Islam and Political Terrorism (Part 1)
According to the title, the article may seem ambiguous and
incongruous for some of the respected readers, and it may establish endless
speculations and theories about the correlation of Islam to terrorism.
Nevertheless, the main objective of this article is to provide a thorough
analysis of how, many leading clerics in the Arabic and Islamic world combine
the religion of peace, Islam with cold-blooded actions against humanity for
their political, social, and financial gains.
Throughout the preceding days the global community witnessed the atrocious and
barbaric actions against innocent men, women, and children in
In
connection to the above notions, both the leaders of the Arabic and Islamic
world impose oppressive laws and jurisdictions in both these societies.
Moreover, the terrorists that commit these atrocious actions were both cultured
into a domestically oppressive familial system and a tyrannical political and
social system, which were established by the countries leaders. Therefore, due
to the latter notions these individuals become raised and educated into
violence and radicalism, in order to find refuge in these factors.
Furthermore, in the Gulf countries most of the terrorist were raised into
luxury and wealth, and most of these individuals either pursued a corrupted life
or a radical religious life, thus the former individuals either ended up as
drug addicts and the latter individuals winded up terrorizing the lives of the
innocent or financially supporting terrorist organizations under the
connotation of donations. In contrast to the above, in most of the less
fortunate Arab countries as
Similarly, who is to blame for the indoctrination of most of
the youth in the Arabic and Islamic world? Many sociologists and psychologists
would speculate and theorize that the indoctrination of the youth is due to the
irrational and fanatical methods of educating the religious texts, and
undoubtedly that is the accurate response to the inquiry proposed earlier. Most
of the leading clerics in the Arabic and Islamic world who identify themselves
as the “learned and refined elite”, educate the religious text in this case the
Islamic text, irrationally and radically. The leading clerics of
In
contrast to the above correlation of political terrorism and the false and
irrational interpretation of the religious text by leading clerics, presently
the focalization will be centered upon the investigation of the accurate and
rational explanatory portion of the religion of peace, Islam. Muhammad, the
Prophet established the fundamentals and humanistic principals of mankind;
moreover, he unveiled to the pagan Arab Bedouins the importance of education,
democracy, and compassion towards other religious groups. Therefore, Muhammad,
the Prophet educated and cultured the pagan Bedouins into a normalized and
enlightened society that adhered to the principals of Islam. Additionally, one
of the famous narrations articulated by Muhammad the Prophet was; “a Muslim is
one who says peace be upon you by his tongue and hand”, furthermore this
narration evidently illustrates that a Muslim is one who does not slander or
articulate violent words and; yet, instead one who calls for peace and security
and also one who assists, constructs and educates others towards enlightenment.
Therefore, according to this ebullient narration a Muslim is not one who
massacres and terrorizes the lives of innocent men, women, and children as the
hypothetical Muslims preformed in the United States (Sept. 11), Turkey,
Morocco, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Iraq (Karbala, Al –Kathemia, and the rest of Iraq), Pakistan and Spain.
Consequently, how can these alleged Muslims kill innocent people and produce
these barbaric actions against humanity and declare they are adhering to the
principals of Islam and the life of the Prophet Muhammad. It seems that their
actions are an absolute contradiction to Islam, because neither does Islam
teach its adherents violence nor does Muhammad the Prophet educate hate and
aggression. After all this analysis and argument against the creation of the
cycle of the terrorism epidemic, how can those alleged Muslims who produce
carnage around the global community proclaim they adhere to key fundamentals of
Islam and follow the rightful and majestic path of Muhammad, the
Prophet.
In
association to the above notions, the oppressive Arabic and Islamic one-party
systems, oligarchies, and monarchies must cease to exist because they only
produced, educated and cultured its citizens into terrorism and violence. The
primary solution is formulating liberal and democratic societies that are
sophisticated and educated so the momentum of terrorism will potentially
decrease upon the rejuvenation of liberalism and democracy in the region.
Zeinab Al-Rekabi
Neither prosperity nor empire nor heaven can be worth
winning at the price of a virulent temper, bloody hands, an anguished spirit,
and a vain hatred of the rest of the world. – John Milton
Islam Between the Fringe of
Political Terrorism and Irrational Clerical Interpretations
Human
carnage around the global community has potentially proliferated in the past
decades. Many of these atrocities hypothetically occurred under the name of
religion or ethnicity. Nevertheless, the former factor explicitly encompasses
the greatest impact amongst the adherents of the world’s greatest religions.
In
connection to the above notions, the terrorism epidemic has gradually
proliferated in the preceding years, which has led to global carnage and at the
same time to global awareness. Furthermore, in Iraq many extremist and radical
Islamists have terrorized the lives of the Iraqi population and the allied
forces. These fanatical Islamists whom illegally entered Iraq through the
peripheries of the country, came to create instability and chaos in the
country. Consequently, their religious decrees (Fatwa) which were either
delivered by an indoctrinated fundamentalist or by a financially and socially
satisfied cleric, stated the significance of massacring innocent men, women,
and children. The crucial objective of these barbaric actions was to promote
the occurrence of a civil war in Iraq, in order to destabilize the remnant
stability left and to create chaos and fear in the lives of the Iraqi
population.
Additionally, the violence that is present in Iraq targets
ethnic or religious groups, and political parties. Subsequently, this violence
is sponsored and encouraged by many radical Islamists organizations that
promote hatred and aggression. These terrorist organizations commit these
actions against humanity, under the name of Islam. Moreover, these terrorists
are categorizing Islam as a religion that supports violence, hatred, and
aggression and at the same time they are formulating a hypothetical Holy war
against innocent civilians. These fanatical factions are indoctrinating the
mindset of the Arab and Muslim youth by invoking the significance of
obliterating the unworthy Muslims, the Christians, the Jews, and the other
religious groups. Accordingly, these Islamists are classifying the unworthy and
the worthy under their own irrational and false interpretation of Islam. In
contrast to the above, there is no compulsion in religion (Koran, Al-Baqarah, 256), which signifies that forcing and imposing
religious jurisdictions upon other religious minorities is literally outlawed.
Therefore, how can these alleged Muslims whom inculcate extensive
infrastructures that indoctrinate and culture the naïve and unrefined citizens
towards violence and aggression declare they adhere to the basic principals of
Islam, and adopt the humble life of Muhammad the Prophet. Islam is a religion
of peace that educates mankind toward the path of enlightenment not to the
course of ignorance; hence these alleged Muslims decline the fundamental ideals
of Islam.
The absence of the political alienation spectrum in the
region leads many of its citizens towards the upbringing of radical methods of
interpreting educational and religious texts, henceforth this illogical
technique of the analysis and elucidation of the educational and religious
texts leads many of the Arab and Muslim youth towards ignorance, which diverges
into many branches, in which the most momentous is terrorism. Due to the oppressive
one party system’s and monarchies in the Arab and Islamic world and the
oppressive laws imposed upon its inhabitants by the leaders, these factors
promote terrorism and violence in the region and in the free nations.
The solution to the obliteration of the
propagation of the terrorism epidemic is the inculcation of a liberal and
democratic ideology that will transform the Iraqi society into a sophisticated
and modern society that will adhere to the principals of liberal democracy.
Moreover, this will influence the regional countries to withhold the same
passive and rationale position in order to achieve, justice, freedom, and peace
in Iraq and the region.
Zeinab Al-Rekabi
March 19, 2004
References:
The
Noble Qua’ran, Surah: Al-Baqarah. Verse 256.
Hourani, Albert. A History of The Arab
Peoples. New York: Time Warner, 1992.
Huntington,
Samuel P. The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of the World Order.
London: Simon and Schuster, 1996.
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Islam and Political Terrorism (Part 3) The New Middle East and the Horrific Nightmare of Reformation Throughout the past decades,
terrorism, poverty, and illiteracy have significantly escalated in the Arab
and Islamic world. The preceding factors have proven to possess tremendous
impact upon the structure and function of these two societies. Additionally,
the above matters seem to impose inconceivable force upon the social,
educational, and economical domains of both the Arab and Islamic world. The history of the Arab and
Islamic community highly reflects the absence of the social and educational
institutions, which in turn has regressed the latter aspects and progressed
the evolution of the terrorism epidemic in these two communities.
Furthermore, instead of constructing social and educational foundations, the
leading figures of the Arab and Islamic world are highly concentrated upon
the inculcation of corrupted associations that indoctrinate its citizens
about the falsified image of liberal democracy, and hence these associations
generate an entire population whom are absolutely ignorant of the basic
fundamentals of liberal democracy, which are justice, freedom, and peace.
Additionally, the focal objective of these corrupted institutions is to
instruct their societies that liberal democracy is a Western Supremacy over
the East, and thus from this fictitious statement, the leading figures of
both the Islamic and Arab world would remain in authority and would continue
to feed their indoctrinated citizens false interpretations about liberal
democracy. Moreover, the hate and fear that has been taught to citizens has
led to the initial stages of the terrorism epidemic. The preliminary steps of the
terrorism epidemic are witnessed in the educational texts that are programmed
for the primary and secondary schools, including universities. In the Arab
and Islamic world, the schools educate the youth about the importance of
massacring the unworthy Muslims, Christians, Jews, and the adherents of the
other religions; this in turn has initiated the cycle of the terrorism
epidemic. More importantly, the Salafi and Wahabi doctrines emphasize upon the importance of
obliterating all unworthy citizens and hence the leading clerics that adhere
to the two oppressive doctrines target the weak and force their principles
into the mindset of these ignorant youth. Another subsequent phase in the
cycle of the terrorism epidemic is the absence of an impartial or equitable
constitution that contains unprejudiced social regulations or bylaws. The
leaders either appoint the legislative and judicial branches in the Arab and
Islamic worlds, and almost always, the appointed figure would either
obliterate or insert laws that would permanently secure his/her present
position. Therefore, due to the above concise investigation of the natural
upbringing of the hierarchical Arab and Islamic societies the course towards
justice, freedom, and peace has only regressed and produced multiple problems
in the region.
In correlation to the above notions, the President of the United States has
proposed a novel and sophisticated project for the Middle Eastern region,
nevertheless there seems to be many criticisms upon such a proposal. Many of
the Arab countries stood against the Presidents proposition because the Arab
leaders were not willing to step down from their positions and hand over the
power to an educated and diligent citizen. Moreover, the Arab Summit that was
to take place in Tunisia was deferred or postponed to another day. The former
event highly signifies that the Arab leaders are not willing to re-construct
their governmental policies, their societies and its infrastructures based on
the Human Rights resolutions; furthermore, the Arab leaders have stood
against the necessity of liberating their societies from the oppressive laws
that have governed the citizens lives for decades. More importantly,
extending rights and opportunities to ethnic groups, children, women, and
religious minorities represents a critical challenge towards the Arab and
Islamic leaders, and thus they are attempting to establish a barrier against
President Bush’s proposal. Form the above rationale, reform and political,
social, and educational transitions symbolizes an atrocious psychological
complication for the Arab and Islamic world. The sophistication of the Arab and Islamic societies rests upon their adherence to the main fundamentals of liberal democracy: justice, freedom, and peace. From there, both these societies would become part of the international community and the free nations. In particular, all of the different religious groups and the ethnic minorities will possess equal rights and opportunities as the predominant group, and thus the outcome would yield the resurgence of a modern and educated society that will advocate against the momentum of terrorism, poverty, and illiteracy. Zeinab
Al-Rekabi
March 28, 2004 |