope ye who enter here. (Dante)