PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

The faithless side of suicide bombing

New study argues that female suicide bombing is a political and military tactic, not a religious act

2011-06-07
(Press-News.org) Terrorist groups bend the rules of 'true' Islam to justify the use of female suicide bombers, according to Margaret Gonzalez-Perez from Southeastern Louisiana University in the US. Her paper traces the development of radical Islamic doctrine over time, highlights how it deviates from mainstream Islam, and identifies the building blocks that have culminated in Jihadi female suicide bombers. According to Gonzalez-Perez, "Radical Islam reinterprets, and even misinterprets Islamic jurisprudence, as a tool to legitimize female suicide bombers." Her findings are published online in Springer's journal, Gender Issues.

According to mainstream scholars of Islam, the Qur'an, the Hadith (traditions and practices of the Prophet Muhammad), and other principles of Shari'a (Islamic law) clearly condemn terrorist acts and oppose suicide operations. In order to justify suicide bombings, leaders of Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) and Al Qaeda have formulated their own interpretations of Islam, that are based more on military strategy than theology. This is particularly apparent in their attempts to portray female suicide bombing as consistent with Islamic doctrine, according to Gonzalez-Perez.

She identifies a two-stage radicalization process, the origins of which she traces back to the thirteenth century. The gradual radicalization of Islam began in the Middle Ages with some individuals claiming the right to interpret religious law and decide for themselves when war was justified. These ideas led to the justification of suicide bombers as a form of Islamic martyrdom under the interpretation of Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini (1902-1989). Further radicalization enabled the justification of female suicide bombing. However, the Qur'an does not include women as soldiers and explicitly categorizes women and children as non-combatants. According to Gonzalez-Perez's analysis of the emergence in 2000, and rise since, of female suicide bombers, they are merely a military tactic, rather than a religious act.

In the author's view, terrorist groups recruit women by exploiting vulnerable females, including some with mental health issues and girls as young as 14. The common profile of female suicide bombers is that of a woman trying to survive in the aftermath of a war with no political, economic or social security. Understanding female suicide bombers, their motivations and their uses can be helpful in developing counter-terrorism strategies.

Gonzalez-Perez concludes: "The decidedly un-Islamic introduction of female suicide bombers is hardly surprising in current terrorist groups, for they simply reinterpret and manipulate religious doctrine to legitimize acts that are strategically and militarily utilitarian. Female suicide bombers are not Islamic martyrs nor any other manifestation of orthodox religious faith."

### Reference Gonzalez-Perez M (2011). The false islamization of female suicide bombers. Gender Issues, DOI 10.1007/s12147-011-9097-0

The full-text article is available to journalists on request.


ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Slotland Gives Players $15 to Try New 'Tikal Treasure' Mayan-Theme Slot Machine

2011-06-07
Slotland's new Tikal Treasure online slot machine takes players to the mystical temples of the ancient Mayans where the treasures of the ancients lay waiting. Until June 12th, Slotland is giving every player a free $15 chip to take a free spin on the new game. (Regular bonus restrictions apply.) Tikal Treasure is a 5 reel, 25 pay line slot machine. Like all of Slotland's latest new games, it has eye-popping full screen graphics and brilliant sound effects. With a $15 free chip to try the new game, and a six-figure jackpot that many players feel is overdue for a win, ...

Tens of thousands of lives could potentially be saved by key heart failure therapies

2011-06-07
A national study has found that nearly 68,000 deaths potentially could be prevented each year by optimally implementing key national guideline–recommended therapies, including critical medications and cardiac devices, for all eligible heart failure patients. Although heart failure is a major cause of death, morbidity and health care expenditures in the U.S., the routine clinical use of scientifically proven treatments that reduce mortality and improve quality of life has been slow and inconsistent. "This is one of the first studies to quantify the potential survival ...

Engineering new weapons in the fight against juvenile diabetes

2011-06-07
Troy, N.Y. – Engineering researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute are combining automation techniques from oil refining and other diverse areas to help create a closed-loop artificial pancreas. The device will automatically monitor blood sugar levels and administer insulin to patients with Type 1 diabetes, and aims to remove much of the guesswork for those living with the chronic disease. For six years, Professor B. Wayne Bequette, a member of the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Rensselaer, has been creating progressively more advanced computer ...

Insulin action in the brain can lead to obesity

Insulin action in the brain can lead to obesity
2011-06-07
This release is available in German. Fat-rich food makes you fat. Behind this simple equation lie complex signalling pathways, through which the neurotransmitters in the brain control the body's energy balance. Scientists at the Cologne-based Max Planck Institute for Neurological Research and the Cluster of Excellence in Cellular Stress Responses in Ageing-associated Diseases (CECAD) at the University of Cologne have clarified an important step in this complex control circuit. They have succeeded in showing how the hormone insulin acts in the part of the brain known ...

RMA of New York Physicians Named Top Reproductive Endocrinologists in New York by Super Doctors for 4th Consecutive Year

2011-06-07
Reproductive Medicine Associates of New York (RMA of New York) physicians were once again honored by Super Doctors as top Reproductive Endocrinologists in the New York metro area. This is the 4th consecutive year that RMA of New York's physicians have been recognized for their professional achievement in treating patients with infertility and helping individuals and couples build families. This year's honorees include Reproductive Endocrinologists Alan Copperman, MD; Lawrence Grunfeld, MD; Tanmoy Mukherjee, MD and Benjamin Sandler, MD. Each year, Super Doctors identifies ...

Finding answers century-old questions about platinum's catalytic properties

Finding answers century-old questions about platinums catalytic properties
2011-06-07
Researchers now understand more about why platinum is so efficient at producing power in hydrogen fuel cells. "Understanding platinum's properties for speeding up chemical reactions will potentially enable scientists to create significantly cheaper synthetic or metal alloy alternatives for use in sustainable devices like fuel cells," says Gregory Jerkiewicz, a professor in the Department of Chemistry who led the groundbreaking study. Dr. Jerkiewicz's research team has found that when platinum is used in reactions involving hydrogen it develops an embedded layer of hydrogen ...

New neurons take 6 months or more to mature in non-human primate brain

2011-06-07
PITTSBURGH, June 6 - New neurons take more than six months to mature in adult monkeys and that time is likely even longer in humans, according to researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, the University of Illinois, and Pennsylvania State University. Their findings, reported this week in the online version of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, challenge the notion that the time it takes for neurogenesis is the reason anti-depressant medications are not fully effective until three to five weeks after treatment begins. The dentate ...

Attention and awareness aren't the same

2011-06-07
Paying attention to something and being aware of it seems like the same thing -they both involve somehow knowing the thing is there. However, a new study, which will be published in an upcoming issue of Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, finds that these are actually separate; your brain can pay attention to something without you being aware that it's there. "We wanted to ask, can things attract your attention even when you don't see them at all?" says Po-Jang Hsieh, of Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School in Singapore and MIT. ...

Car Finance Industry Optimistic about Future Growth

2011-06-07
After a strong start to 2011 the car finance industry is looking forward to continued growth in the UK. March again showed positive signs with GBP707 million of business written. This was a 1% increase compared to March 2010. The figures for the first quarter of 2011 compared to 2010 are still being skewed due to the scrappage scheme running in 2010. The number of cars sold in Q1 of 2011 was down when compared to 2010. However the value of the vehicles being sold has increased, which indicates the scrappage scheme helped to increase the number of cars sold, but, the ...

Going with the flow: Caltech researchers find compaction bands in sandstone are permeable

Going with the flow: Caltech researchers find compaction bands in sandstone are permeable
2011-06-07
PASADENA, Calif.—When geologists survey an area of land for the potential that gas or petroleum deposits could exist there, they must take into account the composition of rocks that lie below the surface. Take, for instance, sandstone—a sedimentary rock composed mostly of weakly cemented quartz grains. Previous research had suggested that compaction bands—highly compressed, narrow, flat layers within the sandstone—are much less permeable than the host rock and might act as barriers to the flow of oil or gas. Now, researchers led by José Andrade, associate professor ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

So what should we call this – a grue jay?

Chicago Quantum Exchange-led coalition advances to final round in NSF Engine competition

Study identifies candidates for therapeutic targets in pediatric germ cell tumors

Media alert: The global burden of CVD

Study illuminates contributing factors to blood vessel leakage

What nations around the world can learn from Ukraine

Mixing tree species does not always make forests more drought-resilient

Public confidence in U.S. health agencies slides, fueled by declines among Democrats

“Quantum squeezing” a nanoscale particle for the first time

El Niño spurs extreme daily rain events despite drier monsoons in India

Two studies explore the genomic diversity of deadly mosquito vectors

Zebra finches categorize their vocal calls by meaning

Analysis challenges conventional wisdom about partisan support for US science funding

New model can accurately predict a forest’s future

‘Like talking on the telephone’: Quantum computing engineers get atoms chatting long distance

Genomic evolution of major malaria-transmitting mosquito species uncovered

Overcoming the barriers of hydrogen storage with a low-temperature hydrogen battery

Tuberculosis vulnerability of people with HIV: a viral protein implicated

Partnership with Kenya's Turkana community helps scientists discover genes involved in adaptation to desert living

Decoding the selfish gene, from evolutionary cheaters to disease control

Major review highlights latest evidence on real-time test for blood – clotting in childbirth emergencies

Inspired by bacteria’s defense strategies

Research spotlight: Combination therapy shows promise for overcoming treatment resistance in glioblastoma

University of Houston co-leads $25 million NIH-funded grant to study the delay of nearsightedness in children

NRG Oncology PREDICT-RT study completes patient accrual, tests individualized concurrent therapy and radiation for high-risk prostate cancer

Taking aim at nearsightedness in kids before it’s diagnosed

With no prior training, dogs can infer how similar types of toys work, even when they don’t look alike

Three deadliest risk factors of a common liver disease identified in new study

Dogs can extend word meanings to new objects based on function, not appearance

Palaeontology: South American amber deposit ‘abuzz’ with ancient insects

[Press-News.org] The faithless side of suicide bombing
New study argues that female suicide bombing is a political and military tactic, not a religious act