Citation

Meftah JT. Aggress. Violent Behav. 2018; 42: 52-60.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.avb.2018.06.003

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This research deals with the phenomenon of terrorism and attempts to ascertain the true roots of its sadistic crimes. The research considers two possible hypotheses to explain this phenomenon: The first hypothesis says that since most of the perpetrators of these crimes are Muslim, the roots of these sadistic crimes are religious and based on the texts of the Qur'an and Sunnah. The second hypothesis is that since most of the perpetrators of these crimes are mostly Arabs or some of their neighboring nations, the roots of these sadistic crimes are to be found in Bedouin culture. The methodology used in this research is a combination of a historical approach and a psychoanalytic approach. The most important finding of the research is that there is no link between sadistic terrorist acts and Islam. The true roots of these sadistic crimes are cultural, namely mythology of heroes and revenge. In fact, these crimes also contradict the principles and teachings of Islam. The changes made by Islam in the societies of this region are superficial and skin-deep changes while the deep structures of these societies have remained dominated by their local culture. Arab societies have often exploited religion to justify their cultures.

© 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Language: en

Keywords

Arab culture; Hero; Islam; Revenge; Sadistic; Terrorism