Islam and Justice

Jeffrey Galko

 

            Certainly the idea that the message of the events of September 11 is to spread justice throughout the world is open to debate.  Perhaps this is just my attempt to come to terms with a senseless tragedy.  However, it seems to fit the facts.  Bin Laden suggests, in his interviews and tapes, that what happened on 9/11 was a punishment inflicted on the US for its foreign policy.  And this interpretation of the tragic events seems to mesh well with what Islamic scholars say about Islam.  Islam stands to justice as Christianity stands to love.  Justice is the cause of Islam and the duty of Moslems to promote.  The question which should occur to us is what type of justification the perpetrators invoke to explain these unspeakable acts. 

            The events seem to be justified, however perversely it appears to us, on a mixture of both utilitarian and retributive grounds.  We must realize that there are two different messages being sent to two different audiences.  The message to the US is basically this: “what you have done, in your support of Israel and other foreign policy initiatives, is wrong and you ought to be punished.”  There is a retributive flavor to the punishment.  But there may have also been some utilitarian grounds for these events, some effort to rehabilitate or deter the US from acting in its own interests throughout the world.  In that case the events failed to accomplish the desired goal. 

            There is another message intended for a different audience and it is this one which is more important.  The message has been sent to those countries that find themselves in positions similar to that of Iraq before the Iran-Iraq war.  The statement made to those countries struggling with modernization and development by Bin Laden and associates is that modernization and development are not worth the cost of abandoning Islam.  Bin Laden’s attempt is to rollback the encroachment of modernization which is the harbinger of the West.  The goal is to redraw the line that marks the clash between Islamic fundamentalism and the West.  Only time will tell who, if any one, is receptive to such messages.