Burning for Allah: (Mis)Understanding Ties Between Islam and Violence

The goal of this thesis is to address what I believe to be an all too frequent misunderstanding. This is the idea that religion generally and Islamic extremism specifically is the primary foundation for suicide terrorism in Iraq. Because of the social and historical demographics of Iraq, I argue that it is necessary to understand Iraqi suicide bombings as a variety of dfferent concurrent movements as opposed to one monolithic phenomenon. Furthermore, it is my assertion that the connection between suicide attacks and Islam has been exaggerated within American public discourse. This discourse has lead to a large and varied body of rhetoric that professes an intimate connection between Islam and violence. It is not my intention to argue that the relationship between suicide bombers and Islam is purely fallacious. Politicized Islam has achieved a rather high degree of popularity in the Middle East and one would be mistaken if one presupposed that there were no suicide bombers who were strict Islamic adherents. It will be contended therefore that Islam is an element in the propagation of the phenomenon of suicide bombings. However, religion is neither essential nor sufficient for the explanation of such actions