Islam is as closely related to terrorism as light is to darkness or life is to death or peace is to war. They do come into contact with each other, of course, but from directions diametrically opposed. They are found grappling with each other but never walking hand in hand happily together. However, one cannot deny that on many occasions some Muslims are found involved in terrorist activities either on behalf of a group or on behalf of a country with a predominately Muslim population.
Are there not equally, other groups involved in terrorism and subversion throughout the world? Would it be fitting to label all brands of terrorism by using the same principle which gave birth to the term “Islamic Terrorism” creating a list of Sikh terrorism, Hindu terrorism, Christian terrorism, Jewish terrorism, Atheist terrorism, Buddhist terrorism, Animist terrorism and Pagan terrorism? It is not easy to close one’s eyes to various brands of terrorism which unfortunately flourish all over the world, in fact, it is impossible for an observer not to be aware of the persecution, bloodshed and murder, often in the name of some purported ideal or noble cause. Terrorism is a global problem and needs to be studied in its larger perspective. Unless we understand the forces behind the violence, we shall not be able to understand why some Muslim groups and states are turning to terrorism to achieve certain objects. Almost every form of communal violence witnessed in the world today, wherever that is and whatever cloak it wears, is essentially political in nature. Religion is not the exploiter, it is itself exploited by internal or external political interests. For instance, we find terrorism generated by racism - but that, in the final analysis, is essentially political in nature. There are other small expressions of terrorism born out of rebellion and hatred against prevailing social systems and cultures. There are generally regarded as acts of madmen and anarchists. There is a special kind of terrorism which is related to the Mafia’s struggle for supremacy; this terrorism is directed by certain factions against other factions within the Mafia. Obviously, this terrorism is really a power struggle and therefore political.
When we examine so-called “Islamic Terrorism”, we discover political forces working behind an Islamic façade. More often then not, the real manipulators and exploiters are not even Muslim themselves. Let us turn to some particular illustrations of terrorism in order to diagnose the underlying the maladies. For instance, The Iraq-Iran war throws some light on the nature of explosive events in a part of the world of Islam. Both countries claim to be Muslim purport to draw their inspiration for hating, destroying, and annihilating each other from the sacred name of Islam. All the soldiers who died in the battle on the Iraqi side were applauded as a great martyrs by the Iraqi media. All the Iranian soldiers who died at the hands of the Iraqis were condemned as infidels dispatched straight to hell by the Iraqi media. Exactly the same story was repeated in reverse day in and day out on the other side of the border in Iran. Whenever an Iraqi soldier was bayoneted to death the battlefield resounded with the cry of “Allaho Akbar” (God is the greatest). On which side was Islam? One wonders!
Are these slogans real or they mean anything? All this demonstrates the hollowness of these slogans. The only point which can be proved beyond a shadow of doubt is that the Iraqi and Iranian soldiers who laid down their lives for an apparently noble cause were duped by their leadership. Islam was neither here nor their. During the war, the teachings of Islam were ignored by the warring nations. The Holy Qur’an states:
“Allah will surely defend those who believe. Allah loves not the perfidious and the ungrateful. Permission to fight is granted to those against whom war is made, because they have been wronged, and Allah indeed has the power to help them. They are those who have been driven out of their homes unjustly only because they affirmed: our Lord is Allah. If Allah did not repel the aggression of some people by means of others, cloisters and churches and synagogues and mosques, wherein the name of Allah is oft commemorated, would surely be destroyed. Allah will surely help him who helps His cause; Allah is indeed Powerful, Mighty. (Qur'an 22:39-41)The real forces at work are not truly and essentially religious in character, why single out “Islamic” whenever terrorist forces are at work today in Muslim groups or countries? Those powers responsible for the prolongation of the Iraq-Iran war by ensuring a constant supply of arms cannot escape their responsibility for the immense waste of life, property and indescribable human suffering that has resulted from it. Whatever their ulterior motives may have been, they will only help Khomenmism to survive longer.
No one who has even a remote understanding of modern warfare can imagine a real threat from so-called “Islamic” militancy. Of course, there is danger in these growing tendencies and one is bound to be perturbed by them. The danger from “Islamic” militancy is a threat to the world of Islam itself; it is an inward-looking threat which is destroying the peace of Muslims everywhere. All the intolerance, narrow mindedness and bigotry which we observe in the Muslim world today is playing havoc with the peace of the Muslim world. Alas!
It is believed that word “terrorism” applies to acts of terror, attempts to cause bomb explosions, and so on, but this is not the only type of terrorism the world is suffering from. Whenever repressive measures are taken by governments against their own countrymen to still the voice of disagreement, those measures too should be included within the term “Terrorism” and be as strongly and roundly condemned as any other form of terrorism. All oppressive measures taken by governments against the left or right within their own countries as terrorism of the worst type. When acts of terrorism are directed against foreign governments and take the form of the use of explosives here and there, or the hijacking of planes, such events gain a great deal of attention. World opinion sympathizes with the victims of such callous terrorist acts, as indeed it should. Such sympathies are not merely voiced, but are generally followed by constructive means to prevent and pre-empt such attempts in the future. However, what about those hundreds of thousands of people suffering under the stem and merciless hands of their own governments. Their cries of anguish are seldom heard outside. Their cries of protest are very often muffled by the application of strict measures of censorship.
Pakistan is a country that was exclusively obtained in the name of Islam. Today, it is exclusively being used to eradicate Islam. In the entire world it is the only country that was brought into being for the Kalima, Unity of God. Today, unfortunately this the very country that is bent upon erasing the Kalima. Every such action in their entire world is being carried out there. Ahmadi Muslims are enduring all sorts of hardship and tortures from the hands of extremists, from the hands of militants, from the hands of terrorists, from the hands of the Government and from the hands of law enforcement agencies. Ahmadi Muslims who have not suffered the adversity of imprisonment are also living a life of extreme anguish. They are being treated ruthlessly and are deprived of their basic human rights - it all has made their lives unbearable. Wars are enormous calamities. With the human progress wars are getting deadlier. Civilized behaviours is the basic condition of civilized people. However, transgression and brutality is shown in wars by the so-called civilized countries, because their civilization is superficial and is not built on the foundation of religion.
Source/Credit: Calgary Ahmadiyya Muslim Examiner
By Deeba Chaudhry
April 21, 2012
Read original post here: Scrupulous Illustrations of “Islamic Terrorism” and Political Forces
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