Islam and Terrorism

Terrorism is a very vast and the most discussed topic in the contemporary world of global politics. Although it was being discussed well before 9/11, but the difference after 9/11 is that now even a lay man in the most remote part of the world is discussing it. There were times when people would say that we do not follow politics or we do not get involved in politics. But now I think no one can run away from it, it is a part of everybody's lives, it is a part of our lives - so we better start living with it. Terrorism is an old phenomena it over the time took different shapes. Today terrorism has taken a very complicated and dangerous form.

Islam is a religion and a complete code of life and totally appose terrorism. In current scenarios the basic reason of terrorism is not Islam but international politics and national interest of the nations of the world. And world powers use it as a supportive pillars. ‘‘Islam is not a source of terrorism but its solution’’ Here we discuss Islam and Terrorism and the present phenomena of so called Islamic terror. This is now days at the top of the international agenda. That is because those who emerge and carry out acts of terrorism in the name of Islam.

And those who criticize these acts , represent a tiny minority in the world of Islam. Failing to understand Islam which is religion of peace and justice hey make it a tool of terrorism. In fact from the last few centuries Muslim have been said to be responsible for violence by western forces and their allies. And on the other hand Islam And on the other hand Islam rejects to respond to violence with violence. In fact Islam suggest to respond to evil with goodness.

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Islam What Does "Islam" Mean? The word "Islam" itself means "Submission to Allah. The religion of Islam is not named after a person as in the case of "Christianity" which was named after Jesus Christ, "Buddhism" after Gutama Buddha , "Marxism" after Karl Marx, and "Confucianism" after Confucius. Similarly, Islam is not named after a tribe like "Judaism" after the tribe of Judah and "Hinduism" after the Hindus. The Arabic word "Islam" means the submission or surrender of one's will to the will of the only true god worthy of worship, "Allah".

Muslim Anyone who does indeed submit to the will of Allah as required by Islam is termed a "Muslim," which means one who has submitted to the will of Allah. Many people in the West have developed the sad misinformed trend of calling Islam "Muhammadenism" and it's followers "Muhammadins. " This is a totally foreign word to Muslims and unrecognized by them. No Muslim has ever called his religion "Muhammadenism" or called himself a "Muhammadin. "

Concept Of Islam

Islam teaches us that this life is a life of worship. We are placed on this earth in order to worship Allah and obey His command. During this earthly life we are subjected to a series of trials. We have the option of enduring these trials and conforming to certain laws, and our reward will be great in the next life, or we may decline to endure these trials and choose to not conform to the law, then we will be made to regret it in the next life. Unlike some other religions which claim that God entered in a covenant with a certain group of people and that this group is genetically better than all other human beings, or closer to God, Islam on the other hand teaches that no color, race, tribe, or lineage is better than any other. "O humankind! Verily!

We have created you from a male and female, and have made you nations and tribes that you may know one another. Verily! the noblest among you in the sight of Allah is the most God-fearing. Verily! Allah is The Knower, The Aware. " The noble Qur'an, Al-Hujrat(49):13.

Pillars Of Islam

To bear witness that there is no entity worthy of worship except Allah(God) alone, and that Muhammad (pbuh) was His messenger. This establishes obedience to God Almighty alone. To perform five prescribed prayers to God every day according to a specific prescribed method and at specific prescribed times.

This continually reminds us to bear God in mind in all actions, either before or after any given prayer. To pay two and a half percent (2. 5%) of ones wealth to charity every year if their savings exceed a certain minimum level which is considered above the poverty level. (This is the basic concept, the actual calculation is a little more complex).  To fast the month of Ramadhan (from the Islamic Lunar calendar) every year from sun rise until sunset. This involves not eating, drinking, or having marital relations, from sun rise until sun set. To perform a pilgrimage to Makkah (in the Arabian Peninsula) once in a Muslim's lifetime if it is financially possible and their health permits. During this period, Muslims come from all over the world to join together for six days in a prescribed set of acts of worship. All Muslim men are mandated to wear the same garment which was designed to be very plain, simple, and cheap to obtain.

Concept Of JIHAD In Islam: in the Arabic language the word “Jihad” literally means, "to strive,” and "to struggle. ” Some Muslim scholars further classify Jihad into following categories:

• Jihad-an-nafs or Jihad against one’s self;
• Jihad ash-shaitaan or Jihad against Satan;
• Jihad al-kuffar or Jihad against disbeliever;
• Jihad al-munafiqeen or Jihad against hypocrites;
• Jihad al-faasiqeen or Jihad against corrupt Muslims.

Qur’an-(9:5):   “But when the forbidden months are past, then fight and slay the pagans wherever ye find them, And seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them in every stratagem (of war) ; but if they repent (accept Islam) and establish regular prayers and practices regular charity then open the way for them; for God is oft-forgiving, Most Merciful. Qur’an-(8:65):  “ O Apostle ! Rouse the believers to the fight, if there are twenty amongst you, patient and persevering , they will vanquish two hundred; if a hundred, they will vanquish a thousand of the unbelievers; for these are a people without understanding. ”

Terrorism

Acts of unlawful violence and war. Terrorism is not a new phenomena, its is as old as creation of man. It came into existence when for the first time in the history of mankind someone intimidated others to gain his purpose. With the passage of time advancement in the methods and techniques made terrorism more complicated and artful.

Terrorism is defined as a mean of extending intimidation in a systematic way by governments, groups or individuals to gain various political, religious and ideological objectives. The experts on terrorism agree that terrorism is a structure mode to spread violence and terrify people with purpose of gaining political, ideological and religious aims.

Elements Of Terrorism

There are four elements of terrorism:  Violence, force(83. 5%), Political(65%), Fear, emphasis on terror(51%), Threats(47%) ? Psychological effects and anticipated reaction(41. 5) ,Intentional, planned, systematic, organized action(32%) , Methods of combat, strategy, tactics(30. 5%)

Types Of Terrorism

• Bio-Terrorism
• Chemical-Terrorism
• Cyber-Terrorism
• Nuclear-Terrorism
• Religious-Terrorism

Terrorist

Terrorist are those group of people who commits acts of violence to produce fear, or harass or weaken or embarrass government security forces. Such groups discourage foreign investment, or assistance programs that can affect the target country’s economy. There are about 30 organization involve in terrorist activities throughout the world.

Al-Qaeda is the main network of terrorist according to American think tank.  Al-Qaeda After expulsion from Saudi Arabia, Osama bin Laden( leader of Al-Qaeda) established headquarters for al-Qaeda in Khartoum, Sudan. The first actions of al-Qaeda against American interests were attacks on U. S. servicemen in Somalia. Osama Bin Laden is on the American Federal Bureau of Investigation's list of FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives for his possible involvement with the circa 1998 bombings of the United States Embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Nairobi, Kenya. 3. 6 Another Phase

Some terrorist groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah have limited their acts to localized regions of the Middle East, while others, notably Al-Qaeda, have an international scope for their terrorist activities. Bombings An increasingly popular tactic used by terrorists is suicide bombing. This tactic is used against civilians, soldiers, and government officials of the regimes the terrorists oppose. The use of suicide bombers is seen by many Muslims as contradictory to Islam's teachings;weasel words however, groups who support its use often refer to such attacks as "martyrdom perations" and the suicide-bombers who commit them as "martyrs" (Arabic: shuhada, plural of "shahid"). The bombers, and their sympathizers often believe that suicide bombers, as martyrs to the cause of jihad against the enemy, will receive the rewards of paradise for their actions. Suicide attack A suicide attack (also known as suicide bombing) is an attack intended to kill others and inflict widespread damage, while the attacker intends to die as well in the process.

Islam And Terrorism

During the last two decades in particular, the concept of "Islamic terror" has been often discussed. In the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks on targets in New York and Washington which caused the death of thousands of innocent civilians, this concept has once again returned to the top of the international agenda. Even though the hijackers have Muslim identities, the terror they perpetrated cannot be labeled "Islamic terror", just as it would not be called "Jewish terror" if the perpetrators were Jews or "Christian terror" if they were Christians.

In fact, the aggressors can commit such violence only with the intention of attacking religion itself. It may well be that they carried out this violence to present religion as evil in the eyes of people, to divorce people from religion and to generate hatred and reaction against pious people. Consequently, every attack having a "religious" facade on American citizens or other innocent people is actually an attack made against religion. All the three Theistic religions command love, mercy and peace.

Terror, on the other hand, is the opposite of religion; it is cruel, merciless and it demands bloodshed and misery. This being the case, while looking for the perpetrators of a terrorist act, its origins should be sought in disbelief rather than in religion. People with a fascist, communist, racist or materialist outlook on life should be suspected as potential perpetrators. The name or the identity of the triggerman is not important. If he can kill innocent people without blinking an eye, whatever his label is, then he is a disbeliever, not a believer.

He is a murderer with no fear of God, whose main ambition is to shed blood and to give harm. How we can say that Islam and Muslim are terrorist? In current scenario Muslims are the only victim of terrorism because they face terrorist activities on daily bases and also face world criticism. They are all anti-Muslims and make different prapogenda against muslim because some elements are against and oppose the progress and development of these muslim countries and want to engage them in such activities.

Even as they said some muslim liberations parties as terrorist parties as they called hamas in palastine, hizbullah in lebenon, mujahidin moment in Kashmir and true Afghanistan islamist moments and many other moments as terrorist moments if they are terrorist moment then what is Israel done in palistaine, black waters in Pakistan, raw in Kashmir, fbi, and cia in Afghanistan ,Iraq, and Pakistan and also some other muslim countries.

On the one side they said that they work for human rights and freedom and on the other hand they called liberation moments as terrorist moment if they claim on islam and muslims then muslimalso claim that the non muslims state are also terrorist! Islam is that religion who forbid people to harm even animal and than how a follower of islam other humans like him?

They are many other form of terrorism like cyber terrorism, bio terrorism, reginol terrorism, chemical terrorism and mostly muslim countries are unfamiliar with these terms then why west emphasizes that muslim are terrorist why they cannot blame on other form of terrorism the reason is that they only against islam and muslim? For this reason, "Islamic terror" is quite a erroneous concept which contradicts Islam's message. That is because, the religion of Islam can by no means concur with terror. On the contrary, Muslims are responsible for preventing terrorist acts and bringing peace and justice to the world.

Islam, a religion of mercy, does not permit terrorism. In the Quran, God has said: God does not forbid you from showing kindness and dealing justly with those who have not fought you about religion and have not driven you out of your homes. God loves just dealers.

Main Incidents Of Terrorism Through Out The World

In response to the September 11, 2001, attacks on the WTC and Pentagon, the U. S. invaded Afghanistan in October 2001 to dismantle al-Qaeda and the Taliban. Al-Qaeda's infrastructure in the country was destroyed and their military commander, Muhammed Atef, was killed.

Abu Zubaydah, another top operative, was captured in Pakistan. Bin Laden and al-Zawahiri, however, escaped and are presumed alive. They release audio and video messages to the Arab media from time to time. In March 2003 the U. S. widened the war on terrorism by invading Iraq and deposing Saddam Hussein and his Baath party (see Iraq profile). The decision to encompass Iraq in "the war on terror" has been highly controversial. Although President Bush asserted that there was a working relationship between Hussein and al-Qaeda, no solid proof of collaboration between them specifically on the Sept. 1, 2001, attacks, or on any other terrorist activities has emerged.

The Madrid Bombing On March 11, 2004, Spain's most horrific terrorist attack occurred: 202 people were killed and 1,400 were injured in bombings at Madrid's railway station. Evidence soon emerged that al-Qaeda was responsible. By April, a dozen suspects, most of them Moroccan, were arrested for the bombings. On April 4, several suspects blew themselves up during a police raid to avoid capture. Many Spaniards blamed their prime minister's staunch support of the U.S. and the war in Iraq for making Spain an al-Qaeda target.

The London Bombing On July 7, 2005, London suffered a terrorist bombing, its worst attack since World War II. Four bombs exploded in three subway stations and on one double-decker bus during the morning rush hour, killing at least 52 and wounding more than 700. A group calling itself the Secret Organization of al-Qaeda in Europe claimed responsibility on a Web site, asserting that the attacks were a retaliation for Britain's involvement in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

A year after the bombing, British investigators concluded that the links between the bombers and al-Qaeda were marginal. The four bombers, all born in Britain, had all visited Pakistan, but there was no evidence of any direct support from al-Qaeda.

Bombay Attack

The 2008 Mumbai attacks were more than ten coordinated shooting and bombing terrorist attacks across Mumbai, India's largest city, by Islamic terrorists from Pakistan. The attacks, which drew widespread condemnation across the world, began on 26 November 2008 and lasted until 29 November, killing at least 173 people and wounding at least 308. Iraq bombing Iraq faces bomb blast and sucide bombing on daily bases. And America blame on Iraqi people while they blame America for this. 5. 6 pakistan bombing attacks Pakistan facing also facing bomblast attacks and sucide bombing attacks on daily bases and after 9/11 pakistan face a lot of problem and critical situation of security and still facing terrorist activity. As attack on marriot Islamabad, g. h. q Rawalpindi etc

Conclusion

In my opinion: Islam and terrorism have nothing to do with each other. But at the same time it is Islam that has made it very clear what is terrorism and who are the terrorists. We all know that there is no clear definition of terrorism in politics, but there is very clear definition by Islam. Because Islam has made very clear rules for war, and there are no abiguities whatsoever. We, the Pakistanis, are now actually the ones who are more clear about it than anyone. No doubt there were many confusions before, but after the Lal Masjid operation followed by the worst form of terrorism, Pakistanis have realised what terrorism is and who the terrorists are.

Well, I might be exaggerating that all the Pakistanis have realised it, but I am quite confident that the large majority has realised it. The reason behind that is the successful military operation in Swat. As soon as Musharraf left, the things started to unfold and people started realising that they have been betrayed. Even the majority of the supporters of Musharraf now know and admit that he was playing "the double policy game. " We always knew that the tribal areas were full of merciless criminals who were involved in inhumane criminal activities who would do anything for dollars.

The same criminals turned into terrorsists with a fake ideology for power. Who doesn't like to be in power? So whatever they are doing is for power and nothing to do with Islam. I have friends from those areas who are politically much aware than many of us, and they also confirm that those Muslims are involved in the most unIslamic activities. And then there are other factors of brain-washing, foreign elements, etc. But this proves that Islam has nothing to do with terrorism which Pakistan is facing.

And at this moment Pakistan is the hardest-hit terrorism victim. Iraq and Afghanistan are now way behind in this regard. The only focus is now Pakistan. So it should be clear now that Islam and terrorism are not related but only being projected as one, and Pakistan is the best example.

References

1. http://www. faithfreedom. org/Articles/SKM/jihad. htm http://www. religioustolerance. org/isl_jihad. htm
2. United State Policy On Terrorism BY Ahmed Ijaz Terrorism Ideology And Revolution By Noel O’Sullivan The Osama Bin Ladin I Know By Peter L. Bergen

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