By:

Dr. Ali S. Awadh Asseri

(Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon)

     Just because it is difficult to arrive at a universally accepted definition of terrorism, or an understanding that is largely acceptable by the international community, it should not discourage us from placing the subject in an academic perspective. In fact, Muslim scholars need to explore logical and rational explanations of terrorism to an even greater degree than their Western counterparts, since the story has so far predominantly been told by the latter, and quite often in a distorted manner. It is unfortunate that the Muslim scholarly discourse on the subject has thus far been based more on emotion and conspiracy theories. Probably, that is why a section of the Western scholars, particularly Bruce Hoffman, have succeeded in portraying religion as a goal rather than a means while discussing terrorist motivations pertaining to the contemporary wave of international terrorism. The fact, however, is the terrorism committed by deviant organizations in the Muslim world is an outcome of their misinterpretation or misuse of religious scripture, just as it has been the case with successive millenarian cults in the history of Judaism and Christianity.