The Third Argument: Motive- Part I

It’s near midnight and she walks into the driveway of the home. Beneath the light she can see him and he notices her. He smiles at her, unspoken words hidden behind his eyes. She raises her hands showing a gun and takes aim. Four shots are fired into his chest before he falls to the ground remaining motionless, his shirt soaking in dark liquid…


One side says Islam is a terrorist religion (if it’s even a religion to begin with). Inherently it’s evil and murderous. They point to the events of 2001, the videos posted by certain groups, the angry protests where something will inevitably be burned in effigy. They point at these and more as proof that Islam creates in humans bestial, barbaric behavior bent on destructive impulses.
The other side says “Islam is a religion of peace”, it’s something that stresses humanity. They say that misunderstanding of Islamic texts has brought about the spike in the recent (last 60 years specifically) actions that have taken the lives of innocents around the world. The apologists (??) assert that Islam itself has been hijacked by villains who are giving the religion a bad name. The loud angry speeches, the goose-stepping, the talk of “self-determination”, indeed anything political, the angry talking, all of this is utterly outside of Islam they say.
There are these two clashing ideas of what Islam is and isn’t. Usually, the side of the apologists is taken by Muslims and those with an affinity to Muslims. The other side is taken by those who are antagonistic towards Islam. These can be non-Muslims, Muslims who have become disenchanted with the religion (why have they?), former Muslims who have left the religion and those who fall somewhere between that spectrum. When the subject of Islam makes its way into the media either one side or the other is given a platform; usually there’s more negative press given to the religion. However, with all the talk of whether Islam is a peaceful religion that’s mutated or if it’s a religion that’s inherently evil, rarely is a thorough analyses given. According to some, Islam is peaceful but why, what makes it a peaceful thing? Muslims feed the hungry and look after the poor and engage in interfaith meetings which makes it peaceful to some. According to others it’s the spawn of the devil but again we have to ask why, what makes that assertion a truism? Muslims attack innocent people and subjects women so that’s proof of its satanic inclination according to others.
With the good and bad, how often has the question been asked of why certain actions have been taken? What were the motivating factors that pushed a group of people to do things deemed inhumane? These types of questions are not asked and so we begin to look at situations in a huge void. Judgments made in the absence of information are bound to lead to inaccurate conclusions.

A woman has suffered at the hands of an abusive father for as long as she can remember. Even into her early childhood he’d slap her and punch her, beat her and yank her arm as if he were tugging at some kind of rope. These attacks were lightweight compared to the visits he’d pay her at night in her room. Repeatedly she was dehumanized losing any sense of self worth and this was increased more so because of the fact that people knew what was occurring. They knew the things that happened but said nothing, let alone did they take any action to prevent it from happening. The last shreds of her sanity were being torn away and if she wanted to survive as mentally intact human she’d have to take her life or his. Either she would end him or end herself but something had to give if she wanted to stay halfway sane. To kill herself would give him a victory, it would have said that he controlled her so much that after he exploited her, she would just go into a box and become a thing forgotten. No, that couldn’t happen, she would make him the thing forgotten. It’s near midnight and she walks into the driveway of the home…

Of course we can say there are other options, she shouldn’t have taken the law into her own hands. But, we say this from a perspective of a person who more likely has not gone through such trials and this amongst people who, like us, have been free from this kind of experience. Do we say the same to a person who’s been abused? Could we even dare to bring out this kind of argument directly to the face of this particular woman? “You shouldn’t have done this, someone would have helped you and taken you out of that situation”. Can that be said to the face of a person who’s had two decades of abuse in her life? Hardly could it be done, we speak so easily from the comfort of sheltered homes where it’s easy to easily throw judgments on people without anyone being able to challenge us or to give their side of the story.