"Death to the Non-Believer:"
Destroying Doubt

Richard Koenigsberg

“Islam” means submission and “Moslem” means one who submits—to the will of Allah. Bin Laden declared, “Allah created us for the purpose of worshipping him.” In the Moslem religion, the purpose of human existence is to worship Allah. Bin Laden was deeply disturbed by the idea that some did not worship Allah; by infidels who refused to submit to the will of Allah.

Terroristic violence seeks to punish those who do not bow down to the will of Allah. Bin Laden claimed that Allah “ordered us to make holy wars to fight to see to it that His word is the uppermost and the words of unbelievers the lowermost.”

Acts of terroristic violence are manifestations of Allah's will.

     The fundamental characteristic of a true believers is his conviction that everyone must worship the idea or entity that he worships. The true believer becomes enraged contemplating the idea that others do not worship the God or ideology or nation that he or she worships.

Everyone must submit to the God or ideology or nation to which one has oneself submitted. It is not enough that the true believer submit. Everyone must worship and submit to the entity to which the true believer worships and submits.

Disturbed by the existence of those who do not worship as he worships, true believers seek to punish those who do not bow down to his idol. Violence seeks to punish the non-believer by compelling him to submit to the God or nation worships he and to which he has submitted.

The last words of the terrorists as the airplane plunged into the ground in Pennsylvania on September 11, 2001 were Allahu Akbar, “God is great.” The greatness of God was manifest in the terrorists’ willingness to die for Allah--and to bring non-believers along with them. As the terrorists died for Allah, non-believers were compelled to join them.

Citing the Quran, Bin Laden stated that one must “fight for the cause of Allah” and “kill pagans wherever they are found.” When a believer meets a non-believer, he must “smite the neck and fight those who do not believe in Allah.” Bin Laden claimed that “God ordered us to kill, fight and to carry out jihad.”

Bin Laden stated that jihad revolved around rousing believers and “restraining the fury of non-believers.” Why the term “fury?” A non-believers might be thought of us a disinterested bystander.

 The true believer does not allow, however, for disinterested non-belief. One believes in Allah or one is an infidel. 

Hitler felt Jews were furious in their opposition to Germany and Nazi beliefs (though they were not).  He could not conceive of neutrality. Those who did not believe passionately in Nazi ideology were imagined to be angrily opposed to this ideology.

Why the furious violence? I hypothesize that the true believer projects his own disbelief or doubt into the non-believer. The infidel symbolizes doubt in the mind of the believer.

Perhaps the object the believer worships is not omnipotent. Perhaps his sacrifices have been in vain; his devotion meaningless. The true believer engages in acts of violence to in order to kill off this disturbing thought. He seeks to destroy doubt by killing people conceived as non-believers—who symbolize the doubt of the believer.

Bin Laden stated that punishing infidels “heals the hearts of the believers.” The hearts of believers are healed because punishing non-believers demonstrates that it is impossible to evade the will of Allah. Those who seek to evade the will of Allah must be punished. Punishment of non-believers is the destruction of doubt