Not in my name!

If a natural disaster like the October 8 earthquake occurs, one feels helpless and gradually comes to terms with it, thinking that it was the will of God and man could not have prevented it. But when a man-made disaster takes place, it is obvious that one would be outraged. Words cannot describe my initial feelings of sorrow and then utter outrage at the recent bomb explosions in the suburban commuter trains in Mumbai, India, at rush hour. More than 200 people have died, while hundreds lay injured, and who knows how many of these injured will succumb to their wounds. These people were the victims of terrorism – a menace that plagues the entire world today.

The American Heritage Dictionary defines terrorism as: “The unlawful use or threatened use of force or violence by a person or an organised group against people or property with the intention of intimidating or coercing societies or governments, often for ideological or political reasons.” The terrorists’ targets are mostly civilians – soft targets – who would not be able to retaliate. It does not matter to them that these innocents have not played any role in aggravating the cause the terrorists are fighting for. Terrorists have only one agenda: to paralyse societies or governments by creating fear amongst the masses.

An Indian, who is a fellow community member on an online community, said that he was probably jumping the gun with his accusation of who was responsible for the Mumbai blasts, but he had this to say, “The terrorists who did this in the name of Islam should know that there were Muslims too who were killed and horribly injured in the blasts. What God will welcome you to paradise when you have killed some of your own?”

It saddened me to see that whenever the word ‘terrorism’ appears anywhere, the first suspects are Muslims, even though Muslims are not the only ones involved in terrorism – for instance, the Irish Republican Army (IRA) in Northern Ireland, Somalia’s Mooryaan and the ETA Basque separatists in Spain, etc. People have forgotten that in 1998, a Jewish-American settler opened fire on Muslim worshippers inside the Ibrahim Mosque; the same year an Israeli citizen in Tel Aviv assassinated Yitzhak Rabin, the Israeli Prime Minister. These people were not Muslims, yet they are terrorists in the true sense of the word.

But one cannot escape the sad truth that the Muslims have brought it upon themselves to be labelled ‘terrorists’ by distorting the concept of jihad and creating so much hype about it, which has led the world to forget that Islam is a peace-loving religion that is compatible with other faiths and beliefs. Islam is not restricted to the seventh century AD, it is for all times. Justice lies at the heart of the Islamic tradition, so how could such a religion advocate such unjust, indiscriminate violence? The teachings of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) show us that war is a method resorted to for defensive purposes only in unavoidable situations. Never was an indiscriminate war allowed, nor should it be, in the name of Islam, as the Quran says, “Fight in the way of God against those who fight you, but do not go beyond the limits. God does not love those who go beyond the limits” — (Surah al-Baqara:190).

Karen Armstrong, a British historian who is a former nun and a renowned expert on Middle East history, examines the history of the three great divine religions. She comments, “The word Islam comes from the same Arabic root as the word peace and the Quran condemns war as an abnormal state of affairs opposed to God’s will: ‘When the enemies of the Muslims kindle a fire for war, Allah extinguishes it. They strive to create disorder in earth, and Allah loves not those who create disorder’ — (28:78). Islam does not justify a total aggressive war or extermination, as the Torah does in the first five books of the Bible. A more realistic religion than Christianity, Islam recognises that war is inevitable and sometimes a positive duty in order to end oppression and suffering. The Quran teaches that war must be limited and be conducted in as humane a way as possible. Prophet Mohammad [PBUH] had to fight not only the Makkans, but also the Jewish tribes in the area and Christian tribes in Syria who planned an offensive against him in alliance with the Jews. Yet, this did not make the Prophet [PBUH] denounce the People of the Book. His Muslims were forced to defend themselves, but they were not fighting a holy war against the religion of their enemies. When the Prophet [PBUH] sent his freedman Zaid against the Christians at the head of a Muslim army, he told them to fight in the cause of God bravely, but humanely. They must not molest priests, monks and nuns, nor the weak and helpless people who were unable to fight. There must be no massacre of civilians nor should they cut down a single tree nor pull down any building. This was very different from the wars of Joshua” — Karen Armstrong, Holy War (Reference courtesy Harun Yahya: ‘The Pacifism of Islam’).

Yes this topic has been done to death, but until and unless the mute Muslims – who abhor terrorism and know the true concept of jihad, or at least know that jihad is not what these barbarians are doing – stand up and raise their voices against this, the nuisance called ‘Islamic terrorism’ would not leave us. We are already suffering, but do we allow our children to suffer, our generations to suffer, just because of these so-called Muslims who have taken the sword (guns and bombs in these times) in their hands and try to get justice for the Muslim masses through indiscriminate violence? No! It is time we all stand up to their atrocities and tell them to stop fooling the masses with their ludicrous interpretation of jihad, for the Quran says, “If someone kills another person – unless it is in retaliation for someone else or for causing corruption in the earth – it is as if he had murdered all mankind. And if anyone gives life to another person, it is as if he had given life to all mankind. Our messengers came to them with clear signs, but even after that, many of them committed outrages in the earth” — (5:32).

It is said that, “One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter”, but most of the terrorists waging war today are not fighting for anyone’s freedom. They are fighting for their own supremacy. My plea to these ‘Islamic terrorists’ is to stop using the label of ‘jihad’, to stop wearing the garb of a ‘Muslim’, because it is time that they stop using my religion’s name or my name to carry on with their personal vendettas. Killing innocent people is not the mantra of any religion, whether it be Islam or any other. These Muslim terrorists must stop carrying out these vicious attacks, and if they do not, then they should not do so in my name!