Holy Religion of Islam
Introduction of Islam |
Five Pillars of
Islam | Who was Prophet Muhammad |
Islam and Terrorism
Islam and Terrorism:
Since the horrific and tragic events of
September 11th, nothing has been more discussed
and scrutinised in the public arena than Islam.
The world at large has been subjected to a wealth
of analysis by 'experts' which has further fuelled
people's curiosity about this religion.
Book-sellers in Europe and the Middle East have
reported an upsurge in interest in the Qur'an,
which confirms what one British newspaper editor
had to say: 'Islam [..] has never been of greater
interest to the people of Britain than it is
today.'1 In America, where there are some six
million Muslims, Islam is said to be the nation's
fastest growing religion, despite there being no
systematic form of missionary work.
Contrary to official praise of Islam by
the President of America and the Prime Minister of
England, some of the media have bluntly suggested
that the action taken after September's event is a
war and Islam is at its heart. Despite there being
a conscious effort to truly understand Islam and
Muslims, there seem to be those who are determined
to paint terrorism and Islam with the same brush.
Simplified and undifferentiated descriptions of
Islam help create an image by which Islam is seen
as hostile to Western culture, and a religion of
backwardness and oppression. 'A selective
presentation and analysis of Islam and events by
both scholars and political commentators too often
inform articles and editorials on the Muslim
world', says John Esposito, Director of the Center
for Muslim-Christian Understanding, at Georgetown
University in Washington. 'This selective analysis
fails to tell the whole story […] While it sheds
some light, it is a partial light that obscures
and distorts the full picture.
The world community shares this small planet
with the Muslim community which comprises some 1.2
billion adherents to the faith, so anyone who
understands Islam to be a religion of terror would
naturally be concerned. However, these fears are
not well-grounded. Writing in Time magazine, Karen
Armstrong asserts that: 'If the evil carnage we
witnessed on September 11 were typical of the
faith, and Islam truly inspired and justified such
violence, its growth and the increasing presence
of Muslims in both Europe and the U.S. would be a
terrifying prospect. Fortunately, this is not the
case.'
There seems to be a noticeable discrepancy
between knowledge of Islam on the one hand and the
certainty of judgements on the other. While the
terrorist crime of September 11th may have been
the work of some misled individuals, it was
certainly not the product of Islam. Islam is a
religion that preaches peace, compassion, justice,
and frowns upon suicide. The kamikaze assault on
innocent civilians stood in direct conflict with
Islam's most elementary principles, teachings and
spirit - one does not need to be an expert to
realize this.
Islam and
Tradition:
If Islam is a religion of peace, why the
misunderstanding? How can a religion of peace gain
a reputation for being a religion of war and
terror? The answer lies in the way that Islamic
scriptures are misinterpreted to suit perverted
agendas. Words and phrases that are often repeated
in the media have been misconstrued by individuals
to give incorrect meanings. The deliberate blur
between 'jihad' and acts of terror has been a
phenomenon that has resulted from those
unqualified in the science of Sacred Law.
Since the end of the Sunni Ottoman Caliphate in
1924, the Muslim world has been fragmented. The
loss of unification created many difficulties from
which Muslims are still trying to recover. For one
thing, it has seen the loss of the promulgation of
traditional Islam, which has now given way to
individuals claiming the right to reinterpret
Islamic texts to grant them legitimacy in their
own ideas. This has seen a tendency 'toward
ambiguity and the careless use of many important
terms.' Traditional Islam in contrast is related
to the notion of orthodoxy, clarity and authority;
to continuity and consistency in the transmission
of the truth. It places its reliance upon
classical scholarship as exemplified in the four
schools of Islamic jurisprudence. Within this
tradition of Islam, a true Islamic landscape
emerges, encompassing the richness of scholarly
tradition and its illuminating contribution to the
advancement of civilisation.
Sunni Islam engenders a faith and practice that
makes the taking of innocent lives unimaginable
and which is shared by the vast majority of
Muslims worldwide, however the radicals appear to
have overlooked this pivotal pillar with their new
interpretations of Sacred Law. As noted by Tim
Winter, a lecturer on Islam at the faculty of
Divinity at Cambridge University 'One of the
unseen, unsung triumphs of true Islam in the
modern world is its complete freedom from any
terroristic involvement […] Everyone, enemies
included, knows that the very idea is absurd.'
The dismantling of the traditional places of
learning by the colonialists allowed individuals
to make literal and extreme interpretations of
Sacred Law that are in contradiction to and
radically different from the previous centuries of
traditional Islamic practice and learning.
Muhammad, the Messenger of God, may God bless him
and grant him peace, forewarned of such a time
when '[..] people [will] take the ignorant as
leaders who are asked for and who give Islamic
legal opinion without knowledge [they are]
misguided and misguiding.'8 The result has been
examples of extreme religious practice devoid of
any real knowledge and characterised by bigotry,
intolerance, harshness and excessiveness - all of
which are in opposition to Islam as exemplified by
the Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant
him peace, who always advocated the middle way.
Terrorism :
Muhammad, may God bless him and grant him
peace, warned his companions to avoid extremes -
which he explained was the cause of the
destruction of earlier communities. Terrorists it
appears, feel that this injunction does not apply
to them. Terrorism is an act against God. Anyone
who tries to justify such atrocities ultimately
fails, since both the Sacred Law and theology
abhor such acts as moral sins that run contrary to
the essence of Islam. The Qur'an instructs Muslims
in times of adversity to act with justice,
perseverance and patience. Terrorists apparently
never think of relating their acts to the
elementary principle that Islam places great value
on: the sanctity of human life. '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'
is a verse of the Qur'an, which is disregarded by
the fanaticism of hate.
Traditional Muslim jurists considered terrorist
attacks against unsuspecting and defenseless
victims as heinous and immoral crimes and treated
the perpetrators as the worst type of criminals.
It is a well-established Qur'anic precept that the
injustice of others does not excuse one's own
injustice.
Jihad:
In the West, the term 'jihad' has come to
be known as something wholly negative - it has
been somewhat simplistically described as waging a
holy war against infidels. However, in Islam,
jihad is something that is positive. It consists
of two dimensions: the inner jihad that seeks to
curb negative and self-destructive forces within;
and the external jihad which is a struggle against
violence and tyranny by means of words and
actions. As for the latter, it has strict rules of
engagement which prohibit destroying civilian
life, harming animals and even chopping down
trees.
The former type of jihad, said to be the most
important, is that of the inner self. Muhammad,
may God bless him and grant him peace, was
reported to have said: "The best jihad one
performs is that of helping oneself gain more
knowledge of Almighty God."11 On another occasion,
the Messenger of God addressed his companions,
saying: "We are now returning from the minor jihad
to the major jihad (that of the struggle of the
inner self.)"
Compassion and Mercy:
In the context of the current atmosphere
of violence, one might be excused for assuming
that jihad is one of Islam's main pillars.
However, this is far from the truth. Islam is 'not
addicted to war,' nor does jihad form any one of
the five pillars of faith. On the contrary, the
Qur'an stresses compassion, benevolence, justice
and wisdom. That compassion and mercy are central
themes in Islam should be self-evident when almost
every chapter of the Qur'an begins with: In the
Name of God, The Most Compassionate, The Most
Merciful.
In a famous saying of Muhammad, may God bless
him and grant him peace, he says: 'The merciful
are shown mercy by the Merciful one. Show mercy to
those on earth and you will be shown mercy by the
One in Heaven.' The Qur'an declares that Muhammad
was sent as a Mercy to the worlds (21:107),
something to which he himself testified when he
refused to curse a warring tribe: 'I have not been
sent to curse, but as a summoner and as a mercy'.
Indeed, such is the centrality of mercy and
compassion in Islam, that the aforementioned
tradition is the first tradition of Muhammad, may
God bless him and grant him peace that is taught
to the student of Sacred Law. Muslim scholars have
said that in every matter, Muslims should be just,
merciful and wise - anything that is lacking in
any one of these principles cannot be said to be
derived from Sacred Law.
Compassion in Islam is not restricted to
Muslims only, but it also requires sensitivity to
the suffering of others. In a tradition, the
Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him
peace, declared that 'people are God's children
and those dearest to God are the ones who treat
His children kindly.'12 A Muslim cannot be
considered to be compassionate while there is
suffering and injustice around them. It is for
this reason, that Islam requires the community of
believers to be one in which caring for your
neighbours is an integral component of belief. The
concern for your neighbour (irrespective of
whether they are Muslim or not) is so crucial,
that the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him
peace, used to say that even if one person remains
hungry in a particular area, no angel will descend
in that area until that hungry person is fed.
Time to Reflect:
We cannot blame religion for the errors of
those who use its name or symbols to justify their
heinous actions. As Harun Yahya illustrates
throughout this book, all religions, have had
their share of people who claimed to be strict
adherents of their tradition, but who actually
grossly misinterpreted their sacred texts to suit
their own agendas.
All true religious traditions condemn
categorically any sort of act of aggression, and
certainly any act of terror. Religion cannot be
blamed, but the insanity and hate that drives
people to commit such atrocities can be. It would
not suffice to leave the condemnation there, it is
up to us to seek out the root from which this hate
pours forth; what are the causes of their
grievances, turmoil, anger, bitterness,
frustrations, hopelessness and how can we help to
eliminate them?14 We will soon realise that the
causes are not the doing of God or religion, but
merely results of regimes that oppress and
policies that kill and subvert. Now more than ever
there is a need to investigate the link between
terrorism and the support that continues for
dictatorial regimes, particularly in the Muslim
World.
It is not the case that the Muslim world hates
the 'West' or indeed America. There are many
Muslims living in the West and it would be
hypocritical to denounce in a rhetoric of hate the
very host country that has welcomed them. Most
Muslims realise that there are many similarities
extant in the West to Islamic precepts, such as
freedom, tolerance, the right to education, and
civil liberties. Graham E. Fuller, the former
vice-chairman of the National Intelligence Council
at the CIA, recently wrote in the L.A Times that:
'If you travel around the Muslim world, it quickly
becomes evident that there is immense respect for
a great variety of American values.' Rather, the
frustration is vented on what is seen as double
standards in government policies. People can enjoy
such values in the West, but it appears that there
has been a concerted effort to keep such values
restricted 'fit for home consumption, but not for
export.'
The Muslims in the West are facing a defining
moment. Muslims must recapture the true spirit of
Islam, and reclaim it from those who have harmed
its integrity and honour. As Tim Winter
asserts'[M]ainstream Islam will be able to make
the loud declaration in public that it already
feels in its heart: that terrorists are not
Muslims. Targeting civilians is a negation of
every possible school of Sunni Islam.'
Harun Yahya's elucidation is timely and much
needed. It will, God willing, provide Muslims and
non-Muslims alike with an essential understanding
of the very heart of Islam, and what has been
understood and practised by the vast majority of
Muslims throughout history. This is orthodox,
Sunni, mainstream Islam. He illustrates by using
the core text of all Muslims - the Holy Qur'an,
that true Islam cannot in any way, shape or form
be associated with terrorism. It is in complete
contradistinction to it, for without a doubt,
Islam itself denounces Terrorism.
Introduction :
As Muslims, we strongly condemn the
terrorist attacks on two major cities of the
United States of America on September 11, 2001,
which caused the death and injury of thousands of
innocent people, and we offer our condolences to
the American nation. These attacks propelled the
important issue of the true source of terrorism to
the top of the world agenda. Thus, it has been
announced to the entire world that Islam is a
religion of peace and tolerance that summons
individuals to compassion and justice. Many world
leaders, leading media organisations, television
and radio stations said that true Islam forbids
violence, and encourages peace between people and
between nations. The Western circles that have
come to a full grasp of the religion of Islam and
are well-informed about Islam as commanded by God
in the Qur'an noted clearly that the words "Islam"
and "terror" cannot stand side by side, and that
no divine religion permits violence.
This book maintains that the source of the
terror that we condemn is definitely not from a
divine religion, and that there is no room for
terrorism in Islam. This is made clear in the
Qur'an, the main source of Islam, and in the
practices of all true Muslim rulers, the Prophet
Muhammad being the foremost of them.
As is known, for centuries various acts of
terrorism were been carried out in different parts
of the world by different groups for a variety of
purposes. Sometimes a communist organisation,
sometimes a fascist group, and sometimes radical
and separatist factions assume responsibility for
these acts. While countries like America often
became the target of attacks by racist and
marginal terrorist groups, the European countries
have been centre stage for violent acts carried
out by terrorist groups. 17 November in Greece,
RAF (Red Army Faction) and Neo-Nazis in Germany,
ETA in Spain, Red Brigades in Italy and many other
organisations seek to make their voices heard
through terror and violence by killing innocent
and defenceless people. The nature of terrorism
changes with changing world conditions and
increases its impact and power with the new means
made possible by developing technology. In
particular, mass communication tools such as the
Internet extend the scope and influence of the
terrorist activities considerably.
Besides the Western organisations, there are
also other terror organisations of Middle East
origin. Terrorist attacks are carried out by these
groups in all corners of the world. Sadly, the
fact that the perpetrators of various terrorist
acts carry Christian, Muslim or Jewish identities
cause some people to put forward claims which do
not concur with divine religions. The truth is
that even if terrorists have Muslim identities,
the terror they perpetrate cannot be labelled
"Islamic terror", just as it could not be called
"Jewish terror" if the perpetrators were Jews or
"Christian terror" if they were Christians. That
is because, as will be examined in the following
pages, murdering innocent people in the name of a
divine religion is unacceptable. We need to keep
in mind that, among those who were killed in New
York and Washington, there were people who loved
Jesus (Christians), the Prophet Moses (Jews) and
the Prophet Muhammad (Muslims). Unless forgiven by
God, murdering innocent people is a great sin that
brings torment in Hell.
The aggressors can commit such violence only
with the intention of attacking religion itself.
It may well be that those who carried out this
violence did so to present religion as evil in the
eyes of people, to divorce people from religion
and to generate hatred towards those who are
religiously inclined. Consequently, every attack
on American citizens or other innocent people
having a religious facade is actually an attack
made against religion.
Religion commands love, mercy and peace.
Terror, on the other hand, is the opposite of
religion; it is cruel, merciless and demands
bloodshed and misery. This being the case, the
origins of a terrorist act 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, then he
is a nonbeliever, not a believer. He is a murderer
with no fear of God, whose main ambition is to
shed blood and to cause harm. For this reason,
"Islamic terror" is an erroneous concept which
contradicts Islam's message. The religion of Islam
can by no means countenance terror. On the
contrary, terror (i.e. murders committed against
innocent people) in Islam is a great sin and
Muslims are responsible for preventing these acts
and bringing peace and justice to the
world.
|
