Sudden Jihad Syndrome

While many people experience life's temporary frustrations, the West has traditionally discouraged suicide as cowardly or sinful. The Catholic Church, at times, has even denied burial rights to suicides. Now, we have a competing culture (Islamism) that claims that suicide will guarantee your access to heavenly pleasures, provided that you kill as many innocents as possible in the process.

The power of the Islamist approach to frustration was evident in yesterday's vehicle attack in San Francisco: the driver is now quoted as calling himself a terrorist. It is possible that his attacks on random people was 'revenge' for a traffic accident outside his mosque. His attack is reminiscent of Mohammed Reza Taheri-azar who drove his vehicle onto a university mall in Chapel Hill and Naveed Afzal Haq's attack on the Jewish center in Seattle.

Since, there will always be some who want to die in a murderous rage (Columbine), a responsible society should discourage this. It would be helpful if Islamic scholars could unequivocally remove the 72-virgin incentive from murder/suicide rampages.