RELIGIOUS
PRISONS
TO REHABILITATE ISLAMIC TERRORISTS
SYNOPSIS:
The planet Earth has suffering a plague of
'Islamic' terrorism.
They use random killings (and sometimes suicide) as their main method
of operation.
And the world has used the violent methods of warfare against them:
The members of groups called 'terrorist' are killed every day in Iraq,
Afghanistan, & Pakistan.
But sometimes, we capture 'terrorists' alive.
What should we do with captured members of murder-suicide cults?
Would it be possible to rehabilitate them using Islamic Religious
Prisons?
OUTLINE:
1.
MILITARY METHODS HAVE NOT WORKED.
2. THE 'TERRORISTS' ARE MOTIVATED BY RELIGIOUS BELIEFS,
COUPLED
WITH TRIBALISM.
3.
RELIGIOUS PRISONS MIGHT BE THE ANSWER.
4. RELIGIOUS PRISONS IN ISLAMIC COUNTRIES.
5. RELIGIOUS PRISONS IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
6.
THE THREE PURPOSES OF PRISON.
(A) PUNISHMENT
(B) REHABILITATION
(C) PROTECTION OF THE PUBLIC
7. CULTURES AND SUB-CULTURES OF VIOLENT 'MUSLIMS'.
8.
RESULTS WILL SHOW WHICH PRISONS WORK BEST.
9. CONCLUSION: THOUSANDS OF VIOLENT 'MUSLIMS' NEED
REHABILITATION.
RELIGIOUS
PRISONS
TO
REHABILITATE ISLAMIC TERRORISTS
by
James Leonard Park
United States President Barak Obama
has decided to close the prison at
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Several 'detainees' still remain there,
after a few hundred have already been released.
What should we do with the rest of these prisoners?
1. MILITARY METHODS
HAVE
NOT WORKED.
Because many of these prisoners were captured on the
battlefields of Afghanistan,
they were first processed by the US military forces.
These jailers naturally used military
methods in handling the prisoners
and attempting to get useful information from them.
But they are not normal prisoners-of-war,
as that expression has been understood until now.
They were not employed and paid by any national government.
They were not under the control of any political leaders.
Often they cannot be returned to their countries of origin
because they are not wanted
by the governments of those countries.
They were never directed by any central government,
so they cannot simply be 'repatriated' after the end of hostilities,
as has happened with all organized wars.
2. THE 'TERRORISTS'
ARE
MOTIVATED BY RELIGIOUS BELIEFS,
COUPLED
WITH TRIBALISM.
The young men who fought for Osama bin Laden
and the self-radicalized 'Muslims' from everywhere
believe that they are fighting a holy war against Western infidels.
They have been deeply indoctrinated to believe
that their cause is just and that it is glorious to die in the effort
to
kill the 'enemies of Allah'.
They believe that if they die in holy warfare, they go instantly to
paradise.
Often this religious motivation is coupled with some
form of Arab nationalism.
They want to expel all Westerners from the holy lands of Islam.
Sometimes they believe they are fighting for a new world
to ruled by their version of Islamic law.
3. RELIGIOUS PRISONS
MIGHT
BE THE ANSWER.
Instead of keeping them in military prisons anywhere
on the Earth,
we need a new approach to this new kind of prisoner.
Instead of torturing
them to give up their secrets,
we can attempt to convert
them to peaceful Islam,
so that they will voluntarily
give us information about their former
leaders.
Where waterboarding
did not work, perhaps prayer
will.
Religious prisons would still be places of
confinement.
We cannot allow members of various murder-suicide cults
to simply walk free of their imprisonment.
If we just turn them loose wherever they choose to live,
many of them would re-join the 'Muslim' underground,
planning to kill as many of the infidels
as they can,
perhaps while 'sacrificing' their own lives in the process of killing
others.
The expression "religious prisons" is new.
The history of the world contains very few examples
of prisons run by
religious organizations.
The primary examples from history
would be the imprisonment used before people were burned as heretics.
They were taken into custody by the religious authorities
because they had written or said something that went against the
religion.
But these new Islamic Religious Prisons would not
have the authority to kill
people.
The prisoners would be kept in custody until they proved by their
behavior
that they had recovered from their former misguided religious beliefs.
And if they are never
rehabilitated,
they will have to be kept in prison for the rest of their natural
lives.
4. RELIGIOUS PRISONS IN
ISLAMIC COUNTRIES.
These Islamic Religious Prisons would exist
primarily
in Islamic countries.
And they would be run by peaceful Muslims from those countries.
The languages of the prisoners would be used in all interactions with
them.
They would never be punished beyond being kept in confinement
until they show objective signs of reforming their religious thinking.
Different methods of re-education might work for
different prisoners.
But these would all be compassionate
methods,
designed to suit the states of mind of the prisoners.
Some would be allowed to have contact with family members
if these family members are peaceful
Muslims, not violent Muslims.
The peaceful religious leaders of Islam would be in
charge.
They could pray, read and recite the Koran, counsel, educate, &
sing
with the prisoners individually and
collectively
as long as such methods show some results
in the form of violent Muslims being converted to peaceful Muslims.
Teaching of the peaceful contents of the Koran would
be encouraged.
The prisoners would be empowered to question their new teachers,
since they will probably have been indoctrinated to believe that Allah
favored their former purpose of killing as many infidels as possible.
Day by day, they would learn that Islam is a tolerant and peaceful
religion.
They would explore the Islamic texts
that were used to recruit them to
become violent Muslims.
And after some of these former violent Muslims see
the
error of their former beliefs,
they could teach newcomers to that religious
prison.
By word and deed it would become more obvious
just which prisoners have discovered how they were misled
and have now embraced a peaceful form of Islam.
When they are completely rehabilitated,
they should be released to whatever part of the world they want
and to the embrace of whatever families they still have.
Everyone who knew that they used to be violent
Muslims
will be watching to make certain that they do not return to their old
beliefs
and behavior.
And if they do revert to association with violent Muslims,
they should be returned to the Islamic Religious Prisons.
In other words, they will be on
parole for as long as necessary
to protect the peace of the world.
We should be realistic that some prisoners will
never to rehabilitated.
They will have to be kept in the most appropriate secure setting
for their rest of their lives,
since, if released, they would re-join the violent Muslims,
who
believe that murder and suicide are glorious behavior.
Some early efforts along these lines in Islamic
countries
have worked better than others.
Any such new forms of rehabilitation need to be tested by their results:
Have these prisoners really changed their minds enough
so that they can be safely released to live in open society?
The Islamic teachers who run the religious prisons
must not be too closely identified with their national governments.
They should be free to pursue Islamic practices as they see fit,
as long as they do not teach violent 'Islam'.
See another
cyber-sermon entitled:
"Peaceful Muslims & Violent Muslims":
http://www.tc.umn.edu/~parkx032/CY-P&V-M.html
5. RELIGIOUS PRISONS IN
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
Following the same patterns successfully developed
in Islamic countries,
the United States should also create at least one religious prison for
violent Muslims.
These would be for English-speaking members of murder-suicide cults.
Some of them would be 'Muslims' who converted themselves to
violence,
independent of any explicit religious training.
In the United States, prisoners would be sent to the
religious prison
after they have been convicted of a federal crime.
Which current federal law would be most appropriate?
Perhaps we will need new
anti-terrorism laws
to define the new federal crime of religious killing
or conspiracy to commit religious killing.
And a new federal law will be required to create a religious prison.
The security of the
prison could be given to regular prison authorities.
But the educational
component will be organized by Muslim religious
leaders
who are well known to be peaceful Muslims.
As this new rehabilitation system is developed and
tested,
the former federal justice system will have to be applied in creative
ways.
The judge will have to sentence the violent American Muslims
to the most appropriate federal prison
until the first religious prison begins to operate.
Violent Muslims sentenced because of their
religiously-motivated behavior
should not be mixed with regular violent offenders in federal prisons.
Some existing prison in the federal system might have to be used as a
transitional facility,
while a new religious prison is created.
Violent 'Islam' is not going to disappear from the
face of the Earth
for several decades into the 21st century.
So we might need to have religious prisons for the indefinite future.
As the new forms of rehabilitation prove themselves effective,
more prisoners can be transferred to the new religious prison.
When the new place for Islamic rehabilitation is
well established,
newly-captured violent Muslims can be sentenced to this special prison.
And as it become more and more obvious that the USA
is not an enemy of Islam,
there will be fewer self-radicalizing American Muslims
who turn to violence because of a misunderstanding of their faith.
English would be the major language used in the US
religious prison,
since the prisoners would be people who have lived
in the American culture probably for many years.
And their religious worship and instruction would be provided by
American Muslims,
who believe that the violent ideology of the prisoners
does not represent what is best about Islam.
The families of the prisoners would be encouraged
to participate in the rehabilitation of the violent Muslims
—if
(as it likely to be the case) these family members
are not sympathetic toward violent 'Islamic' actions.
And when the prisoners are able to see the error of their ways,
that would be one major turning-point in their rehabilitation
to join American society once again as peaceful, non-violent Muslims.
6. THE THREE PURPOSES OF
PRISON.
All systems of justice that use prisons have three
basic purposes:
(A) punishment, (B) rehabilitation, & (C) protection of the
public.
(A)
PUNISHMENT
'Muslim' prisoners who have killed other people
might have to suffer the death-penalty themselves.
Martyrdom might be their life-goal in any case.
Their own views—initially
and after attempted rehabilitation—
should be taken into account.
Some who cannot be
rehabilitated might be offered a choice
between life in prison
and voluntary execution.
Once it has been established exactly what the
prisoners did
that put them into federal prison,
then a tentative term of imprisonment can be set
as a punishment for that criminal behavior.
However, the exact term of imprisonment can be left
open,
to see what happens in fulfilling the other purposes of their
imprisonment.
(B)
REHABILITATION
Islamic Religious Prisons will seek to change
violent 'Muslims'
into Muslims who embrace the message of peace and tolerance at the
heart of Islam.
The particular Islamic religious leaders
who are engaged in the work of rehabilitating former violent Muslims
will have the best perspective for noticing
whether or not each prisoner has been reformed.
The most dramatic proofs of their rehabilitation
will be the information they provide about their former 'religious'
organizations
that led them down the path toward becoming violent Muslims.
If any Muslim leaders still outside prisons are still preaching
violence,
they should be exposed and then imprisoned.
(Of course, due legal process must be followed.
A real crime must be committed before anyone goes to jail.)
Converts to peaceful Islam will want to see their former leaders put
away
(and then perhaps rehabilitated in prison).
And they can probably provide valuable detailed information
about the preaching, teaching, & lifestyles of the violent leaders
which will allow such leaders to be captured and imprisoned.
Rehabilitated Muslims will show their good faith
by helping the proper authorities to capture others who still follow
the path of violence.
But some violent 'Muslims' will never be
rehabilitated.
As long as they cling to some violent form of 'Islam',
they will have to be kept in prison for the rest of their
natural lives.
(C)
PROTECTION OF THE PUBLIC
Violent 'Muslims' will have to be kept behind secure
walls
for as long as they pose a meaningful threat to anyone.
This will not always be easy to decide.
So, once released, former prisoners will have to be followed
to see if they associate
with violent 'Muslims' once again.
This is similar to parole for regular criminals.
If they link-up once again with their former criminal colleagues,
then they must be returned to prison because they will harm the public
if
left free.
7. CULTURES AND
SUB-CULTURES OF VIOLENT 'MUSLIMS'.
When it is well-known that a culture or sub-culture
still supports the violent ideology,
the prisoners should not be returned to those places.
The peaceful world will have to isolate violent cultures and
sub-cultures.
And as they continue to see that even their own co-religionists have
turned against them,
some, as least, of the members of the violent culture or sub-culture
will abandon support for that belief system.
If this means moving to a less violent part of the world, so be it.
Violent Islamic countries will not be tolerated by the world community.
The community of peaceful nations will have to
decide the best collective response
to nations that continue to harbor violent 'Muslims'.
Most central governments of Muslim nations do not support violent
'Islam'.
Often the central government has been a target of the violent 'Muslims'.
And sometimes other countries will be able to help them
to cope with violent 'Muslims' living within their borders.
Here are some obvious clues:
If any religious building is found to be storing guns, bombs, &
other weapons,
we know that this is not a peaceful religious organization.
If the people leave the Friday gathering for prayer
chanting "Death to America",
we know that these are not peaceful Muslims.
The leaders of such religious organizations will
have to be captured and imprisoned
by whatever authorities have the capacity to do so.
And violent 'Muslims' will have to be placed in the Islamic
Religious Prisons
to see if they can be rehabilitated into peaceful Muslims.
8. RESULTS WILL SHOW WHICH
PRISONS WORK BEST.
When we consider the option of creating religious
prisons for violent 'Muslims',
we must also acknowledge that some methods of rehabilitation will fail.
We can only keep trying until we find the best techniques.
And we should not assume that the same treatments will be best for
everyone.
Islamic prisons that have the highest rate of failure
will probably have to be closed.
Or the complete staff will have to be changed
so that a new approach can be tried.
The worse religious prisons can learn from the best religious prisons.
Violent 'Islamic' organizations took several years
to recruit and train several
thousand violent followers.
And it will probably take many years to undo such training.
But at least, we can show that we are being compassionate toward
the young men who have been indoctrinated by violent 'Islam'.
And that will make it more difficult for the advocates of violence to
find more followers.
Family members who are basically peaceful
will want their relatives to embrace peaceful Islam
rather than lose their lives in a foolish attempt to kill all the
infidels.
9. CONCLUSION: THOUSANDS
OF VIOLENT 'MUSLIMS' NEED REHABILITATION.
Even if religious prisons can be established
to
receive the violent prisoners at Guantanamo,
the world still has thousands of other young men devoted to violent
'Islam'.
They will continue to make trouble in many different countries of the
world.
And some of them will be captured and imprisoned.
Instead of treating them as prisoners-of-war or common criminals,
we should find religious methods
to help them recover from their
foolish religious ideology.
And compassionate treatment of former 'Muslim' terrorists
will not make them
martyrs for recruiting more terrorists.
Islam is a religion of peace.
When all followers of Islam believe that once again,
there will be no further need for Islamic Religious Prisons.
AUTHOR:
James Park is an existential philosopher
living and writing in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Much more about him can be learned from his website:
An Existential Philosopher's Museum:
http://www.tc.umn.edu/~parkx032/
More thoughts along similar lines
will be found in the related cyber-sermons linked below.
LINKS TO RELATED WEBSITES AND NEWS
STORIES:
Please suggest Internet links describing
religious prisons for violent 'Muslims'.
Send suggestions to James Park, e-mail: PARKx032@UMN.EDU
RELATED CYBER-SERMONS:
Holy
War
Against Terrorism
. D
Peaceful
Muslims & Violent Muslims
. D N
Deprogramming
Former Members of Al-Qaeda
. D
BIBLIOGRAPHY ON TERRORISM:
Here is the
beginning of a bibliography on 'religious' terrorism:
http://www.tc.umn.edu/~parkx032/B-TERROR.html
Created
January 23, 2009; Revised 2-19-2009; 2-27-2009; 3-3-2009; 5-21-2009;
11-13-2009; 1-21-2010; 5-3-2011; 9-14-2011