Reframing of Martyrdom and Jihad and the Socialization of Suicide Terrorists.

The article responds to a research paper that examined the motivation behind the actions of suicide terrorists. The author explores how the quest for personal significance, used in the paper as a unifying concept that explains the motivation of suicide terrorists, is exploited by terrorist organizations in order to fulfill this motivation. The author examines how martyrdom fits into Islamic tradition, scripture and literature as well as how it has been used by non-Muslim groups. The author also discusses how the concept of jihad has developed and how martyrdom now falls within what Islamic theologians considered effective means of conducting jihad.