Religiosity Vs. Piety

Following is an account of civilian contractors interrogating Muslim Prisoners of War at Gitmo:

In another case, Saar describes a female military interrogator questioning an uncooperative 21-year-old Saudi detainee who allegedly had taken flying lessons in Arizona before the Sept. 11 terror attacks. Suspected Sept. 11 hijacker Hani Hanjour received pilot instruction for three months in 1996 and in December 1997 at a flight school in Scottsdale, Ariz.

"His female interrogator decided that she needed to turn up the heat," Saar writes, saying she repeatedly asked the detainee who had sent him to Arizona, telling him he could "cooperate" or "have no hope whatsoever of ever leaving this place or talking to a lawyer.’"

The man closed his eyes and began to pray, Saar writes.

The female interrogator wanted to "break him," Saar adds, describing how she removed her uniform top to expose a tight-fitting T-shirt and began taunting the detainee, touching her breasts, rubbing them against the prisoner’s back and commenting on his apparent erection.

The detainee looked up and spat in her face, the manuscript recounts.

The interrogator left the room to ask a Muslim linguist how she could break the prisoner’s reliance on God. The linguist told her to tell the detainee that she was menstruating, touch him, then make sure to turn off the water in his cell so he couldn’t wash.

Strict interpretation of Islamic law forbids physical contact with women other than a man’s wife or family, and with any menstruating women, who are considered unclean.

"The concept was to make the detainee feel that after talking to her he was unclean and was unable to go before his God in prayer and gain strength," says the draft, stamped "Secret."

The interrogator used ink from a red pen to fool the detainee, Saar writes.

"She then started to place her hands in her pants as she walked behind the detainee," he says. "As she circled around him he could see that she was taking her hand out of her pants. When it became visible the detainee saw what appeared to be red blood on her hand. She said, ’Who sent you to Arizona?’ He then glared at her with a piercing look of hatred.

"She then wiped the red ink on his face. He shouted at the top of his lungs, spat at her and lunged forward" — so fiercely that he broke loose from one ankle shackle.

"He began to cry like a baby," the draft says, noting the interrogator left saying, "Have a fun night in your cell without any water to clean yourself."

The civilian contractor is misguided in her interrogation tactics in a way that she begins to attack the religious convictions of the prisoner. Then she behaves in a most un Christian impious manner unlike her puritan American ancestors, if she was indeed descended from such. Most importantly she provides fodder for those who hate.

If the aforementioned interrogator can be accused of psychological torture there are greater accusations that can be leveled against the prisoner. For the interrogator smears a holy warrior with ink as opposed to the warrior who in his zeal often smears innocent people with blood if not incites and approves of others who do the same.

Let this be understood also that for every female interrogator who commits such a deed there are a million pious puritan Americans who excel Muslims in virtue. This statement Muslims may have heard but may not have seen because they are not close enough to pious Protestant Christians. Similarly for every suicide bomber there are a million pious and peaceful Muslims who may excel Christians in self-denial. This Christians may have felt but may not know because not many are friends with pious Muslims.

Such a distance is opportunity for exploitation and misunderstanding. This is aggravated by a press and media industry, which portrays Americans as licentious, immoral atheists and Muslims as rabid, violent religious fanatics.

There are some admirable things about Muslims. They have a greater stamina for prayers and meditation. This is piety and this is good. But some corrupt this act by reciting in a language they don’t understand thereby reducing a pious act to a ritual and an act of pure religiosity.

Another admirable thing about Muslims is their greater ability for self-abnegation in form of fasting. This is piety and this is good. But some corrupt this act by exploiting it as a pretense for indolence and through gorging on food they incur grocery bills that would shame the gluttonous wealthy.

Another admirable thing about Muslims is their sacrificing of animals for the poor. This is piety and this good. But some corrupt this act by giving animal fat or unwanted food to the poor reducing the act to an act of pure religiosity.

Another admirable thing about Muslims is their imitation of the Prophet Mohammad in leading simple lives. This is piety and this is good. But some corrupt it by imitating the Prophet by pulling up the ends of their trousers, growing long beards and using sticks instead of brushes which are symbolism and pure religiosity.

Al Qaeda maybe religious but they may not necessarily be pious and are certainly misguided in their enforcement of virtue. When you make claim to great piety, then breach of it becomes disastrous. Example would be avoiding sexual contact with women. This is piety and this is good. But some commit immoral sexual acts in the heat of the moment thereby making themselves vulnerable to charges of hypocrisy, losing their credibility and causing the common man to become cynical in his saying, “I looked up to this chaste man this was all a façade”.

When you uphold yourself as just executors and then you unjustly murder someone you have done great damage to your credibility. So when a pious Muslim executes the impious non-Muslim the risk to the Muslim’s claims of piety increases. Particularly if your non-Muslim victim turns out to be an innocent civilian (as is the case with Israeli victims of suicide bombings) then your claims to piety are certainly damaged.

Why then do pious Muslims succumb to such acts? Because its easier to kill than to convince. It is easier to martyr yourself and your brothers than to convert someone to a life of piety. It takes courage to step out of your comfort zone and reach out to the unbeliever. This is because the threat of a social interaction with the “different” is at times greater to some than sneaking into a crowded pizzeria and blowing yourself up. This is because it is easier to slap someone back than to set an example of gentlemanly self-control but to top self is to offer the other cheek, which is so insane as to be divine.

In the eyes of God on the Day of Judgment if nothing else Al Qaeda will be charged with being too lazy to endeavor to help humanity and being too ready and eager with destroying life created by the hand of God.

It is harder to discover stratagems of convincing the Christian and challenging him to a competition in virtue. It is easier to shout and hate and antagonize.

A simplistic example of challenging the opponent to good behavior is as follows. The colonists of a colony wanted the natives to pay taxes on imported salt. One of the natives didn’t like paying taxes on imported salt when he could have home made salt. What did the native do? It would have been easier to poison imported salt and bomb salt depots. What the native did instead was that he marched hundreds of miles to the sea followed by thousands of his fellow country folk and then made his own salt by the sea. It came to a point that the colonists relinquished the colony without a single shot being fired by the natives.

Despite the millions in charity the deeds of a misguided interrogator make a religious man look like a hero. In spite of the prisoner losing his temper and spitting at a woman, the context renders the offender sympathetic. Despite the fake blood and the fake wires coming out of the hands of hooded prisoners, despite the fact that Privates of the US Army engaged in conduct unbecoming officers Muslims have to recognize that they are not fighting Americans nor Christians but hate and sin.