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WMC-HOME
EXTREMISM ::
TERRORISM
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ARTICLES: |
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Islam and Extremism |
Terrorism is not a Muslim Monopoly
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Islam & Terrorism
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Global List of Terrorism |
Laser Barking -
Bark at the terrorist not Islam
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Radical Islam & Secularism in Europe |
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The biggest mistake media has made:
Prefixing the word Terrorist with the name
of a religion.
My suggestion is
to laser bark,
meaning bark at the criminals for who they
are. Dont create a whole world around
them to be blamed, dont bomb the whole
country for it, dont give them a religion
to be blamed, and dont shift the blame on
anything that surrounds them. Just laser
bark at the criminals and then we will
make progress.
All religions are beautiful, no religions
teaches hatred. The bad work is done by
the Individuals for their benefit. They
have used the religion and we have let
them. The biggest mistake of the media is
to give credence and value to the
terrorists by ascribing a religion to
them. Media guys, please bark at the right
people and not at the religion, no
religion.
Insha Allah, in the next 14 years, the
World Muslim Congress plans to
accomplish as much as we can in creating a
World Wider Registry for Muslim
Organizations. The idea is
to create a sense of organization and well
defined purpose for each one to act and to
bring them into the fold. The
organizations would register their name,
mission, members, directors, events....
this would also encourage them to learn to
operate on a consultative basis. For the
negative people out there, if we don't do
it, nothing will happen. We will put
in our effort and work at it, and leave
the results to Allah.
Our priority, the Muslim priority in the
world at this time ought to be building
good will to remove the false perceptions
out there about us. Mike Ghouse
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SWAMINATHAN S ANKLESARIA AIYAR
''All Muslims may not be terrorists, but
all terrorists are Muslims.'' This comment
, frequently heard after the Mumbai bomb
blasts implies that terrorism is a Muslim
specialty, if not a monopoly. The facts
are very different.
First, there is nothing
new about terrorism. In 1881, anarchists
killed the Russian Tsar Alexander II and
21 bystanders. In 1901, anarchists killed
US President McKinley as well as King
Humbert I of Italy. World War I started in
1914 when anarchists killed Archduke
Ferdinand of Austria. These terrorist
attacks were not Muslim.
Terrorism is generally
defined as the killing of civilians for
political reasons. Going by this
definition, the British Raj referred to
Bhagat Singh, Chandrashekhar Azad and many
other Indian freedom fighters as
terrorists. These were Hindu and Sikh
rather than Muslim.
Guerrilla fighters from
Mao Zedong to Ho Chi Minh and Fidel Castro
killed civilians during their
revolutionary campaigns. They too were
called terrorists until they triumphed.
Nothing Muslim about them.
In Palestine, after
World War II, Jewish groups (the Haganah,
Irgun and Stern Gang) fought for the
creation of a Jewish state, bombing hotels
and installations and killing civilians.
The British, who then governed Palestine,
rightly called these Jewish groups
terrorists. Many of these terrorists later
became leaders of independent Israel -
Moshe Dayan, Yitzhak Rabin, Menachem
Begin, Ariel Sharon. Ironically, these
former terrorists then lambasted
terrorism, applying this label only to
Arabs fighting for the very same
nationhood that the Jews had fought for
earlier.
In Germany in 1968-92,
the Baader-Meinhoff Gang killed dozens,
including the head of Treuhand, the German
privatisation agency. In Italy, the Red
Brigades kidnapped and killed Aldo Moro,
former prime minister.
The Japanese Red Army
was an Asian version of this. Japan was
also the home of Aum Shinrikyo, a Buddhist
cult that tried to kill thousands in the
Tokyo metro system using nerve gas in
1995.
In Europe, the Irish
Republican Army has been a Catholic
terrorist organisation for almost a
century. Spain and France face a terrorist
challenge from ETA, the Basque terrorist
organisation.
Africa is ravaged by so
much civil war and internal strife that
few people even bother to check which
groups can be labelled terrorist. They
stretch across the continent. Possibly the
most notorious is the
Lord's Salvation Army in Uganda, a
Christian outfit that uses children as
warriors.
In Sri Lanka, the Tamil
Tigers have long constituted one of the
most vicious and formidable terrorist
groups in the world. They were the first
to train children as terrorists. They
happen to be Hindus. Suicide bombing is
widely associated with Muslim Palestinians
and Iraqis, but the Tamil Tigers were the
first to use this tactic on a large scale.
One such suicide bomber assassinated Rajiv
Gandhi in 1991.
In India, the militants
in Kashmir are Muslim. But they are only
one of several militant groups. The Punjab
militants, led by Bhindranwale, were
Sikhs. The United Liberation Front of
Assam is a Hindu terrorist group that
targets Muslims rather than the other way
round. Tripura has witnessed the rise and
fall of several terrorist groups, and so
have Bodo strongholds in Assam. Christian
Mizos mounted an insurrection for decades,
and Christian Nagas are still heading
militant groups.
But most important of
all are the Maoist terrorist groups that
now exist in no less than 150 out of
India's 600 districts. They have attacked
police stations, and killed and razed
entire villages that oppose them. These
are secular terrorists (like the Baader
Meinhof Gang or Red Brigades). In terms of
membership and area controlled, secular
terrorists are far ahead of Muslim
terrorists.
In sum, terrorism is
certainly not a Muslim monopoly .
There are or have been terrorist groups
among Christians, Jews, Hindus, Sikhs, and
even Buddhists. Secular terrorists
(anarchists, Maoists) have been the
biggest killers.
Why then is there such
a widespread impression that most or all
terrorist groups are Muslim? I see two
reasons. First, the Indian elite keenly
follows the western media, and the West
feels under attack from Islamic groups.
Catholic Irish terrorists have killed far
more people in Britain than Muslims, yet
the subway bombings in London and Madrid
are what Europeans remember today. The
Baader Meinhof Gang, IRA and Red Brigades
no longer pose much of a threat, but after
9/11 Americans and Europeans fear that
they could be hit anywhere anytime. So
they focus attention on Islamic militancy.
They pay little notice to other forms of
terrorism in Africa, Sri Lanka or India:
these pose no threat to the West.
Within India, Maoists
pose a far greater threat than Muslim
militants in 150 districts, one-third of
India's area. But major cities feel
threatened only by Muslim groups. So the
national elite and media focus
overwhelmingly on Muslim terrorism. The
elite are hardly aware that this is an
elite phenomenon.
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Islam &
Extremism
Imam Zia
Shaikh
Thus have We made of you a Middle Ummah,
that you might be witnesses over the
people, and the Messenger a witness over
yourselves ( al-Baqarah 2:143)
What does this "Middle Ummah" mean. (Just to
clarify to our Non-Muslim readers,
Ummah is easily defined as "followers", e.g
the Muslims are in the Ummah of the
Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him and all
the Prophets.)
It means that this Ummah follows a Middle
way. It doesn't allow for extremism at
any cost. It doesn't allow for extremism as
exemplified by terrorists, and it
doesn't allow extremism as portrayed by
non-religious secularists, resulting in
two opposite extremes.
Some people, when they have misunderstood
some of the verses of the Qur'aan, have
forgotten this concept of treading the
Middle Path. This has resulted in many
misinterpretations of the Qur'aan, and we
are seeing a result of such
misinterpretation today.
I will quote a booklet written by Dr.
Muzzamil Siddiqi, about the essence of
Moderation in Islam. This will give a better
understanding to the reader how
Islam is indeed a Middle Path, avoiding all
forms of extremes.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has made this
Ummah a moderate Ummah. Muslims have
to
follow the middle path, the path that has no
extremes or excesses.
It is a path that brings together in a
harmonious balance:
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Revelation and Reason ( Wahy and Aql )
Individual and Community ( Fard and Mujtama
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Religion and World ( Din and Dunya )
This World and the Other World ( Dunya and ‘Akhirah
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Islam teaches gentleness and softness ( rifq
) in everything. Harshness and
hardness ( ghilzah ) is not accepted in
Islam. Islam is the religion of peace
and mercy ( salam and rahmah ). (The
Qur'an tells the believers to show “
ghilzah only in the battlefield (see
al-Tawbah 9:73; 123; al-Tahrim 66:9).
Also it says that do not ignore or avoid
Allah's Hudud out of compassion to the
criminals. ( al-Nur 24:2) Otherwise it
always speaks about gentleness and
kindness.)
Islam has middle position in:
* Beliefs (Aqidah)
* Acts of worship (Ibadah)
* Laws (Shari'ah)
* Morals and manners (Akhlaq)
Let us look briefly on these four areas in
Islamic teachings:
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1. Belief about Allah's being ( dhat) :
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a) Neither atheism nor polytheism –
meaning that God does not exist or there are
many gods
b) Neither monism nor pantheism meaning
that only God exists and nothing else
exists or that everything is God.
c) Neither anthropomorphism or
incarnationism nor nihilism –meaning that
God is
like human beings or God becomes a human
being or to say that God is abstract
as an energy and power.
d) Islam teaches Tawhid There is only one
God with beautiful names and
attributes. He exists and He has given
existence to everything. There is
nothing like Him, but He hears and sees
everything. |
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2. Belief about Allah's nature ( sifat)
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a) He is neither so loving that He does not
care about the right and wrong, nor
is He so harsh that he cannot forgive and He
must punish for every sin and
mistake. He is both loving , kind and
compassionate but He is also a judge.
His justice is so much that he would not do
wrong to any one, but his love is
so much that when there is sincere faith and
repentance He is ready to
forgive.
b) He is neither too transcendent that He
become remote and unapproachable not
He is so accessible that humans can
manipulate Him, make Him to suffer and even
kill him. He is very close to us.
He loves us and hears our prayers, but He is
above and beyond. The eyes cannot catch Him,
but He catches the eyes.
c) He is neither so powerful that we have no
freedom. Nor is He so helpless
that He does not even know what we are doing
and cannot stop us from wrong or
help us when we need Him. We believe
that He has power over everything.
Nothing moves without His permission.
He knows the past, present and future,
but He out of His grace has given freedom to
human being to think, move and
work. He will judge them in the things
in which He has given freedom to them.
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3. Belief about Human Beings: |
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a) Neither animals nor angels. We
believe that they are a special and honored
creation of Allah. They have the possibility
to go higher and higher and they
can become the lowest of the low.
b) Neither born in sin nor perfect. They can
succumb to temptations, but they
are not helpless before the powers of evil.
c) Neither absolutely helpless and powerless
and not free to do anything, nor
absolutely free to do whatever they wish or
become fully autonomous. They have
a lot of freedom, but they must follow the
basic rules of God and must live in
obedience to Him. |
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4. Belief about the Prophets of Allah:
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a) They were great human beings, but they
were not God, the incarnation of God
or the sons of God. We must respect
them, honor them and follow their way
but
we must not deify them or worship them.
b) Prophets were chosen by God. They did not
become prophets by their own
achievements. They did perform miracles
occasionally by the permission of God,
but most of the time they had to go through
the same pains, trials as other
human beings go through.
c) God sent the prophets in the past, but He
made Prophet Muhammad as His last
Prophet. There is no new Prophet who
will come after him. Thus we believe in
the continuation of prophecy but after
him there is no prophecy, only
inspiration and illumination. Prophets were
infallible teachers, but there is
no one after them who has this protection.
People are allowed to make
interpretation but no one other than
prophets can claim absolute authority for
his/her interpretation. |
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5. Belief about the world: |
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a) Not a bad place, the place of suffering
and pain but also not a heaven or a
permanent place. Allah has created this
world and it is a good place, but
Hereafter is better.
b) Take your share of this world but do not
forget the Hereafter. Do not
neglect this world, rather you should try to
build, improve, cultivate and plan
in this world. Whatever good you do here you
shall receive the reward in the
hereafter. This is a place of your test.
c) You are not the master of this world or
its slave, but you are Allah's
Khalifah in this world. Everything is
a trust and your are given this trust
(amanah). Use the resources of this
world carefully. Take care of the
environment. Do not waste or be
extravagant. |
II.
Acts of Worship:
1. Concept of Worship:
a) Islam gives us some special acts of
worship: Salat, Siyam , Zakat and Hajj.
These are the main acts of worship.
b) But worship is not some rituals only, it
is the whole life. Whatever a
person does in obedience to Allah is
worship. Even the most worldly and
mundane activities are worship.
c) Acts of worship (Ibadat) are specified
and not left to people's own
experiments. This brings unity and
harmony.
2. Methods of Worship:
a) Islam emphasizes both the individual
Ibadah as well as collective Ibadah.
b) Acts of worship include time, space and
money. There are Ibadat Zamaniya
(related to time), ‘ Ibadat Makaniyah
(related to space) and Ibadat Maliyah
(related to wealth). Salat and Siyam are ‘Ibadat
Zamaniyah . Hajj is ‘Ibadah
Zamaniyah and Makaniyah both, while ‘Umrah
is ‘Ibadah Makaniyah. Zakat and
Sadaqat are ‘ Ibadat Maliyah.
c) In all Ibadat there is a balance between
the obligatory and the voluntary
aspects. Minimum is made obligatory and
Nawafil are left to the individual's
choice.
d) In prayer especially, there is a harmony
and balance between the physical,
verbal, mental and spiritual aspects.
e) In fasting there are timings. One
is not asked to fast for too long, but it
is also not left to one's choice to choose
whenever and whatever one wants to
fast from.
III.
Laws (Shari'ah)
The Law in Islam is Universal and
comprehensive. It Promotes human dignity,
equality and honor. Its basic principles are
permanent and it has flexibility
according to the conditions of the people
and their needs. The basic philosophy
of Law in Islam:
1. No obligation beyond capacity (taklif ma
la yutaq ).
2. All good things are permissible and all
bad things are forbidden.
3. The basic purpose in obligations is honor
and purification, not putting
burden or humiliation. ( al-isr and al-aghlal).
4. Recognition of extreme necessity (
idtirar )
IV.
Morals and Manners (Akhlaq)
Islam gives very high place to ethics and
morality. It says that a person who
has no character has no religion. The
basic nature of Islamic teachings on
ethics and morality are:
1. Universal Values – not promoting any
specific culture, race or country.
2. Positive and life affirming – it
teaches that you can enjoy the good things
of this life.
3. Not ascetic, monastic, morbid or moribund
in nature. Islam wants people to
be happy, healthy, optimistic and forward
looking.
4. Practical – take into account human
needs, emotions, desires, and aspirations
and provides opportunities for their growth.
5. Egalitarian – There are no double
standards – one for religious class and
other for laity.
Conclusion:
There are some Muslims who do not know Islam
and there are some who do not
practice Islam in the right way. It is
important that we learn Islam and we
should learn it in the right way. Islam is
neither harsh nor difficult. There
is nothing in Islam that is not practical or
impossible. The Prophet peace be
upon him- said:
عَنْ
أَبِي
هُرَيْرَةَ
عَنْ
النَّبِيِّ
صَلَّى
اللَّهُ
عَلَيْهِ
وَسَلَّمَ
قَالَ
إِنَّ
الدِّينَ
يُسْرٌ
وَلَنْ
يُشَادَّ
الدِّينَ
أَحَدٌ
إِلَّا
غَلَبَهُ
فَسَدِّدُوا
وَقَارِبُوا
وَأَبْشِرُوا
وَاسْتَعِينُوا
بِالْغَدْوَةِ
وَالرَّوْحَةِ
وَشَيْءٍ
مِنْ
الدُّلْجَةِ
(البخاري
38)
The religion is easy and whosoever will deal
with religion harshly, it will
defeat him. So be straight, follow the
middle course, give good news and seek
help by moving in the morning or the evening
or part of the night .”
(Al-Bukhari 38)
In order to follow Islam you must make an
effort and be serious. Learn your
faith and pay some attention to it. Do
not take your religion casually. Islam
is not just a social and cultural
thing. Islam is the religion of Allah
and
it is the most moderate, balanced,
beautiful and perfect religion.
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Islam and
Terrorism
M.
Basheer Ahmed, M.D.
Generally, the media in the
U.S. is biased against Islam. The
public gets the information as presented,
with some exaggerations and omissions, and
the media portrays Islam as a violent
religion. Although Islam does not promote
terrorism, terrorist acts are generally
attributed to Islam and at times, terrorists
themselves exploit Islam to justify their
acts. Linking Islam to terrorist acts
degrades the Islamic doctrine, creating a
negative image of Islam. The American media’s
reference to terrorism as Islamic, disturbs
millions of Muslims throughout the world.
All Muslims are not Arabs and all Arabs are
not Muslims.
The acts of terror against defenseless
citizens, the destruction of property and
the murder of innocent men, women and
children are strictly forbidden in Islam.
Nothing can ever justify or rationally
explain the Sept.11 terrorist attacks in
New York and
Washington
D.C. Just like people of
all faiths, and nationalities, Muslims were
horrified at the event of
Sept. 11, 2001. The vast majority
of Muslim organizations condemned the
terrorist act, which killed over three
thousand innocent people in
New York and D.C. The victims
included people of all nationalities, color,
creed, and religion including 300 Muslims.
Even today, we have no idea what motivated
these people to commit such a horrendous
act. No group has accepted responsibility
for these acts. It is mentioned in the media
that Muslim terrorists committed such an act
because they did not like the Western way of
life. This defies common sense, as
terrorists are not attacking several other
countries in the world, especially in
Europe where people enjoy similar
freedoms, prosperity, and culture. Terrorist
acts are committed by individuals and groups
who are psychologically motivated by
culture, nationalistic, religious, and
economic factors.
The media also reported that Osama Bin Laden
and his terrorist organization Al-Qaeda
attacked because they were highly critical
of U.S policies, especially the
unconditional support of Israeli atrocities
on Palestinians using American planes,
tanks, missiles and bombs. Osama was also
critical of U.S troops being stationed in
Saudi Arabia and applying
sanctions against
Iraq. We cannot defend or explain
these individuals or groups who claim an
Islamic justification for acts that have no
basis in Islam.
These are individual Muslims or Muslim
groups who are not acting on the clear
teaching of the Quran, and who are
misinterpreting Quran to justify their wrong
actions. They are not following the
teachings of the Quran. Any act of terrorism
should not be attributed to any religion
whether Christianity, Judaism, Islam or
Hinduism. Although almost all terrorists
(individuals or groups) belong to one
religion or the other, no religion permits
killing innocent people. If a terrorist act
is Islamic, because a Muslim commits it,
then terrorist acts committed by a
Christians, Jews, or Hindus will be
attributed to their faith. Is the Irish
Republic Army's use of bombs a Catholic
terrorist act?
Islam
is a religion of peace, mercy,
accommodation, and forgiveness, and a vast
majority of Muslims customarily have nothing
to do with the violent events committed in
the name of Islam When a Muslim individual
commits an act of violence or terrorism,
this individual is violating the laws of
Islam. The Quran says, “If any one kills a
human being, it shall be as though he did
slay all mankind; whereas if anyone saves a
human life, it shall be as though he had
saved the lives of all mankind. (5:32)
A prominent aspect of Islam is to preserve
and safeguard life. As mentioned above,
Islam specifically forbids from committing
aggression, or violence against civilians.
This is why Muslims feel offended when the
word ‘Islamic terrorists, is used.
Terrorist activities should not be appended
to any particular religion.
Terrorism is a universal problem, not
exclusively related to Islam and Muslims.
Terrorism was first defined as an act of
intimidation of civilians by their
government. This type of terrorism
encompasses more victims than any acts of
terrorism from people who attempt to disrupt
or overthrow the established governments.
4 Mongols terrorized the world in
the 13th century, and the
Christians terrorized Muslims in the
Crusades, and later to both the Jews and
Muslims in Spanish Inquisition. Hundreds of
Aboriginal people in
Australia and American Indians in
the
U.S. are killed in order to
occupy their land. In recent history, there
were several occurrences such as the
Holocaust in Germany, killing 6 million
Jews, several million people were killed
during invasion of China, 2 million
Filipinos during the invasion of
Philippines, 2 million people were killed in
the Vietnam War (U.S. had no reason to
attack Vietnam), murders and purges of
Stalin, killing fields of Pot Pol regime,
mass murders in Rwanda, assassinations by
Saddam Hussein, tortures and killing of
Pinochet, Serbians ethnic cleansing of
ethnic Albanians and Kosovans and Israeli
army's massacres in Lebanon and Jenin
refugee camps. Muslims were not involved in
any of these actions except in
Iraq. Since most of the killings
are done by people who practice
Christianity, should we blame the religion
Christianity for these massacres? Of course
not.
Terrorism can also be defined as politically
and ideologically motivated actions that
target people indiscriminately to cause fear
and to achieve certain political goals. The
words, thug, zealot, and assassin all come
from ancient cults of Hindu, Jewish, and
Muslims respectively. The terrorists believe
that they are doing the work of God. Two
thousand years ago, a group of Jewish holy
warriors (zealots) were terrorizing Romans
by cutting their throats in public places,
especially during the festival time. Romans
crushed the rebellion. The zealots made one
last attempt against the Romans at
Masada, and when their attempt
failed, 700 people killed themselves, rather
than surrendering. Zealots at
Masada are still praised as
heroes for their suicidal act.
There
are hundreds of terrorist organizations in
the world and most of them are not Muslims,
such as the
Germany's Red Army faction,
Italy's Red Brigade, Irish
Republican Army, Basque Separatist groups in
Spain and Neo-Nazi terrorist
groups in
Europe. One million people were
killed in
Rwanda, due to terrorist
activities of rival groups. They were not
Muslims. In our own country, Reverend Jones
was instrumental in killing 900 Christians
in the name of religion and David Kuraish
was involved in destruction of human life
under the banner of Christianity. Timothy Mc
Veigh carried out a terrorist attack in
Oklahoma City with the blessing
of his Christian extremists, killing
innocent men, women, and children. There are
several Muslim terrorist organizations, such
as Hamas, Al-Jehad, Al-Qaeda and others who
engage in terrorist activities in different
parts of the world. However, the terrorism,
the martyrdom and suicides are known to the
world long before Muslims were involved in
these activities.
According to the annual U.S State department
report,Patterns of Global Terrorism 1997,
of the reported incidents of terrorism from
the years 1992-1997,
the largest number occurred in Europe (831),
following Latin America (602) and the Middle
East (422). For the same year, there were
7621 casualties in
Europe and 2692 in the
Middle East. The State Dept. also
named 34 terrorist groups in 1997 and fewer
than half (14 organizations) were related to
the
Middle East. Ralph Braibanti of
Edmund Walsh School of International Affairs
made the following comments. The use of
poison gas by Buddhists Aum Shimrikyo of
Japan, the Oklahoma Bombing of an American
Christian, the long standing terrorism of
Northern Irish Catholics, the violence of
Indian Hindus in communal riots (most recent
in Gujarat), ethnic cleansing by Christian
orthodox Serbs in Bosnia and Kosova, the
violence of drug-related Catholic mobs in
Latin America and the terrorism of Hindu
Tamils against Singhalese Buddhist
government of Sri Lanka demonstrate the
universality of terrorism and the cultural
and religious diversity of its origin.” In
fact the suicide bombing was a common
terrorist act by Tamil Tigers militia in Sri
Lanka long before Palestinian suicide
bombers. Tamil Suicide Bombers killed 1600
people including the President of Sri Lanka,
and Indian Prime Minister Rajev Gandhi. Most
of the suicide bombers were women. Since Sri
Lanka has no oil reservoirs, the West had no
interest in that part of the world and all
these civilian killings during the last two
decades were never covered in Western media.
In
Nepal, Maoist rebels who launched
their People's war in 1996, to topple the
Constitutional Monarchy killed more than
7200 people. In Nov. 2002, 7000 Maoist
rebels attacked the village burning, looting
and killing people. The government forces
killed hundreds of rebels to drive them out
of the area. In Nov. 2002, Indian terrorists
Naxalites blasted a bus, killing 30 innocent
passengers. These events are seldom covered
in the news but when 13 Israelis are killed
in
Mombasa, the news made the
headlines as Islamic terrorist act. Alex
Giotopoulos, a leader of elusive ‘November
17th terrorist organizations who
killed CIA chiefs and other American and
British officials, was arrested in
Athens,
Greece. The members of this
group belonged to Greek Orthodox Church. In
fact, a religious icon painter, and son of
Greek Orthodox priest was carrying the bomb
that was exploited. The media never
identified them as Greek Orthodox Christian
terrorists, and in fact, 31% of the Greeks
agreed with the political aims of the Greek
terrorist organization. 23 In
Nov. 2002, 10,000 people marched in
Athens, protesting and demanding
the freedom of leaders of the Nov.17th
terrorist organization. They burned American
flags, and expressed anti-U.S. sentiments.
The terrorists became heroes.
In a
report released by the State Department, “Patterns
of Global Terrorism 2001,” the State Dept.
recorded 191 acts of terrorism against
United States in
Latin America and the numbers
have increased every year since 1996.
Hindus
have killed thousands of Sikhs, and more
recently thousands of Muslims in
Gujarat,
India. Palestinian
terrorists kill numerous innocent Israeli
Jews, and the Israeli govt. has killed
thousands of innocent Palestinians.
Christians had killed 5 million Jews in
Europe but nobody called them
Christian terrorists. Similarly, Irish
Republican Army (IRA) spread terror in
London when they bombed subways
and buildings; killing several innocent
civilians indiscriminately, but the media
never portrayed them as Catholic terrorists.
Hundreds of innocent civilians including
women and children and the elderly in Jenin
refugee camps were killed. A young Jewish
human rights activist commenting on CNN,
denounced the Jewish aggression as a
State-terrorism. Should we, therefore, call
Judaism a terrorist religion?
No
doubt we are seeing a rise in terrorist
activities in some Muslim countries due to
the political situations in the regions and
a few Muslim foreigners were incriminated
for terrorist activities in this country.
However, Islam cannot be accused of
condoning terrorism. Terrorists who claim to
be Muslims use their religious beliefs
inappropriately in acting the same way as
anti-abortionists who bombed the clinics,
killing people in the name of Christianity.
In
1969, an Australian Jew set Al Aqsa mosque
on fire. In the mid 90’s, an
American-Israeli Jew in
Hebron murdered 29 innocent
Muslim civilians while they were praying in
the mosque. The Jewish settlers in
Hebron built a monument to
commemorate his heroic deeds and this
resulted in inciting the emotions of
Muslims. Palestinians do the same thing when
they praise their suicide bombers for
sacrificing their lives for a cause.
Similarly, the Israeli govt. seldom condemns
the killing of innocent women and children
who are killed by Israeli forces. The
casualties are simply referred to as
collateral damage.
People
of all faiths, Christian, Jews, and Muslims
have deviated from the right path, and some
leaders have even exploited the religion.
This does not mean that a particular
religion has promoted terrorism. Islam,
Christianity, and Judaism or any other
religion should not be blamed for any
criminal acts of individuals just as
Catholicism or Christianity should not be
blamed for promoting homosexuality or
pedophilia due to pedophilic behavior of a
few priests and indifferent attitude of the
Bishops and Cardinals. Criminals should be
held responsible for their own crimes, not
the religion they profess to follow.
Terrorism is a universal problem, and no
single religion or followers of any religion
should be blamed exclusively for the
terrorist activities.
TOP
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Are Muslims Enemies of Peace?
By Dr Javed Jamil,
Director, International Centre for Applied
Islamics, India
Organized violence
The Western Media have been
aggressively singling out Muslims as the
source of violence, but the facts speak to
the contrary. It has already been seen
that the level of almost all crimes is
much less in Muslim countries than in most
of the other countries. Let us now glance
through the history of last 100-150 years
to find, which countries indulged in
biggest massacres, wars and civil wars.
According to the website copyrighted by
Pierie Scruff, which gives the statistics
of wars and civil wars, about 160 million
people died in wars in the 20th
century. The break-up of these wars and
people dying in each of them is as
follows:
Wars in last 150 years
1860-65: American civil war (360,000)
1886-1908: Belgium-Congo Free State (3
million)
1899-02: British-Boer war (100,000)
1904: Germany Vs Namibia (65,000)
1904-05: Japan Vs Russia (150,000)
1910-20: Mexican revolution (250,000)
1911: Chinese Revolution (2.4 million)
1911-12: Italian-Ottoman war (20,000)
1912-13: Balkan wars (150,000)
1915: the Ottoman empire slaughters
Armenians (1.2 million)
1914-18: World War I (8 million)
1917-21: Soviet revolution (5 million)
1928-37: Chinese civil war (2 million)
1931: Japanese Manchurian War (1.1
million)
1934: Mao's Long March (170,000)
1936: Italy's invasion of Ethiopia
(200,000)
1936-37: Stalin's purges (13 million)
1936-39: Spanish civil war (600,000)
1939-45:
World
War II
(55 million) including holocaust and
Chinese revolution
1946-49: Chinese civil war (1.2
million)
1946-49: Greek civil war (50,000)
1947: Partition of India and Pakistan
(1 million)
1948-1973: Arab-Israeli wars (70,000)
1948-: Kashmir's civil war (40,000)
1949-: Indian Muslims Vs Hindus
(20,000)
1950-53: Korean war (4 million)
1954-62: French-Algerian war (1
million)
1958-61: Mao's "Great Leap Forward"
(30 million)
1960-90: South Africa Vs Africa
National Congress (?)
1961-2003: Kurds Vs Iraq (180,000)
1962-75: Mozambique Frelimo Vs
Portugal (?)
1964-73: USA-Vietnam war (3 million)
1965: second India-Pakistan war over
Kashmir
1965-66: Indonesian civil war
(200,000)
1966-69: Mao's "Cultural Revolution"
(11 million)
1966-: Colombia's civil war (31,000)
1967-70: Nigeria-Biafra civil war
(800,000)
1968-80: Rhodesia's civil war (?)
1969-79: Idi Amin, Uganda (300,000)
1969-02: IRA - Northern Ireland's
civil war (2,000)
1969-79: Francisco Macias Nguema,
Equatorial Guinea (50,000)
1971: Pakistan-Bangladesh civil war
(500,000)
1972-: Philippines Vs Muslim
separatists (120,000)
1972: Burundi's civil war (300,000)
1972-79: Rhodesia/Zimbabwe's civil war
(30,000)
1974-91: Ethiopian civil war
(1,000,000)
1975-78: Menghitsu, Ethiopia (1.5
million)
1975-79: Khmer Rouge, Cambodia (1.7
million)
1975-89: Boat people, Vietnam
(250,000)
1975-90: civil war in Lebanon (40,000)
1975-87: Laos' civil war (184,000)
1975-2002: Angolan civil war (500,000)
1976-83: Argentina's military regime
(20,000
1976-93: Mozambique's civil war
(900,000)
1976-98: Indonesia-East Timor civil
war (600,000)
1976-: Indonesia-Aceh (GAM) civil war
(12,000)
1979: Vietnam-China war (30,000)
1979-88: the Soviet Union invades
Afghanistan (1.3 million)
1980-88: Iraq-Iran war (1 million)
1980-92: Sendero Luminoso - Peru's
civil war (69,000)
1980-92: El Salvador's civil war
(100,000)
1980-99: Kurds Vs Turkey (35,000)
1982-90: Hussein Habre, Chad (40,000)
1983-2002: Sri Lanka's civil war
(64,000)
1983-2002: Sudanese civil war (2
million)
1987-: Palestinian Intifada (4,500)
1988-2001: Afghanistan civil war
(400,000)
1988-2004: Somalia's civil war
(550,000)
1989-: Liberian civil war (220,000)
1989-: Uganda Vs Lord's Resistance
Army (30,000)
1991: Gulf War - large coalition
against Iraq to liberate Kuwait
(85,000)
1991-97: Congo's civil war (800,000)
1991-2000: Sierra Leone's civil war
(200,000)
1991-: Russia-Chechnya civil war
(200,000)
1991-94: Armenia-Azerbaijan war
(35,000)
1992-96: Tajikstan's civil war war
(50,000)
1992-96: Yugoslavia's civil war
(200,000)
1992-99: Algerian civil war (150,000)
1993-97: Congo Brazzaville's civil war
(100,000)
1993-: Burundi's civil war (200,000)
1994: Rwanda's civil war (900,000)
1995-: Pakistani Sunnis Vs Shiites
(1,300)
1995-: Maoist rebellion in Nepal
(10,000)
1998-: Congo/Zaire's war - Rwanda and
Uganda Vs Zimbabwe, Angola and Namibia
(3.8 million)
1998-2000: Ethiopia-Eritrea war
(75,000)
1999: Kosovo's liberation war - NATO
Vs Serbia (2,000)
2001: Afghanistan's liberation war -
USA & UK Vs Taliban (25,000)
2002-: Cote d'Ivoire's civil war
(1,000)
2003: Iraq's liberation war - USA, UK
and Australia Vs Saddam Hussein
(14,000)
2003-: Sudan Vs Darfur (70,000)
2003-: Iraq's civil war (100,000)
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Out of the
total number of around 160 million dead,
more than 135 million have been killed in
or by countries that are now the five big
powers of the world, namely China, the US,
the UK, France and Russia. The killings by
or in Muslim countries form a very small
percentage of the total killings, despite
the fact that Muslims form about one fifth
of the world population.
If we convert the figures into
community-wise break-up, 90% of violence
has involved Christians, Buddhists and
Atheists. Most of the killings in Muslim
countries or regions have been the direct
result of foreign interventions. These
include the deaths in Afghanistan, as the
results of Soviet and American invasions,
Iran-Iraq war (which was fought at the
behest of the US), and Iraq as the result
of American invasions. The biggest pogroms
of the history have taken place in
Germany, Russia (both Christian countries)
and China (Buddhists, other religions,
atheists). Stalin and Hitler, two of the
biggest killers of all times were
Christians; few massacres that have taken
place at the behest of Muslim rulers, like
Saddam Hussein and Idi Amin, have been by
those whose loyalty to their religion was
almost negligible. While China and Russia
hold the distinction for murdering their
own people in maximum numbers for
political ends, the credit of killing most
people abroad goes to the US, especially
during last 60 years. Apart from its role
in the killings in the Second World War,
it killed about half a million people in
Nagasaki and Hiroshima, 3 million people
in Vietnam and about 100, 000 people in
Iraq. Americas role in Afghans struggle
against Russia, Iran-Iraq war and
Arab-Israeli conflicts is too well known
to require elaboration.
The maximum number of militarymen
killed in wars are also those of the
current big powers that waged wars to
dominate the world for their own
expansionist and commercial ends. See the
following table:
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Military Death Toll
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War
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Dates
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1
|
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1937-45
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2
|
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1914-18
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3
|
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1950-53
|
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4
|
|
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1945-49
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5
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Vietnam War
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