Religion and security: What’s your motive?

Religion kills. Throughout human history, people have killed in the name of their god. Time magazine has quoted a statement from a person named Marwan in Iraq. ‘Yes, I am a terrorist,’ he says. ‘Write that down: I admit I am a terrorist. [The Qur’an] says it is the duty of Muslims to bring terror to the enemy, so being a terrorist makes me a good Muslim’. He quotes lines from the Holy Qur’an: ‘Against them make ready your strength to the utmost of your power, including steeds of war, to strike terror into the enemy of Allah and your enemy’. ‘The jihadis are more religious people,’he says. ‘You ask them anything – anything – and they can instantly quote a relevant section from the Koran’ (Ghosh 2005).