-
Why the Charge?
-
Islam Stands for
Peace
-
Distinction Between Islamic Jihad and Terror
-
Who is Terrorist?
-
The Need of the
Time
I-
Why the Charge?
No religion in
the history of the mankind spread as rapidly as the religion of
Islam. For
centuries
Christianity had hidden itself in byways and corners; not until it
had largely absorbed and assimilated paganism, not until a
half-pagan monarch had come to its assistance with edicts and
orders, was it able to rear its head among
the
creeds of the world.
Similar was the case of Bhuddhism
and
Zoroastrianism
who won
their
way slowly, by painful struggle, and finally triumphed with the
aid of powerful monarchs like Asoka and
Cyrus
respectively.
Judaism never became a popular faith and never rose above the cult
of the Jewish race. Islam, unlike other great religions of the
world, sallied forth on its great adventure with the slenderest
human backing and against
the heaviest material
odds
and triumphed with seemingly miraculous ease.
The
extraordinary rapidity with which the religion of Muhammad (PBUH)
spread over the surface of the globe and its marvelous effect upon
the minds of men gave rise to the charge that Islam was a religion
of sword and it spread through sword. This
charge still
persisted when new charge of terrorism has recently been added. As
the charge of religion of sword was
on account of Islam’s
rapid spread, similarly charge of terrorist religion has been
levelled
due to resurrected Islamic concept of Jihad which the Muslims are
waging today against the forces of oppression. The accusers, both
time, are the same – the non-Muslims led by Christians. See the
map of the modern world and mark the hot spots where some type of
cold or open war is going on, you would find that Muslims are
definitely
involved as one of the parties in the trouble, most often being
the persecuted
one.
But still the Muslims are called terrorists and their religion is
called terrorist religion!
Let us
examine the charge in detail in this chapter to see whether there
is any truth in it.
[Back
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II-
Islam
Stands For Peace
Al-Islam or the
Islam literally means
‘peace’
or submission and
complete
surrender to the will of Almighty God, the
Creator,
the Sustainer and Sovereign
of the whole universe. Being
the last
revealed religion and having universal appeal to all humanity,
Islam teaches peace and security and enjoins upon its followers to
surrender to the will of God completely. It attaches paramount
importance to human life which in its view
is sacred and cannot be taken without lawful cause. Al-Qur’an,
the revealed book of Islam, equates unjust murder of one human
being with murder of whole mankind,
and protection of life of one person
with
protection of whole humankind. It
says:
“whosoever killeth a human being for other than manslaughter or
corruption in the land, it shall be as if he had
killed all mankind, and who saveth the life of one, it shall be as
if he had saved the life of all mankind…..”
––(5
:32)
Despite glorifying sanctity of human life, no
doubt, Islam allows Jihad or war in which many lives are lost.
However, this permission is given in very exceptional
circumstances. War
is allowed when the followers of Islam are oppressed, persecuted,
and are attacked or when their faith, their ideology or their land
and their homes are attacked. Islam being religion of humanity,
peace and security
does not permit its followers
war of aggression or war with the motives of killing and
conquering other human being or war with the imperial or colonial
ambitions
to subjugate weaker nations for expansion of empire and trade.
Even
war for converting the people to Islam is not allowed. The
followers of Islam pick up sword in their defence, in the
defence of their faith and country, or in the defence of the
oppressed Muslims or even in the defence of non-Muslim oppressed
communities if need arises.
The oppressed, subjugated and persecuted Muslims are permitted
to rise up and wage Jihad against their oppressors for liberation
from their yoke. Thus in the case of the oppressed Muslim
communities Jihad becomes a war of independence, a war
to regain the usurped fundamental rights,
and Islam permits such war.
[Back
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III-
Distinction Between Islamic Jihad and Terror
This brings us to the point
where we can distinguish between Islam, Jihad and
Terror or more directly between Islamic Jihad and Terror.
‘Islam’,
as we have stated earlier, means peace and security and teaches
its followers to live in peace, avoid war and preach their
religion through peaceful/means.
‘Jihad’ is derived from word ‘Jihada’ or ‘Jihadun’
and means ‘exertion’, ‘striving,’ or ‘struggle’.
It means to exert one’s utmost or to make effort and struggle for
the achievement of one’s aim or objective. In order to achieve an
objective, Jihad is waged through various
means
i.e,
with the help of physical force,
with the help of one’s tongue and pen, or with spending of one’s
wealth. It is waged against foreign enemy; against internal
enemies like rebels and terrorists; against the oppressors who are
persecuting their Muslim subject; against social evils; against
natural calamities; against despotic rulers and dictators; against
one’s
own self to conquer one’s evil desires, vices and unlawful
ambitions. Even Jihad includes struggle for earning one’s
livelihood by lawful means
and
nation-building activities such as roads, canals, bridges,
hospitals, educational institutions,
communication projects, etc.
Thus
Jihad in Islam is a very wide term. It has a wider meaning than
war which only means an armed struggle to combat the enemy.
However, for the purpose of our present discussion Jihad will be
used for war which is waged in pursuit of some noble cause.
‘Terror’, as defined by various dictionaries of
English language, means extreme fear. It is use of violence and
threats of violence to achieve an objective or aim. Terrorize
is to fill with terror by threats of violence, to dominate,
coerce, or subdue by terror, or intimidation. Terror also refers
to a period of violence or terror, as caused by political enemies
or a terrorist group. Terrorist
is a person who supports or participates in terrorism of terrorist
activities. Terrorism is an organized system of intimidation
and
violence for achievement of certain goals.
‘Terrorism’
consists of a series of acts intended to spread intimidation,
panic, and destruction
in a population. These acts can be carried out by individuals and
groups opposing a state, or acting on its behalf. The amount of
violence is often disproportionate, apparently random,
deliberately symbolic:
to hit a target which would convey a message to the rest of the
population. Violence perpetrated by the state or by rightwing
terrorist groups is
anonymous.
Its goals are to shift sectors of public opinion to support the
restoration of law and order and repressive
measures, at the same time physically destroying political
opponents and intimidating their actual and potential supporters.
Violence
from left-wing groups is usually ‘signed’. Its goals are the
awakening of public opinion to the injustices of the
‘system’, the ‘punishment’ of hated representatives of the system
and their lackeys, and the expansion of political support for,
and/or the defence of, their organizations. The
ultimate goal is to muster enough support to overthrow the regime
or, at least, to produce a revolutionary situation.
An
intermediate stage might be the unmasking of the ‘fascist face’ of
the regime and the revelation to the population of its repressive
reality.”
“There
is not a single cause of terrorism: several conditions and
determinants must be present. For state terrorism the most
important conditions are the willingness and determination of the
dominant groups to retain
power against mounting opposition, even by violent means. For
sociopolitical terrorism, it is the
unability to acquire sufficient support for radical changes in the
light of mass passivity and elite unresponsiveness. However,
terrorism is never simply the response to socioeconomic conditions
of marginality.
It is always the product of a political project. Be they at the
service of the state or against the state, the terrorists pursue
political goals.”
“According
to their goals, one can define and identify several types of
terrorism: repressive, revolutionary, secessionist. It is also
possible to speak of international terrorism –
though somewhat inappropriately
– for those groups staging their activities on the international
sence. They want to dramatize their plight and obtain
international visibility, recognition, and support (such as some
sectors of the Palestine Liberation. Organization (PLO), the
Armenians, the Ustasha).
However,
most terrorist organizations are indigenous, such as the Irish
Republican Army (IRA), the German Rote Armee Fraktion, the Italian
Brigate
roses
and the neo-fascist
Ordine Nuovo, the French Action Directe, the Basque ETA. They have
roots and pursue goals that are inherently ‘national’, even though
they might enjoy some (reciprocal)
‘international’ support.”
From the foregoing discussion it is clear that
Islamic Jihad has no relation with terrorism neither those who
wage Jihad are terrorists. Jihad, as we have discussed at length
in this book, is a war which the followers of Islam wage against
the aggressors, oppressors, tyrants, persecutors, disturbers of
peace, makers of mischief in the land,
perpetrators
of corruption on God’s
earth, terrorists and attackers of Islam and Islamic land. Jihad
is waged for a just and noble cause and through
open and transparent means. No aggressive or imperialistic war is
permitted by Islam. Islam permits war only in defence when Islamic
faith, Islamic country and the Muslim community is attached.
“Jihad
does not mean killing and
plundering others but offering one’s ownself to be killed. It
is a supreme sacrifice required of an idealist, sacrifice both of
property and life, for the sole purpose of obeying the command of
one’s creator and master, God Almighty.”
The justification as well as philosophy of Jihad has been
underlined by the following verses of the Holy Qur’an
1.
Fight in the way of Allah
against
those who fight against you, but begin not hostilities. Lo! Allah
loveth not aggressors.
––(2
: 190)
2.
How should ye not
fight
for the cause of Allah and of the feeble among men and of the
women and the children who are crying: Our Lord! Bring us forth
from out this town of which the people are oppressors! Oh, give us
from Thy
Presence
some protecting
friend!
Oh, give us from Thy
Presence
some defender!
––(4 : 75)
3.
And fight them until
persecution
is no more and religion is for Allah. But if they cease, then lo!
Allah is seer of what they do.
––(8 : 39)
4.
Sanction is given unto
those
who fight because they have been
wronged; and Allah is indeed Able to give them victory: Those who
have been driven from their homes unjustly only because they have
said, Our Lord
is
Allah – for had it not been for Allah’s repelling some men by
means of others, cloisters and churches and oratories and mosques,
wherein
the name of Allah is oft mentioned, would assuredly would have
been pulled down.
––(22 : 39-40)
The above mentioned verses of al-Qur’an are explicit and clear in
bringing home the fact that Jihad is undertaken is defence of the
Muslim community and in defence of the Islamic faith and country
when subjected to aggression and invasion. It
is also undertaken to assist those Muslims who are subjected to
persecution and appression in non-Muslim lands
in their
struggle for
liberation and independence.
The Muslims are obliged even to wage Jihad for persecuted and
oppressed non-Muslims for protection of their lives and places of
worship.
The laws of Jihad, as laid down by the Prophet of Islam, are humane,
chivalrous, kind and tolerant. Killing
of aged, children, women and disabled is prohibited. Servants and
slaves, monks and hermits and those civilians who do
not participate in war
are
not killed. The
cruel and torturous ways of killing
are not allowed neither mutilation of men and
animals is allowed. Destruction of crops, cutting of trees
unnecessarily, slaughtering of animals more than
what is necessary for food and burning of houses is not allowed.
Killing of enemy hostages and prisoners of war (except under the
law) is strictly disallowed. General massacre and plunder is
prohibited
when the enemy is defeated. Prisoners of war are treated with
utmost kindness and so are the subjugated people. Women
captured in war
are not
raped. Sexual relations with them are prohibited until the caliph
or the commander of forces formally distributes them among the
soldiers and assigns them the
responsibility
of maintaining
such
women.
The conquered people are to be provided full freedom of religion
and their places of worship are to be protected.
‘Terrorism’,
on the contrary, is a philosophy as well as a practice which is
resorted to by individuals or groups of individuals
to achieve their aims and goals by terrifying the innocent people
or by intimidating and coercing them. The
terrorist groups are usually maphia groups who promote their
political and material objectives through use of violence and
threats of violence. They adopt all
types of means without caring whether means adopted are lawful or
unlawful, moral or immoral, fair or foul. They
burn the houses, demolish the properties, blast the places of
worship, implant bombs at airports, at railway stations, at
official buildings,
public places and even in educational institutions and hospitals.
They hijack aeroplanes, kill
helpless
people
and,
kidnap innocent persons for ransom. They torture men, even women
and children and kill them for
achieving their ends. When terrorism is used by a state as an
instrument of suppression of political opponents or minority
communities, it indeed become a menace to
humanity.
Thus both the concepts of Islamic Jihad and
terrorism are
diametrically opposed to each other.
They
have
nothing in common.
It is highly cruel and extremely unjust to bracket
them together
and relate them. It is rather one of the aims of Jihad to end
terrorism, ‘fitnah’ (persecution) and ‘fisad’ (corruption and
mischief
in the land).
[Back
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IV-
Who is Terrorist?
The Muslims today are called terrorists,
fundamentalists, extremists and militants. But the most popular
label is that of terrorist while Islam is labeled as terrorist
religion which teaches its followers militantism, terrorism and
extremism. America blames that Islamic countries are supplying
arms and money to at least
thirty
organizations
engaged in terrorist activities around the world. Out of these
organization,
nine
are allegedly working under the patronage of Osama bin Laden (formerly
of America against Soviet Union in Afghanistan)
who has been declared by America as the most wanted person being
number one terrorist in the world. Out of
seven
countries placed
by America on terrorist list,
five
are Muslim countries and out of various
organizations
enlisted for terrorist activities majority are those of Muslims
which are engaged in Jihad. In
a latest report,.
American Foreign Office blames that Pakistan and Afghanistan are
haven for international terrorists and South Asia is
center
from where terrorism is sponsored. Pakistan is being pressurized
to persuade Afghanistan to hand over Osama-bin-Laden to America.
Pakistan is also being pressurized to close down Islamic Madrissas
(Islamic religious Seminaries) which, according to America, are
engaged in the training of the terrorists. In 1998 America
launched missile
attacks against Sudan and Afghanistan in pursuit of
Osama.
Encouraged by American stance.
India, the most notorious country for its state terrorism against
the people of Kashmir, has urged
America to declare Pakistan
a terrorist country
as well as
twenty-five
organizations
of Kashmiri Muslims
which are engaged in Jihad in Kashmir as terrorists.
The question arises: Is Islam a terrorist religion
and its followers terrorists? Our answer to this question is
emphatic
No.
Let us now glance through the affairs
of contemporary world to find out who is terrorist?
There are about one billion and twenty crore
Muslims in the world today-out of whom eighty crore Muslims are
living
in fifty-six Muslim countries while forty crore Muslims are living
in non-Muslim countries. No doubt in some non-Muslims lands the
Muslims are living happily as they are given good treatment and
are granted human rights. But
in countries like India, Russia, Israel,
Yugoslavia, Ethiopia, Burma and Philippines,
Muslim minorities
are
being severely persecuted and oppressed.
The Muslims are fighting battle of their survival
in Kashmir, Palestine, Chechnya, Sinkiang,
Bosnia-Herzegovina,
Kosovo,
Eriteria, Arakan and
in some
islands of Philippines.
During
last two decades, more than three million Muslims have been killed
and many millions have been wounded or expelled from their homes.
There
are twenty million refugees in the world today; more than 80% are
Muslims. Three hundred thousand Muslim leaders are in jails on the
grounds of their religion and conscience.
More than one hundred thousand Muslim women have been subjected to
gang rape. Thousands of children were burnt alive. Hundreds
of thousands of houses of the Muslims were burnt and hundreds of
their places of worship were damaged and demolished during last
few years. Properties of Muslims worth billions of dollars have
been destroyed during last decade alone.
Mass graves of Muslims are found in Bosnia, Kossovo, chechnya and
other lands. The
Muslims are indeed denied the very basic human rights such as
protection of life, property and honour,
religious freedom and
access to
places of worship.
Are the persecuted Muslims terrorists or are their
persecuters terrorists?
To be more direct: Are the oppressed Muslims of Kashmir terrorists
or are their oppressors the Indians terrotists? Are the
persecuted
Palestinian Arabs terrorists or are their persecutors the Jews of
Israel terrorists? Are the helpless
Chechens
terrorists or are the Russian plunderers terrorists? Are the
innocent Bosnian and Albanian Muslims terrorists or are the
ruthless
Serbian
Christians terrorists? The answer to these questions
is left to human conscience although it is very obvious.
The fault of the persecuted Muslims in these lands
is that they are Muslims. Their latest fault is that they have
been forced to wage Jihad for their suvival. They
are freedom fighters and are fighting war of independence.
If the
Muslims
are terrorists, they must torture and terrorize the non-Muslim
minorities living with them. There are fifty-six Muslim countries
in the world. Can an impartial observer levy
any serious charge of persecution of non-Muslim
minorities against any Muslim
country. How many non-Muslims have been killed in Muslim lands
during last decade? How many non-Muslims have been expelled from
their homes? How many non-Muslim
women
have been gang raped in Muslim countries? How many non-Muslim
leaders have been put in jails on religious grounds? How many
places of worship
of non-Muslims
have been burnt in Muslim lands? How many massgraves of
non-Muslims
have been
found in Muslim
countries?
The answer to these questions
would be emphatic
No.
There may be very few such incidents of small nature in Muslim
countries but they generally take place in reaction to
incidents of large scale persecution of Muslim minorities in
non-Muslim lands; for example some incidents in
Pakistan took place in reaction against demolition
of Babari Mosque in India in 1992.
Indonesia is the largest Muslim country. In
Indonesia there are ninety percent Muslims. Five percent
Christians
are killing the Muslims wherever the Christians are strong and in
majority. East Timor happens to be a small part of a small island
of Indonesia. The non-Muslim powers could not tolerate that it
should remain under Muslim rule although the Christians had an
upper hand in this island and were not being persecuted in any
way. It has been finally made independent after disturbances of
few years. Those who waged war of independence in this island were
awarded Nobel Prize and garlanded as heroes and freedom fighters.
But those who wage Jihad for liberation of Kashmir and Chechnya
are called terrorists. Is it justice by any moral
standard?
When Russia invaded Afghanistan in 1979-80, America
saw in this invasion an opportunity to take revenge of its own
humiliation in Vietnam.
It
organized
Jihad in Afghanistan against Russia and engaged the Muslims from
all over the world. The Muslim participants in the war were
freedom fighters and Mujahideen when they were fighting against
Russia. But when Russia was defeated and ultimately dismembered,
America changed its standard overnight. Now the same Mujahideen
are being
labeled
as terrorists and Jihad as terrorism. Why this turnabout? The
reason is obvious. Jihad and Mujahideen were used to humiliate and
defeat enemy number one. After dissolution of Soviet Union,
America has been left as the only super-power on the globe. Now
America
perceives danger in Jihad because Jihad is the force which can
change the status quo in the world. Therefore,
Jihad is terrorism and Mujahideen are terrorists who need to be
crushed.
[Back
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V- The Need of the Time
The need of the time is that the world should
understand the difference between Jihad and Terror and between
Mujahid and Terrorists. In the lands where the Muslims are being
persecuted Jihad is being waged. The freedom fighters or
Mujahideen are in no way terrorists. They are fighting to liberate
the persecuted people from the yoke of oppressors. Instead of
suppressing the Muslim minorities
in non-Muslim countries and crushing their freedom fighters after
condemning
them
as
terrorists, the propriety demands that the
grievances of such minorities should be understood and redressed.
A true Muslim understands the difference between
Jihad and terror. He has no hesitation to share the concerns of
the United States about terrorism. He would readily denounce the
incidents of bomb blast in US embassy in East Africa in 1998, the
Oklahoma city bombing in 1996 and the world Trade Centre attack in
1993. But he would not accept the destruction of the Muslim
communities in Kashmir, Chechnya
and Kossovo.
Let the sanity prevail in the world and let their usurped human
rights be restored to the oppressed.
Muslim minorities of the non-Muslim countries. It would be useful
for the cause of international peace and security. Otherwise Jihad
would
go on because a true Muslim considers it his religious
obligation to wage war against the oppressors whenever and
wherever the oppressed on God’s earth cry for help.
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