The Attitude of Media Study Students towards Suicide Attacks

Abstract

This study attempts to investigate the attitudes towards suicide bombings among undergraduate university students in Pakistan. It is a descriptive and exploratory study based on surveys and in-depth interviews. The sample of the study was 52 respondents from a middle class, and upper-middle-class backgrounds enrolled inexpensive private institutes in Lahore. The study found that most undergraduate university students in Pakistan do not condone suicide bombings under any circumstances. The in-depth interviews revealed that young students understand and accept that it is impermissible (haram) in Islam. However, it is found that the use of appealing Islamic terminology of "martyrdom" and "jihad" by the militant organizations and the misrepresentation of "suicide attacks" as "martyrdom operations" has to some extent been effective in influencing even the young minds who are not by any means in their orbit. Moreover, this also demonstrates the inability of the Muslim world in countering the misuse of emotional Islamic appeals of jihad and martyrdom there by allowing such acts to be portrayed as legitimate and sanctioned by Islamic law and, in doing so, damaging the overall image and understanding of Islam in the eyes of Muslims and non-Muslims alike. It is, therefore, recommended that the Muslim world actively challenge the misrepresentation of suicide attacks as a permissible exercise of jihad and prevent the distortion and confusion of religious teachings