Terrorist Beliefs

[LeMarchand]

I don't know a lot about the Muslim faith, and I don't want to offend anyone, but if a terrorist was a Muslim, would it be possible to use the threat of making them eat pork to gain information or to control them? Or does the pork thing only apply if it was willingly ingested? (Or do terrorists get a 'blank cheque' to cover any transgressions they commit before they blow themselves to kingdom come).

[beenee]

In regard to the second part of your question, I know that if a muslim dies while fighting for his country or in 'the name of Islam' (jihad / blowing himself up) he is said to have been Shaheed (martyr) and that absolutely guarantees him a place in heaven according to Islam. I'll do some research on the pork question.

[Hippy]

If you did try to force feed your terrorist with pigmeat sausages you would not be able to rely on any information he might give you, as they would all be porkies!

[brawburd]

Hippy, you're offal!

[brawburd]

I mean awful!

[beenee]

Thinking about the first part of your question: I very much doubt that the threat of force feeding pork to a muslim would result in him dispensing information. Just like during Ramadan, if a fasting muslim eats something without realising (and so without the intention of breaking the fast) then the fast is not considered to be broken. Islam is very big on individuals' intentions as a guideline for behaviour. Hope this makes things clearer.

[WaldoMcFroog]

In essence, what your question is asking is 'If I threaten someone with something I know to be abhorant to them in order to extract information, would it work?' And the answer is, yes, possibly; but it's what we call "torture"!

According to the Koran, terrorism is forbidden by Allah, ergo anyone committing a terrorist act in the name of Allah has broken God's law. Of course, I supect you're talking about terrorists from Islamic states, which is a subtle difference, and they might well believe that their transgressions might be forgiven. Dogma, eh?

Dolce et decorum est, pro patria mori...

[LeMarchand]

Thanks, folks! I was curious because I vaguely remembered there being a lot of fuss a while back involving a Muslim lady and some bacon. I can see that it is abhorrent and upsetting for people of strong Muslim faith to have pig-meat shoved at them, and was wondering if it could be used as "humane" torture. I do realise that it would be torture, but I'm afraid that if I was sure that torturing one person would save the lives of many, I'd do it. This probably makes me a very bad person, but there you have it. I also had an amusing mental image of people pelting terrorists with bacon sarnies.