Islam teaches that when a person dies, prior to earning his or her stripes in Allah’s janna, the person must undergo a test, administered to the newly dead immediately after burial.

Suicide martyrdom is a path difficult for most Americans to comprehend. Some among us have attempted to ground such motivations in desperation and poverty, or in America’s supposed “depredations,” especially “war-mongering in Iraq.” While many reasons drive jihadi terrorists by the thousands to choose death in the cause, sanctioned as “martyrdom,” one impetus rarely discussed is the Islamic belief known as the torture of the grave.

Muslims teach that when a person dies, prior to earning his or her stripes in Allah’s janna (paradise), the person must undergo a test, administered to the newly dead immediately after burial. As explained to me by a senior Islamic official from a Middle East country, this brutal experience — which lasts for an unknown period of time — is administered by two wild-eyed, ghoulish “angels” called Nakir and Munkar. This deadly duo dispenses a battery of trials to determine the depth of the person’s faith in Allah and loyalty to Islam. They also dish out a smorgasbord of creative tortures — a sort of prelude to hell — to castigate those less valiant.

While the body lies in the grave, the sinner feels the weight of the earth pressing down upon his corpse until his rib cage collapses. Worms gnaw the flesh, adding to the already terrific pain. For grievous sinners, the torture is enhanced and extended in ways only Nakir and Munkar can fashion. Later, when these “angels” determine the trial is over, the person is sent either to heaven or hell, but only after the final judgment of Allah, which comes “some day.” In several polls conducted in Arab countries, more people stated they feared the torture of the grave than actually dying.

But do not despair. This excruciating trial offers an escape clause: Martyrdom in the Faith. When a person dies as a martyr for Allah, miraculously he bypasses this hellish ordeal, instead going straight to paradise, passing the angels who honor the martyr on his or her glorious journey to the blessed gardens, his promised 72 gorgeous, mute, “doe-eyed” virgins, and an eternal supply of tasty food and sweet drink. In heaven the martyr receives a new body, perfectly formed with “all parts and passions,” so he may enjoy the multiple pleasures of his dedication to Allah.

Such beliefs, while comforting to many Muslims, are also used by our enemies, including the leaders of al-Qaeda and Hezbollah, to recruit and motivate young suicide killers. These extremists are manipulating a great world faith for their own gain, using religion to render chaos, plaguing millions, especially fellow Muslims, who have died in Iraq, for example, by the tens-of-thousands at the hands of these fanatics.

The jihadi militants will use any weapon or tool they can beg, borrow, or steal to defeat us. Does anyone actually believe this enemy will refrain from using a nuclear warhead on an American city, or against an American military base abroad or at home, if they gain access to such a weapon? We need help. We can’t do this alone. We need Islamic clerics and imams (Islamic leaders) to issue powerfully-worded fatwas (Islamic decrees or official statements) decrying the use of the torture of the grave in recruiting suicide murderers. We must ally ourselves with Islamic communities in many lands, building trust, demonstrating our respect, and most of all our dependability. Failing to do so, the death that will result could reach genocidal levels, the destruction, apocalyptic.

Some among us are harshly critical of Islam. I believe these often well-meaning souls are undermining America’s long-term security. If we insist upon a clash of civilizations — a war between the Christian West and Islam — we may get our wish. However, such a path is not only unnecessary, but has ramifications few yet comprehend, when considering the demographic realities of a shrinking Christian world and a burgeoning Islamic umma. Islam — 1.3 billion strong and 22 percent of the world’s population — is breaking all growth records while the Christian West is dwindling. The numbers are sobering (see the CIA’s World Fact Book, on-line).

Current, and soon to come war-technology and mass destruction weaponry available to an ever expanding audience, will end up in the hands of our enemies. It is inevitable. Add to that the published and stated goals, the covenants of death, of those tyrants and terrorists who use mayhem to capture and hold power and terrorize their victims. Simply, without the assistance, confidence, and loyalty of the greater Muslim community worldwide, we will lose this war. Rather than driving wedges we must be bridge-builders.

These modern-day Assassins, like those we faced on 9/11, must be prevented from exploiting Islam and attacking free societies. America must unite with her allies and stand against these “holy” killers. Ultimately either liberty or tyranny will prevail. As Bernard Lewis, the world-renowned expert on Islam, warned: “Unless we bring them (Muslims) freedom, they will destroy us.” If the zealots, and the tyrants who back them, are left unchallenged, chaos and death will haunt us for generations, spurred on by the wild-eyed Nakir and Munkar, who appear heavily invested in bringing, in this life, hell to us all.