Punishing those who Doubt the Sacred Object
Richard A. Koenigsberg

Below is my short essay, "Punishing Those who Doubt the Sacred Object," extracted from my paper: "Death to the Non-Believers: Political Violence as Terrorism."

Abstract: If a group of political actors worships a sacred object in a radical, fanatic way, then those who do not worship the sacred object that one worships oneself must be punished, often killed. Why is it so disturbing to believers when others do not believe what they believe? Why does it create anxiety and panic to the extent that one wishes to destroy the non-believer? What is the psychological meaning of a sacred object to the believer?

Punishing Those Who Doubt the Sacred Object

Citing the Qur’an, Bin Laden claimed that Allah ordered Muslims to make holy wars and to fight to see to it that “His word is the highest and the uppermost and that of the unbelievers the lowermost.” When God ordered Muslims to carry out jihad and to kill and to fight, he said, “Fight them, and God will punish them by your hands, cover them with shame, help you (to victory) over them, and heal the hearts of the believers.”

According to Bin Laden, Allah has “ordered us to make holy wars.” Therefore, no Muslim may say that he does not want to do jihad in the cause of God because, after all, “Is there another way to repel the infidels?”

From Bin Laden’s perspective, acts of violence are virtuous because they represent the means to punish non-believers and to—”heal the hearts” of believers. The infidel is someone who refuses to worship and submit to Allah. Acts of violence are undertaken in the name of God—to punish infidels and compel submission.

Bin Laden advocates acts of terror in the name of Allah. Hitler authorized acts of terror in the name of Germany. Terroristic violence is initiated to punish people who—the believer imagines—do not worship the sacred object that the believer worships. Violent collective actions are designed both to punish non-believers for refusing to believe; and to compel the non-believer to believe.

Terroristic violence seeks to demonstrate the power of the sacred object worshipped by one’s own group—by crushing or squelching members of non-believing groups. Acts of violence are designed to give witness to the greatness of one’s god, nation or ideology. The believer initiates acts of violence in order to terrify—induce feelings of shock and awe--in the minds and hearts of believers and non-believers alike.

Just as Hitler created the Final Solution in an effort to prove that Germany was omnipotent, so Bin Laden created September 11 in order to give witness to the power and greatness of Allah. In each instance, the objective was to persuade people that the sacred object worshipped by one’s own group was inescapable—could not be evaded. No one was exempt from the obligation to submit. Those who did not voluntarily submit--would be compelled to do so.

Victims of the September 11 suicide bombings were, as Ruth Stein put it, required to submit or bow down to the terrorist in a way analogous to “how the terrorists themselves worship God.” As terrorists sacrificed their own lives for Allah, so people in the World Trade Center were compelled to die for Allah. The terrorists required that others submit to the God to which they themselves had submitted.