When I think about 9/11 one thing that strikes me is the devotion of the terrorists, the commitment to what they held to be true. (I am speaking primarily of the hijackers, though much of this applies to other members of terrorist cells.) I don’t think they were right by any means. As a Christian, I disagree with the religion they followed. As a human, I am disgusted by the principles they held to. There’s no doubt that to be convinced that killing those who don’t agree with you, even if it costs your own life, is heinous. It’s repulsive. But at the same time, it’s amazing. It’s shocking that these people were so determined to serve Allah that they would devote themselves to this plan, spend time training to enact it, and follow through to their deaths. They really believed that sacrificing their lives would gain them a reward worthy of any and all earthly suffering. Here we find a primary difference between Islam and Christianity. Christians are to acknowledge that suffering will come in this life and we are not to turn away, but we are never instructed to approach suffering as a work to earn us favor in the after-life. It’s interesting to me that not all who claim to be devoted followers of Allah and are members in extremist groups have the same sort of commitment as hijackers and suicide bombers.
Case in point, Osama Bin Laden. He had been on the FBI’s Most Wanted list since 1999. He was a suspect in many terrorist attacks, a mastermind of much terrorist activity. And yet, he never put himself in the cockpit, never strapped a bomb to himself, drove a car loaded with explosives down a city street. He convinced others to do the high service of suicide for Allah, but he never chose to join them. Would he have if he wouldn’t have been killed this spring? Maybe. I doubt it. Something held him back from it. I can’t presume to know what it was, but I am genuinely curious. Could it have been that life was too good here and he wasn’t ready to leave it? Maybe he just wasn’t sure that the virgins were waiting for him on the other side. Or maybe he didn’t believe a bit of it. Maybe he was a maniac who found a way to control others through religion. I don’t know.
The differences fascinate me. What is it that makes some determined to kill themselves in their youth and others choose to live in hiding for over a decade rather than be killed? What is sad to me is that neither motivation was a good, just, right motivation. The choice for either is senseless. I don’t say that it is senseless for one to give up one’s own life, but for one to make killing innocent people the goal of life.
My comfort in the confusion is that each one killed, whether by choice or by force, is now getting justice. It is impossible for us as humans to give true justice, but that justice is being acted out each second in eternity.
