TERRORISM

What does Islam say about terrorism?

Peace is a rule in Islam, as it is in the other major religions. The root of the word Islam is peace. Peace is also one of the names and attributes of God.

To understand Islam’s stance on terrorism, one must refer to its original sources, the Qur’an and the teachings of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). Both are explicit in their prohibition of any form of violence which seeks to instill fear, injury or death to civilians. The following are some examples:

“On that account: We ordained for the Children of Israel that if any one slew a person – unless it be for murder or for spreading mischief in the land – it would be as if he slew the whole people: and if anyone saved a life, it would be as if he saved the life of the whole people.” (Qur’an, 5:32)

Before sending a military expedition, the Prophet Muhammad said to the Muslim soldiers:

“Do not betray, do not be excessive, do not kill a newborn child.” (3)

“Whoever has killed a person having a treaty with the Muslims shall not smell the fragrance of Paradise, though its fragrance is found for a span of forty years.” (2)

When a woman was found killed in a battle, the Messenger of God (Muhammad, PBUH) emphasized the prohibition of killing women and children (3).

Terrorist incidents in the US (left) and the UK (right) soils from 1980-September 2014. Muslims caused only 4% of the terrorist attacks.

Abu Bakr, the first Caliph after the Prophet Muhammad, commanded the leader of his first Islamic military expedition saying:

“… No fruit-bearing trees are to be cut down and no crops should be set on fire. No animal should be killed except those slaughtered for eating… Only those should be killed who take up arms against you.” (5)

“I instruct you in ten matters: Do not kill women, children, the old, or the infirm; do not cut down fruit-bearing trees; do not destroy any town …” (4)

’On the other hand, the captives during the war must be treated with dignity and must be fed and clothed.

“And they give food out of love for Him to the poor and the orphan and the captive.” (Qur’an, 76:8)

In addition, Muslims are also encouraged to be kind to animals and it is forbidden to hurt them. The Prophet (PBUH) mentioned that the sins of a prostitute were forgiven for giving water to a thirsty dog who could not reach the water of a well (3), and a woman was put in Hell because she locked up a cat without food till she died (3).

When someone explodes a bomb or commits a suicide attack in a public place, innocent men, women, children, and elderly are killed. The tragic attack on the Twin Towers in New York, the bombings in Bali, Madrid, London, etc. are incompatible with Islam. Therefore, it may be concluded that no matter what the Islamic State (ISIS, ISIL, or Daesh) or Al Qaeda call themselves, they are only using Islam to get validity and support for their unaccepted violent attacks on civil innocent people.

Muslims are the ones who suffer the most from terrorism

Terrorism does not differentiate between Muslims and non-Muslims. In fact, terrorists kill more Muslims than non-Muslims (6).

⦁ ISIS is responsible for more brutal attacks on Muslims than western victims. Muslims have suffered between 82 and 97% of terrorism-related fatalities over the past five years.

⦁ Muslims have suffered from massacres, even during the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan, which is a period of spiritual reflection and serves as a time for the refrain from any behaviour that would be sinful.

⦁ Muslims all over the world and particularly in the West are exposed to profound painful, stressful, and long-lasting psychological suffering because of terrorism.

Terrorism Historically Was Overwhelmingly Done By Non-Muslims

According to a study of the FBI, which looked at terrorism committed on U.S. soil between 1980 and 2014, 94% of the terrorist attacks were committed by non-Muslims. This was also the case in the UK where the percentage of terrorists who were Muslims from 1980 to 2014, was less than 4%. Research shows that the right-wing extremists in the West have killed more people than terrorists with Muslim names (7).

This means that a terrorist suspect is over nine times more likely to be non-Muslim than a Muslim. In fact, terrorism committed on U.S. or U.K. soil has been overwhelmingly political and not religious.

The cumulative sum of mass shooting casualties, beginning in 1982; deaths inflicted by non-Muslims (dark red), wounded inflicted by non-Muslims (pink), deaths inflicted by Muslims (dark blue), wounded inflicted by Muslims (light blue). Mother Jones, news reports for June 2016.

Muslims are the ones who suffer more from terrorism.

Role of the West in Fueling Terrorism

The following are some examples to demonstrate the role of the West in fueling terrorism.

• The financial, military, and political support for Israel, in spite of its occupation of Palestinian territories, since the 1967 war and refusal to withdraw, in spite of the United Nations Security Council resolution 242.
•  Their support of dictatorships of Muslim nations.
• The double standard in supporting the independence of East Timor from Indonesia and South Sudan from Sudan and ignoring the case of Kashmiri independence.
• Religious discrimination against Muslims in the Western world.
• The announcement of a crusading invasion of Iraq by George W. Bush, the former president of the US, when he spoke spontaneously after the attack of September 11, 2001.
• After the invasion, destruction, and displacement of millions in Iraq, it was later revealed that there was no ground for the invasion of this country.
• Torture of innocent Muslims in the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, which has created and fostered more terrorist acts.

Islam instructs Muslims to respect the religious feelings of others and Muslims, expect this respect to be mutual. However, the concept of freedom of expression does not justify the disrespect and the injury of the feelings of 1.6 billion Muslims.

However, it should be clearly mentioned all the above points are just made to clarify the role of the West in aggravating terrorism. They do not justify the violence of some ignorant Muslims who respond or react in a non-Islamic way.

The Role of the Media in the Creation of Terrorism

   Defaming Terms Aْre Only Used for Muslims

Nine out of ten news stories about Muslims and Islam in the US, UK, France and Germany are about war or terrorism. In other words, most of the news stories are unrepresentative of the Muslim community, which is the second largest religion in the world today (7).

Unfortunately, many media channels defame Islam and 1.6 billion peaceful Muslims by portraying terrorist bombers as ‘Islamic Fundamentalists’, ‘Islamists’, or ‘Jihadists’.

Is it fair to defame Muslims by the actions of some individuals who ascribe themselves to Islam? Why wasn’t Christianity defamed by the media for the genocide of the Native Americans, the atrocities of World War II, or the bombings of the IRA?

The “Ku Klux Klan” is the name of three distinct movements in the United States that believes in white supremacy, white nationalism, anti-immigration, anti-Catholicism and anti-Semitism. Although they identified themselves as a Christian movement and were responsible for terrorist attacks, they were not identified by the media as “Christian Fundamentalists” or “Christian Terrorists”.

The “Anti-Balaka” is a Christian militia formed in the Central African Republic (CRA). This Christian militia group destroyed most mosques in CRA. From December 2013 to May 2014, Muslims had to flee to neighboring Cameroon, Chad and Congo bringing the number of refugees in these countries to about 350,000. Christianity was not blamed or condemned for those Anti-Balaka genocides (42).

The Buddhists in Burma killed and burnt Muslims alive in 2013, but nobody accused or labelled Buddhism or Buddhists as terrorists.

Why Are Only Muslims Labelled as Terrorists?

Why then are only Islam and Muslims labelled as terrorists and not the followers of other religions who terrify torture and kill Muslims or non-Muslims? Don’t Muslims deserve the same respect like those of other religions?

Again, we emphasize that exposing the role of Western Media in aggravating terrorism is not meant to justify terrorism done by some Muslims, who ignorantly and wrongly retaliate for the damages done to Muslims.

Terrorism has been escalating since the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, and the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

References

1. The Qur’an
2. Saheeh Al-Bukhari
3. Saheeh Muslim
4. Malik’s Muwatta
5. Ta’rikh Al-Tabary
6. Independent, Paris attacks: Isis responsible for more Muslim deaths than western victims, http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/paris-attacks-isis-responsible-for-more-muslim-victims-than-western-deaths-a6737326.html
7. Abdelkader E. Fear Breeds Extremists, http://time.com/4270539/fear-extremism/