
Following are excerpts from an interview with Prof. Adel Sadeq, head of Psychiatry at 'Ein Shams University in Cairo, aired by Iqra TV on April 25, 2002.
Interviewer: Let's begin by asking about the psychological structure make-up of the martyr. Who is the martyr? Who is this young woman, about to be married in two or thee months, a 17-year-old beauty queen, who straps on an explosives belt and turns herself into a human bomb? What is the psychological make-up of a martyr?
Prof. Adel Sadeq: The psychological make-up is that of a person who loves life.
Interviewer: Allah be praised! He's seeking death!
Sadeq: This is the thing that may appear peculiar to people who see the human soul as the most supreme thing. They are incapable of understanding this, because their cultural structure has no concepts such as self-sacrifice and honor. These concepts do not exist in some cultures. Therefore, when confronted with (suicide bombers), they find themselves in a state of denial, total denial. They think that this is impossible, and therefore they begin to present idiotic and silly interpretations, stemming from ignorance.
[...]
Interviewer: So, a martyr is someone who loves life!
Sadeq: Of course. When he is martyred, he reaches the pinnacle of happiness. He reaches maximal ecstasy. You and I may never know such ecstasy. We feel happiness when we pray to Allah, or, for example, when we win a large sum of money, or have a great success. You feel happiness, joy, as if you are flying. The maximal ecstasy, and the maximal happiness - and I am talking as a professional, as a psychiatrist - comes the moment... Like when the director said to you: ten, nine, eight, seven, six, two, six, five, four, three, two - and then he presses the button to blow himself up. The most beautiful moment, for which he cannot wait, is the moment he says "one - hop" - this person explodes, and he feels he's flying, because he knows for sure that he does not die, and this is the difference between us and them.
(Westerners) believe that he turns into a corpse that burns and flies through the air. That's the kind of culture they have. But, in fact, this is the act of transition to another, beautiful, world, and he knows very well that within seconds he will see the light of his Creator. He will be as close as he can possibly be to the Creator.
[...]
On the strategic level, there must be a pan-Arab plan to reach our goal. Our common goal is to liberate Palestine from the Israeli aggressors. To use words that people do not like anymore: we will throw Israel into the sea. This phrase, by the way, was the truth. Either they will throw us into the sea, or we will throw them into the sea. There is no compromise. Coexistence is all (nonsense)...
Interviewer: It's either us or them.