Informed Comment – Muriel Degauque and the Al Aqaeda 'Cult'
On Juan Cole’s Informed Comment a short comment on the Belgian woman who blew her self up in Iraq:
The case of Muriel Degauque, the poor Belgian Catholic girl who became a kamikaze in Iraq, has sent a chill through Europe. As I have argued before, the jihadi mindset is a cult-like ideology that is like software and can be installed in any mind. It is a set of plausibility structures, of premises that lead inexorably to killing oneself and others for some vague Cause. It is so insidious precisely because people inside the movement find the premises so compelling. It is not really anything to do with Islam per se, and most of the kamikazes don’t know much about formal Islam. It isn’t really any different than the Solar Temple Cult or other such self-destructive religious phenomena, except that the jihadis have become politicized and so kill themselves and others on the battlefield.
One of the commenters (Allah bless and Airman) is critical about Al Qaeda as a cult:
Professor Cole, you write, “It is a set of plausibility structures, of premises that lead inexorably to killing oneself and others for some vague Cause.”
This can be said of nearly any popular ideology that demands sacrifice from the individual for greater, public good. Nationalistic patriotism that leads a soldier to volunteer for the US military (or some other country’s military) and “die for his country” can be described in similar terms.
You add, “It is so insidious precisely because people inside the movement find the premises so compelling.”
But isn’t this almost a tautology? The followers of most ideologies find them very compelling, otherwise they wouldn’t be followers.
My sense of al-Qaeda is that it feeds off three sentiments:
(1) Group solidarity with (Sunni) Muslims worldwide;
(2) The perception that Muslims are under attack by the US (and Israel);
(3) The belief that armed struggle can drive out the US, just as it drove out the Russians from Afghanistan.
As for suicide bombing, it’s a very pragmatic and effective approach to take for an armed group that is small and heavily outgunned. It allows you to get the “maximum bang for your buck,” as it were. Setting the morality question aside, one could consider suicide bombing as a highly rational tactic.
As for attacks killing civilians, that’s standard practice for hundreds of armed groups in history. That is not enough to make a group a cult. It merely qualifies al-Qaeda as terrorist NGO.
Another one (Brian de Ford) is comparing the issue of suicide attacks with an example of bravery, valour and heroism:
Take a look at those throughout US military history who have received high awards posthumously. They show a tendency to deliberately take action which will almost certainly result in their own death in order to save their compatriots by killing some of the enemy. See, for instance, the actions of Rodger Young, which most would hold up as an example of bravery, valour, and heroism.
Evolution has, paradoxically, caused most members of most gregarious species to have similar instincts. Every so often you will read newspaper reports of dogs showing “human emotions” when they risk their own lives to rescue the children of their owners from burning buildings, or similar events. We’re not unique in giving up our lives to save others.
