Islam And Terrorism
The word terrorism has many meanings, its keeps changing according to the geographical location and historical fact. According to Oxford Dictionary terrorism means the unlawful use of violence and intimidation, especially against civilians, in the pursuit of political aims. This word terrorism was first coined in 1790s during French Revolution. The year 1793 and 1794 was called The Rain Of Terror. Maximilien Robespierre was the head of the government at that time. He killed thousands of innocent human beings. Historical records tell us that he had arrested more than 500,000 human beings out of 40,000 he had executed, more than 200,000 were devoted and more than 200,000 were starved and tochered to death in prisons. So this word terrorism was first used during French Revolution.
Today in international media it is very common that when ever there is terrorist attack they said it is done by Muslims. Let analyzed what does historical record tell us and what Islam teach us about terrorism. If we look at the records, In 19th century we can hardly found a terrorist attack done by Muslims. The couple of them are these: In 1881 Tsar Alexander 2 of Russia was assassinated. He was traveling in a bullet proof car on the street St. Petersburg and was bombed. He was not killed by any Muslim. In 1886 there was a bomb blast in Haymarket Square Chicago during the labor rally. 12 innocent people were killed. It was not done by Muslims it was done by 8 anarchist.
If we look at the terrorist attack in 20th century from the historical record. On 6th, September 1901 the U.S President William McKinley was assassinated by an anarchist Leon Czolgosz who was not a Muslim. On the 1st of October, 1910 there was a bomb blast in Los Angeles Times in which 21 innocent people were killed. The people responsible for this bomb blast were two Christians James and Joseph. On the 16th of April, 1925 there was a bomb blast in St. Nedelya Church in Sofia the capital of Bulgaria in which more than 150 innocent people were killed and more than 500 were injured. It was the biggest terrorist attack had took place in Bulgaria. It was conducted by The Bulgarian Communist Party they were non Muslims.
The 1st U.S plane to be Hijack was not done by a Muslim. It was done by the non Muslim named Ortiz. The famous Oklahoma Bombing which was done on 19th of April, 1995 where there was a truck loaded with the bomb which reamed in to Federal Building in Oklahoma. It killed 166 innocent human beings. When this happened it comes in the press for several day that it was Middle East Comprehensive later own they come to know it was done by two right wing activist Christians Timgthy and Terry. On 22nd July 1946 there was a bombing of King David Hotel conducted by Irgun under the leadership of Menachem Begin. In this 91 innocent people were killed. The Irgun group dressed up as Arabs to show Muslims do the bombing . The person responsible for this act was Menachem Begin. It was the biggest attack against the British mendate and at that time Menachem Begin was called the terrorist number one by British government. Later on after few years he becomes the prime minister of Israel. After few year he get Noble Prize for peace. Imagine the person who had killed many innocent human beings get a Noble Prize for peace.
The Irgun, haganah and stern gang all of these Jews group and there leaders later on becomes the prime minister or High holding ranks in the state of Israel and all of them were fighting for a Jews state. If you see the map before 1945 Israel didn’t exist in the World Map. These Jews group were called terrorist by the Britisher. Later on with power these groups took the land and they kick the Palestinian out and now the same people who are fighting to take there land back as a more just cause were called terrorist.
In Germany from 1968-1992 Baader Meinhof Gang killed several innocent human beings. In Italy Red Brigades had killed several innocent human beings. In United Kingdom from many years IRA the Irish Republican Army is conducting terrorist attacks. IRA had conducted several terrorist attack: 1972 three bomb blasts by IRA, 1974 they conducted two bomb blasts, 1974 they bombed Guildford Pub, In 1996 they did a bomb blast in London, In 1996 they did a bomb blast in Manchester Shopping Center, and In 1998 they did a Omagh bomb blast. There are several more. These all records are written by non Muslim resources. Today United Kingdom is more afraid of Muslim terrorist instead of IRA.
In India the Maoists has conducted the most terrorist attack. In Nepal Maoists had conducted 99 terrorist attack in 7 year. According to Indian government Maoists out of 600 districts of India present in 150. They had killed more innocent people than in Kashmir but media still only focused on Kashmir only for political aims. In India there is an extremist organization Ulfa which are specially trained to kill Muslims. In 16 years from 1990 to 2009 they had conducted 749 terrorist attacks much more than Kashmir militant but most of the people only know about Kashmir militant not about Ulfa. The reason is media and politics.
Terrorism is not a specialty of the Muslims
Terrorism is prohibited in Islam. Most of the religions if you read their scripture are against killing innocent human beings and the leader of these religion is Islam. Islam don’t even encourage to kill any innocent human being as said by Allah(SWT) in Quran Surah Al Ma’idah Ch.5 V.32 that if anyone, Muslim or non Muslim kills any other human being whether Muslims or non Muslim it is as he had killed whole of the humanity unless it is for murder or making corruption in the land and it further say that if you save a single life of any human being, it is as you have saved whole of the human kind.
The Islam is derived from the Arabic word Salam which mean peace and the root word of Islam is “al-silm” which means “submission” or “surrender” so in short Islam means peace by submitting your will to Allah(SWT). Islam condemned all forms of terrorisms and all forms of acts which kills innocents human being irrespective whether it is 9/11 Twin towers, 7 July 2005 London bombings, 1993 World Trade Center bombing, and 1993 Bombay bombing etc. They all should be condemned. It is prohibited but not only these. We should also condemned the thousands of innocent people killed in Afghanistan, Palestine, Iraq and Syria etc. All forms of terrorisms in which innocent human beings are killed have to be condemned whether done by Muslims or non Muslims.
Most of the religions preach that you should not kill innocent human beings but when we analyze there are terrorists which claims to profess certain religions. They are from all type of religions. We have Christian terrorists, Muslim terrorists, Hindu terrorists, Jews terrorists, and Sikh terrorists etc. Most of the religions condemned killing of innocent human beings. The peoples who had killed the maximum human beings are: Hitler who was a Christian. In World War 2 60 million people died, Joseph Stalin (Uncle Joe) had killed 20 million human beings including 14.5 million were starved to death, In China Mao Tse Tsung had killed 14 to 20 Million human being. He was a non Muslim, In Italy Benito Mussolini had killed 400,000 human beings, Asoka in one battle of Kalinga alone killed more than 10,000 people. He was a Hindu, There are also some Muslims black sheep like Saddam Hussain who had killed 100 thousands people but the embargo put by George Bush alone killed more than half a million Iraqi children, In Indonesia Mohamed Suharto killed 500,000 people but it is nothing compare to Hitler or Uncle Joe. They do this because they were not following their religion.
Islamic teaching
More than 14,000 years ago the last revelation of Islam came which is Quran to the final Prophet, Muhammad(SAW) . At that time there were more than 300 gods Idols in Mecca. The people who were rich was so powerful and poor were so weak. They sell women and women had no respect. The black people were slaves. When a girl was born its mostly buried alive. Kings use there slaves for hunting. The animals had no rights. The powerful people kills everyone who stand against them. There was injustice.
At the age of 40 Quran started reveling on Prophet Muhammad(SAW). Then Muhammad(SAW) started preaching Islam. He teach to be honest, kind and fair. He finished the process of salves. He gives rights to the animals, He give honor and roles to women.
He was nicknamed “The Truthful One” before he became a Prophet
Muhammad peace be upon him became a Prophet at the age of forty. Prior to that he was living a normal life in society. He conducted business, married, attended social gatherings, and mingled with all types of people. He did not lie even when he told jokes and never cheated in business. He had one characteristic that quickly became apparent to all those who interacted with him; honesty. He was never known to have lied and even those who rejected his message referred to him as the truthful one.
He Helped With Household Chores
The Prophet Muhammad lived in a time when men considered themselves superior to women. Many men considered themselves to be too manly to do household chores. Aisha, the Prophet Muhammad’s wife, explains that he used to milk the goats, mend his sandals, and patch his own clothes. He was busy helping his wife and taking care of the home. Aisha was asked “What did the Prophet used to do in his house?” She replied, “He used to keep himself busy serving his family and when it was the time for prayer he would go for it.” (Bukhari)
The Prophet Muhammad Forgave His Enemies
Since he became a Prophet many people tried to kill him. They successfully exiled him from Mecca, tortured and killed his followers, spread false rumors about him, and did their absolute best to end his life and message. As the message of Islam grew, the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him, and the large number of Muslims would later return to Mecca. The Meccans were the ones who tortured and killed many of the Muslims. The Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him and the Muslims had the upper hand and one might imagine this to be a moment where they rightfully seek revenge. However, the Prophet peace be upon him entered Mecca with his head lowered in humbleness and forgave all of his enemies. He said to them: “Today I say to you as Joseph said to his brothers: ‘This day there is no blame on you.’ Go your way for you are free.” (Muslim)
He Established Rights for Women
In 7th century Arabia, women had very few rights. Even their right to life was questioned and the Arabs had a custom of burying their daughters alive. The Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him and the Qurān chastised the Arabs for such a practice. The Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him introduced several revolutionary changes to the status of women in Arabia at the time. He allowed women to inherit, taught that they were equal to men in the sight of God, prohibited adultery and sexual abuse of women, elevated the status of mothers as being greater to that of the father and much more. In his farewell sermon he said: “I order you to be good to women.” (Tirmidhi). He also said “The best of you is the best to his wives.” (Tirmidhi).
The Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him consulted women and weighed their opinions seriously. Women prayed in mosques, sought knowledge, and were both teachers and students in the early period of Islamic history. The Prophet’s close Companion and second caliph Umar was corrected by a woman when he tried to limit the amount of dowry a woman can receive. He also appointed women in various governmental positions and officials in the markets of Medina.
He Established Rights of Animals
You can learn more about Islam’s detailed teachings on animal here. However, the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him prohibited animal abuse. He said that the one who kills an animal for sport is cursed. He also chastised people who overload their horses or camels and told them to “Fear Allah concerning these animals that cannot speak” (Abū Dawud).
He also taught that people can go to heaven because they cared for animals. The Prophet peace be upon him said, “A man felt very thirsty while he was on the way, where he came across a well. He went down the well, quenched his thirst and came out. Meanwhile, he saw a dog panting and licking mud because of excessive thirst. He said to himself, “This dog is suffering from thirst as I did.” So, he went down the well again and filled his shoe with water and watered it. Allah thanked him for that deed and forgave him. The people said, “O Allah’s Apostle! Is there a reward for us in serving the animals?” He replied: “Yes, there is a reward for serving any animate (living being)” (Bukhari).
He Had a Strong Presence
The Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him had a strong presence. His charismatic nature left a strong impact on all those who met him. A lady named Umm Maʿbad who met him on his way to Medina and described him as follows:
I saw a man, pure and clean, with a handsome face and a fine figure. He was not marred by a skinny body, nor was he overly small in the head and neck. He was graceful and elegant, with intensely black eyes and thick eyelashes. There was a huskiness in his voice, and his neck was long. His beard was thick, and his eyebrows were finely arched and joined together.
When silent, he was grave and dignified, and when he spoke, glory rose up and overcame him. He was from afar the most beautiful of men and the most glorious, and close up he was the sweetest and the loveliest. He was sweet of speech and articulate, but not petty or trifling. His speech was a string of cascading pearls, measured so that none despaired of its length, and no eye challenged him because of brevity. In company he is like a branch between two other branches, but he is the most flourishing of the three in appearance, and the loveliest in power. He has friends surrounding him, who listen to his words. If he commands, they obey implicitly, with eagerness and haste, without frown or complaint (Shama’il al-Tirmidhi).
There are many other things Muhammad(SAW) teach to whole word for love and peace.
Islam is a religion of peace. Islam is a complete religion which tell you how to live your
life.
Extremest of Islam
like all other religions there can be black sheep in Islam. There are many Muslims who are involved in wrong activities but that doesn’t mean that Islam teach those wrong things. There are some People who called them self Muslims and they are involved in terrorist activities. We know them as extremest. They are people who are made to misunderstood Islam for politics and personal benefits.
There are verses in Quran which tell you to fight but they were not meant for now. For those verses you have to check the context of them and other religious scripture also have some verse like them. The politicians and people in power used them by making them fool using these verses and making them emotional. There are also some terrorists who do brain wash of other people and than use them for suicide bombing.
Conclusion
Most of the religion do not support any type of terrorism. We cannot blame any religion as a source of terrorism. Terrorist had effected the whole world. The solution for terrorism is to be united and get people educated. Killing any innocent human is not allowed.
[ THIS ARTICLE IS NOT WRITTEN TO HURT ANYONE RELIGIOUS BELIEVE. It is a answer to all the newspaper written against Islam. THE SOURCE OF INFORMATION IS FROM VARIOUS NEWS PAPER, LECTURES AND DEBATES OF PEOPLE.SOURCES ARE GIVEN BELOW]
I will end this with the Islamic greeting…
As-salāmu ʿalaykum
(And peace be upon you too)