Thesis Statement: The crime of terrorism has become closely associated with Islam since most of the perpetrators of terrorist attacks such as the September 11 had been committed by Muslims and they claim that the terrorist ideology is consistent with their religion.
Osama bin Laden is a known devout Sunni Muslim and was the identified mastermind of the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center in the U.S. Reports show that Bin Laden had the intention to ruin the American economy (Rose & Blomberg 1) In fact, Islam become closely associated with terrorism since the Muslims recognize Jihad and they want to engage a holy war against the West. The September 11 attack carried significant impact in terms of economic growth of the U.S. The resilience of the New York Metro and U.S. economies changed the risk perceptions after the incident. Bin Laden was the founder of Al Qaeda and the ultimate goal of the group is to push more violence within North America.
The 9/11 attack was successfully accomplished by a suicide bomber who are members of the Al Qaeda. There are indicators why the suicide terrorists decide to sacrifice and take their own life as part of their Muslim value of jihad as they engage in what they consider as holy war against the U.S. The members of Al Qaeda decide to make personal self-sacrifices as influenced by altruistic motivation, which is part of the Muslim ideology, instead of the organizational (Noll and Weingast 91). The perpetrators of the 9/11 attack committed the act of self-sacrifice and considered as an altruistic suicide because it is the extreme level of social integration when suicide bomber completely incorporate his own self to the higher order (Noll and Weingast 91).
Conclusion
For the past decades, terrorism has come to be associated with Islam including the 9/11 attack since such high-profile terrorist act of violence has been carried out successfully by Muslims. Many innocent lives were lost due to the Muslim ideology. Most of the members of the Al Qaeda network expressed their patriotism towards the Muslim value of jihad. Thus, the Muslims have a high probability that they will embrace terrorism because of their love for their religion. Terrorism is a pure act of violence and carries negative effect on its victims. Additionally, the aftermath of 9/11 not only caused significant impact on the economic growth of the country, but had also affected the right to privacy of the citizens. In fact, the National Security Agency (NSA) has been collected enormous amounts of data about American citizens and permanent residents in line with their policies to prevent future terrorist attacks (Sinha 861).
Muslims adhere to the altruistic suicide based on the individual’s sense of responsibility to the expanded community with the belief that the members of a terrorist group should defend their nation even if they have to sacrifice their own death since their families or the nation will benefit from it (Noll and Weingast 81). One incident to illustrate this is the Boston Marathon bombing wherein the perpetrator accomplished the crime due to political or religious causes. The ideology of the behavior of the suicide bombers is that they are motivated by their extreme belief that sacrificing their lives will achieve the objectives of Islam.
Works Cited:
Noll, Roger G. and Weingast, Barry. Rational Actor Theory, Social Norms and Policy
Implementation in Kiresten Renwick Monroe. The Economic Approach to Politics: A
Critical Reassessment of the Theory of Rational Action. New York: Harper Collins. 1991.
Print.
Rose, Adam Z., and S. Brock Blomberg. “Total Economic Consequences of Terrorist Attacks:
Insights From 9/11.” Peace Economics, Peace Science, & Public Policy 16.1 (2010): 1-
12.
Sinha, G. Alex. “Nsa Surveillance Since 9/11 And The Human Right To Privacy.” Loyola Law Review 59.4 (2013): 861-946.
